Many recent Olympia High School grads are going on to pursue athletics in college. From a class of only 86 students, 5 females and 4 males will be continuing their athletic careers. Most of them will be staying right here in Illinois, with just a few moving over to the bordering states. 

To start off, Taylor Nowaskie will be playing basketball at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, IL with an athletic scholarship. Taylor holds the scoring record at Olympia and is playing in the point guard position. Next, Zach O’Donnell will be playing baseball at Kankakee Community College in Kankakee, IL. Zach is a lefty baseball pitcher with an athletic scholarship. Cole Kindred is another baseball player who will be going to play at Rend Lake Community College in Ina, IL. All of these schools are two-year community colleges in the NJCAA Division II league.

For the NAIA Division I, Brenna Elgin will be going on to play softball at Grace College. Grace College is located in Winona Lake, Indiana. She played 1st base for the high school team and 3rd base for her travel team. Brenna earned an athletic scholarship for college too! 

Many athletes are playing at the NCAA Division III level, which is not allowed to distribute any athletic scholarships. Right here in Bloomington, IL, Casey Wissmiller will be playing softball at Illinois Wesleyan University. She is a softball shortstop player with a good bat on the offensive side. Austin Swan will also be local at Eureka College in Eureka, IL. He is playing football as a tackle. Erin Dederich is playing two sports at Central College in Pella, Iowa. She will be the middle blocker for volleyball and a forward in basketball. Owen Dare is also playing two sports at North Central College, in Naperville, IL. He is a mid-distance and distance runner for the cross country and track program. 

Most of all, Shelby Lynch is going on to NCAA Division I with an athletic scholarship! She will be attending the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. She is an equestrian horse rider who has already won 7 national championships! 

Outside of Olympia High School, Rachel Dawson is a homeschool student who lives in McLean. She has been playing travel softball her whole life and will now be playing softball at Eureka College. Rachel is a pitcher and 1st baseman. Congratulations to all the athletes and best of luck in college!