Submitted photo Springfield’s Sydney Hauger signed her letter of intent to continue her basketball career at Gustavus Adolphus College. Front: Mark Hauger, Sydney Hauger, Denise Hauger. Back row: Springfield Activities Director Paul Arnoldi, Springfield assistant girls’ basketball coach Mike Kelly, Caleb Hauger, Emma Hauger, Springfield girls’ basketball coach Dillon Schultz.

SPRINGFIELD — In the end, Springfield senior Sydney Hauger had to make a choice between track and field or basketball. She chose the latter.

Hauger, the all-time leading scorer in Springfield’s girls’ basketball program history, will play her college ball at Division III school Gustavus Adolphus College. The Gusties finished this past season 18-9 overall and 13-7 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. They finished their season with a 72-60 loss to Bethel in the MIAC semifinals.

She signed her National Letter of Intent on March 13. She said that she began talking to the Gusties earlier this school year.

“In the fall, they started talking to me, right after AAU season wrapped up, and in the fall, I did my first overnight visit with some girls on the basketball team,” she said.

She said she considered St. Ben’s for basketball and the University of Sioux Falls for track and field as well as Winona State, where she wouldn’t have played sports.

“Basketball has always been my favorite, I knew that that’s what I wanted to do in college,” she said.

Hauger finished her five-year career with the Tigers as the girls’ leader in career points with 2,219. She averaged 23.4 points, 2.9 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game this past season and she was an All-Tomahawk Conference player the past two years. She also finished her career with 570 rebounds, 398 steals and 244 assists.

“I think I was very fortunate to be a part of this program,” she said. “From the very beginning, I was with Vishe Rabb and she really inspired me and influenced me to be the best player I could be. She was what really got me into it, because I was just a little eighth-grader.”

As far as track and field goes, she competes in the 400-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 4×100-meter relay. She was part of a 4×1 relay team that went to state her freshman year.

While she’s been a role model on the court for her program for a few years, she’s also proud of the fact that she’s a role model when she’s not playing, too.

“It feels good, one thing I love about helping the team and Springfield’s youth for basketball, is in the summer I help coach a youth camp for basketball, I think that’s really awesome that we get to do that,” Hauger said.