Every year, students all over the nation compete to have the opportunity to play their favorite sports at their dream schools. For a few lucky West students, they have no need to compete for they have already been given an offer to play for a college.

Recruitment was vastly different this year, so students have been using social media mainly during the pandemic. 

“Twitter was the most helpful,” junior Andrew Evans said. “We can provide video and stats and then college coaches can look at it.”

Evans has been a long-time Kansas State fan so when he was given an offer to play baseball for his favorite school he was thrilled. 

Junior Kendall Starcevich committed to Drake University her junior year to play soccer as well. Starcevich also had to make some changes to how she chose schools due to COVID-19. 

“I had to commit to a school without actually visiting it and seeing the facilities,” Starcevich said. “It was really weird, but otherwise I was really lucky.”

Not only were visits to schools impossible but so were visits from coaches. Starcevich had to figure out how to get coaches to notice her on her own. 

“I was lucky that I had already been emailing before so that they already knew who I was,” Starcevich said. “If I was just starting the process I think it’d be way worse.”

Juniors aren’t the only ones who have colleges on their mind. Underclassmen are already getting a head start on recruiting. Sophomore Jordyn Wilson hopes to play soccer in college and is already trying to get a leg up on the competition. 

“I took all my highlights from 2020 and I put them all together,” Wilson said. “Then I sent out emails to a ton of coaches and hope they reach out.” 

Even though this year has been different in numerous ways high school athletes were resilient and continued to work hard. 

“It’s the same amount of pressure,” Wilson said. “It’s just you have to put in more time. It’s not going to come easy.”