Rachel Foss still plans to compete in cross country and play basketball after graduating this spring from Falls High School.
Foss, who qualified for the Class A state meet the past two seasons on the Bronco girls cross country team and also set Falls’ career assist record for girls basketball players, has decided to continue both sports at the Division III level when she enrolls this fall at the College of St. Scholastica.
“I’m really excited (to play both sports in college),” Foss said.
Foss, who expects to miss about the first two weeks of basketball practice when the two sports overlap this fall, said he hopes to become a better runner as she switches from 4-kilometer races she had in high school to 5-kilometer distances in college.
Saints head cross country coach Steve Pfingsten, who has coached at St. Scholastica for more than 20 years, described Foss as a “good runner with the potential to be much better.”
Pfingsten said Foss will be joining 22 returning women runners along with the incoming students for what he expects will be a women’s team of about 28-30.
He noted all the runners are allowed to compete in meets until the team is restricted to the top seven for the Division III Regional.
Pfingsten said Foss will join the team Aug. 18 to begin practicing, prior to the first meet of the season Aug. 31 at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis.
Though Foss has been a point guard for the Bronco girls basketball team, she said she’s open to playing any position once she’d join the Saints women’s basketball team.
Academically, Foss said she will already have earned an associate’s degree through her coursework at Rainy River Community College, prior to attending classes at St. Scholastica, where she will be enrolling in the pre-law program and pursuing a double major.
“I like the small private school atmosphere (at St. Scholastica),” she said.
Upon graduating from St. Scholastica, Foss said she then plans to attend law school and become a sports attorney.
