Reagan Boling excelled at soccer and track at Gilmer High School, and she will continue her education and running career at Colorado Christian University.
Boling graduated from GHS in May with honors, and she had four scholarship offers from colleges vying for her track abilities. Both Columbus State and LaGrange College reached out to Boling, as did Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina.
The pandemic threw a wrench in Boling’s soccer recruitment, and she nearly left sports behind all together. CCU came calling at the end, and that sealed her track and field future.
“My dream was always to play soccer in college, and after COVID it messed up recruiting a little bit,” she said. “Academically, I got into UGA, so I kind of gave up on the recruiting process for soccer. Then I talked to this (NCAA) Division II school in Colorado and said, ‘I can’t give it up.’ All the money worked out so I had to do it.”
CCU’s campus is nearly 1,400 miles from Ellijay, which was a major factor for Boling. While she did waver some, the appeal of continuing to run track was too much to ignore.
“Location was definitely No. 1,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to travel and go far for college. I definitely decided that I wanted to keep going with athletics. They were the last school that I talked to. After that I was kind of like, ‘I’m going to settle,’ then I thought, ‘I can’t give up sports.’”
Boling made three trips to CCU, which included one solo visit.
“I got to meet the team, and they showed me their new track shoes, which was really cool,” Boling said. “I got to watch a track meet at the Air Force. Academically, I got to sit in some classes and listen to professors.”
Boling was a regular on Gilmer soccer fields long before she started running track. She first laced up her soccer cleats when she was 8, and by the time she was in seventh grade, she joined a travel team in Canton. She continued on the travel scene for four years.
Boling played basketball as an underclassman at GHS, and also spent a year as a cheerleader and volleyball player. She excelled on the soccer field where she was a four-year varsity letter winner. She started out as a goalkeeper, but had too much talent to be contained by the net.
She played in the midfield and as a forward where her speed could be utilized as a formidable goal scorer. Boling capped her soccer career with a selection to the all-region second team.
Oddly enough, Boling’s season as a basketball player led her to track. During conditioning at the end of a practice as a freshman, she caught the eye of then track coach Josh Snider. She was reluctant at first, but made the decision to join the track team that spring.
While college soccer was a lifelong aspiration, track moved to forefront by her junior season.
“Junior year was the first year I competed in track,” she said. “Freshman year, the region was easy, and I just ran and won everything. COVID was sophomore year, and junior year I had to compete to get to state and it was fun. To actually train like a track athlete was really cool.”
As a freshman, Boling and the Lady Cats won the region title as a team. She helped the 4x400 team take first and 4x100 relay team finished second. She also placed second in the 400 meters (1:05.89) and 200 (29.09) and was fourth in the long jump (14’ 11 1/2”).
After COVID canceled the 2020 season, she was a region champion in the 400 (1:01.36). She also placed second in the long jump (16’ 1/2”) and was third in the 200 (27.36).
Boling, Taylor McCormick, Naomi Coombs and Emily Hancock won the region title in the 4x400 relay. They set the 4x400 school record multiple times with the best being a time of 4:13.14 at sectionals. They landed in seventh at state, where Boling was sixth in the 400 (1:01.16).
Boling’s senior season concluded with a fourth place mark of 15’ 5 3/4” in the long jump at region. She claimed sixth in the 400 (1:03.42). In relays, she helped GHS finish fourth in the 4x200 (1:51.27) and fifth in the 4x100 (54.12).
At CCU, Boling said she will continue to compete in mostly the same events such as the 200, 400 and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. She noted she will likely run the 60-meter dash during the indoor season.
“They’re just starting to build their sprint program, and that’s been going on the past few years,” she said. “Their distance running is nationally ranked, and they get to go to all of the big Division II meets.”
Boling credits two former coaches for helping her reach her full track potential.
“I would say coach Snider and coach (Trey) Rickman. While there are travel track clubs, I just never did them because I didn’t think I was going to go (to college) for track. Being from Gilmer, I feel like you have to get out of a small town to travel,” Boling said. “They trained me like I was on a travel club, and it helped me a lot.”
Boling said she is looking forward to competing and continuing the sport she loves while working toward her degree.
“I want to be a pharmacist, and I’m going to start my classes,” she said. “They have a good pharmacy program, and they have premed, and I might do a dual degree with medical and global studies. I’d like to get in an organization like Doctors Without Borders and go to different countries and help with pharmaceutical stuff.”