Submitted photo/information Hailey Hollar, middle, signed her letter of intent early February to continue her track and field career at the college level next spring at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

MORGAN — Three-sport senior athlete Hailey Hollar has made her college decision and will be running track at the University of Minnesota Duluth next spring.

Hollar was also the 2023 All-Journal Volleyball Player of the Year and a starter for girls basketball at Cedar Mountain, but she decided to go with track at the next level and run for the Division II college.

“It all started last year when I had a really great season at track,” Hollar said. “My times were down, like almost a whole second in the 100, and I saw really huge improvements. I met up with my track coach during the summer, because I though I might as well look for opportunities to run in college because I’ve always wanted to do sports in college.

“So I met up with her and she helped me email a bunch of coaches in Minnesota, so I got in touch with a bunch of different colleges and schedule a bunch of tours. I visited some, and Duluth ended up being my choice.”

Hollar saw a lot of success on the track last season, going to state in the 100-meter dash and setting a personal best there, running a 12.56 on her way to a fourth-place finish.

Hollar said that she had to make a decision between volleyball and track at the collegiate level and thought track would be a better fit for her.

“I knew I wanted to go to a university, particularly a bigger one,” Hollar said. “I think it’s going to work out better with track instead of volleyball. I visited some NAIA and DIII schools for track and volleyball but decided for my education that track was going to be what I settled with.”

Another strong reason for why Hollar chose Duluth was the coaching staff. Hollar said that the track coach has been in contact with her and providing support for her day-to-day life.

“When I visited, I met with the head coach Karly [Brautigam] and the assistant coach David [Palmer], and I just thought I bonded with them really well,” Hollar said. “I talked to Karly and she cared about me as a person, not just as an athlete. She would call me and check up on me about not just how track was going but other sports, and just life in general. She would always check up on me and care about me more than just an athlete, and I feel like I bonded with her a lot when I visited.”

Hollar says that for her first season at Duluth, her main goal will be balancing academic life with athletics, something she has practice with as a season-round athlete.

“I think that, starting college, just being able to balance athletics and academics the first year, just making sure I can take time away,” Hollar said. “I know I’m already a three-sport athlete, which is already a big commitment, so I know the drill. I know what it’s like to do athletics all year round. I think for the first year, just making sure that I get everything figured out and find the balance between athletics and academics.

“Long term, I haven’t thought about it too much. I’m mostly focused on my senior year of track, since that’s still going on. But I think just taking it one day at a time, seeing how the first season goes. Setting my goals from there.”

For this upcoming season, Hollar has high expectations — to make it to state in all of her events.

“I would like to go in all four events, if not three again,” Hollar said. “I don’t know what my third event will be. I know I’m doing 100 and 200, but my coach has been talking about either 4×100, or I might be in the open 400. I’d like to make it to state in all my running events for sure. I might as well try to improve in long jump so I can make it there too. As far as the state tournament goes, I want to place high again. I want to win the 100 and top five in the 200, and then see how the season goes to find what my third event will be.”

Hollar isn’t sure what she will be studying in college and wants to keep her options open her first year.

“Originally I wanted to do psychology, but currently I’m thinking about rehabilitation or exercise science,” Hollar said. “But for this first year at least, a little bit of my first year I’m going to go undecided and get my gen eds out of the way.”