Southwestern Oregon Community College has offered athletic scholarships to three Elmira High School athletes — seniors Riley Peeler, Mackenzie Wisner and Liberty Barklow.
Peeler received a scholarship to play softball, Wisner for soccer and Barklow for wrestling. All three seniors have committed to Southwestern Oregon Community College and will start fall term.
All three athletes have been persistent in earning good grades and doing well in sports all four years of high school.
Peeler said she is excited to be going to Southwestern to play softball and to experience it at the college level. She has been playing softball since age 6. She played all four years of high school and summer ball, too, when she could.
After Southwestern, Peeler plans to transfer to a four-year university to complete her major in physical education. She said she’s not sure if playing softball at a four-year college is something she wants to do.
“Over this summer, I started playing for this one summer ball team, and we’ve never played in a tournament before and we had one practice, and we won the whole thing,” Riley said, describing it as her favorite memory from softball.
Barklow has been wrestling for 10 years and said she is excited to wrestle in college, especially at Southwestern Oregon Community College.
She has won many wrestling tournaments in her time and has gone to state every year in high school — and she says this year won’t be any different.
Barklow has been accepted into the nursing program at Southwestern. She said she hasn’t decided whether to try to wrestle for a four-year university.
She said her favorite memory from wrestling is spending time and having fun with her teammates as well as all of the different tournaments in which they competed.
“Definitely really excited to be wrestling at the college level. I’ve wanted to go to SWOCC since eighth grade, and it’s officially happening,” Barklow said.
Wisner said she is thrilled to play soccer at the college level at Southwestern and to receive an athletic scholarship.
Majoring in biology, Wisner plans to eventually transfer to a four-year university to finish her degree and play more soccer, even if it’s just for an intramural team.
Wisner said she has played soccer ever since she could walk and has loved the sport ever since.
“Just getting to play with my sister for my first few years of high school soccer,” she said, describing her favorite memory from soccer.
