Julia Kranstover summed it up simply: “It is kind of weird.”
The unusual happenstance the former Park City High School girls’ soccer star was speaking about is how four student-athletes from this year’s senior class will be heading to Mesa State College to play collegiately in four different sports.
Kranstover and PCHS swimmer Ali Murphy are the last of the foursome of Miners who committed to don Mavericks’ purple next year. In the fall, boys’ lacrosse star Griffin Perkiel committed to Mesa State and, a couple weeks later, girls’ basketball standout Laurel Kasel followed suit.
“I’m really excited,” Murphy said. “When I found out all of us were going, I laughed. It’s pretty cool.”
Murphy, who starred on a girls’ swim team at Park City that finished second at state the last two seasons, said her specialty is the butterfly. She said she is excited to be tested as a student-athlete in college.
“Here, we had just Tuesdays and Thursdays for swimming,” she said.” At Mesa, it’s going to be Monday through Saturday. It’ll be a lot more work.”
She added: “I’m just really excited because I feel like a lot of people don’t get to say they did a serious sport in college.”
Murphy said she was perusing through Division-II colleges interested in swim athletes, when she stumbled upon Mesa State. She contacted the program, they invited her out for a camp and the rest was history.
Kranstover’s move to Mesa State in Grand Junction, Colo., was a little more complex.
The midfielder anchor, who led the soccer team in goals last year with 11, had her heart set on playing collegiately at the University of Hawaii.
“It happened so fast. It seriously happened within a week,” she said. “I was so set on the University of Hawaii, but they didn’t have any money to give me.”
When Hawaii couldn’t provide a scholarship, her mother remembered Kasel, Kranstover’s good friend, who was headed to play for the Mavericks.
When Kranstover expressed interest in Mesa State, the coach called and invited her to practice with the team.
“We hopped in the car, took the five-hour drive, played with the team and that was it,” she said.
Kranstover, who said the coaching staff will be looking to her to play a stopper role in the midfield at Mesa State, is grateful she is headed to a school knowing some close friends are nearby.
“I know that if I need anyone, if I’m having any trouble, I can call them,” she said. “All of us can carpool.”
Both Murphy and Kranstover said they are eager to head to Grand Junction and kick off their collegiate careers after all those years of hard work.
“I wanna go right now,” Kranstover said.