Super 7: Edgewood athletes lock in college plans for basketball, softball, soccer, swimming, track

Trista Helms spent a lot of time playing basketball, volleyball and softball while growing up.

The last dozen years or so, in fact. As a freshman, she added track to the mix tossing shot put and discus as far as she could. Helms remained a three-sport standout in high school at Edgewood, earning second-team All-Area in volleyball and first-team in basketball.

But it was track and field that became her favorite and right away.

"After my freshman and sophomore seasons, I decided I liked track more," Helms said. "It was mostly the environment, how coach (Mychal) Doering made the program more inviting and fun."

As her senior year progressed the invitations started coming from colleges, including the academic and athletic package she accepted from Bellarmine, which recently transitioned from NCAA Division II to D-I. The throws coach is former Edgewood athlete Jason Madison, who recruited former Mustang multi-sport competitor Daphnie Ehrmann to Southern Indiana.

So former Edgewood girls' head coach Brian Rosenburgh had a connection with the Louisville program.

"Rosy reached out to them and said, 'Hey, I have a thrower you might be interested in," Helms said. She had been in contact with Purdue-Fort Wayne, Valparaiso and USI and visited Manchester.

"Coach Madison has a similar coaching style to Rosey and Doering, so I felt a connection and trust with him."

Helm's bests this season were 38-2½ in shot put (at regional) and 120-11 in discus and those are the events she'll focus on in college. She had been motivated to reach the next level when she saw how competitive she was early on and last year, "decided it was something I could get into."

And doing so at a D-I program no less.

"Very surprised," said Helms, who plans to major in criminology and psychology. "I spent 11, 12 years with all the other sports and with track, just three. So it's shocking what I'm going college for."

Softball pair to IU Southeast

Edgewood is sending a pair of softball players to IU Southeast in Chloe Helms and Alaina Winzeler.

Helms (no relation to Trista) committed in the fall. She'll play catcher and utility for the Grenadiers while majoring in neuroscience.

IU Southeast's neuroscience program was one of the draws for Helms, and she said head coach Tiffany Buckmaster sold her on the softball program.

"I had a couple other schools in mind, but whenever I toured the campus, I fell in love with the entire softball program along with the education aspect of it," Helms said. "(Buckmaster) basically pitched her program to all the girls, whenever we were there. Her method of coaching, I think, (will) really fit me as a player."

Winzeler made her decision much later. She visited in November, around the time Helms committed. But she wasn't sure if she'd play softball in college at all.

Once she decided she wasn't ready to hang up the cleats, she decided on IU Southeast. Winzeler committed in early May. She'll play outfield for the Grenadiers, and is undecided on her major.

"Just because I've grown up here, IU Bloomington has always been in the back of my mind. But I wasn't ready to leave softball," Winzeler said. "There wasn't really any anything specific that differentiated my decision. Just something in the back of my mind kept pulling me toward IU Southeast."

Bloomington South's Lexie McGlothlin will team up with Winzeler and Helms at the next level.

Goerges to Anderson

Not many Edgewood soccer players have gotten an opportunity to play in college, but Aiden Goerges wanted to make sure he was one of them.

"I was talking to my dad, I really wanted to play at the next level," he said. "And coach Gonzalo (Sanchez) told me I could.

"I looked at schools. I liked the whole (Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference). I sent highlights out to them and took a couple of visits. And seeing Anderson's young group of guys, I thought, they could only get better."

A couple of visits settled it and Goerges committed to the D-III program. The Ravens were 8-9-2 but also 5-2-2 in the HCAC with Scott Fridley named the league's coach of the year.

"I like the entire school," Goerges said. "It's not massive, so I like the smaller school aspect and I like coach Scott Fridley. He's been there the whole time, so he's raised the entire program. I think he'll teach me the right way to play soccer."

Goerges, who also played basketball and got in one last baseball season this spring, expects to fill the striker role he did with the Mustangs.

"I'm glad I can focus in on it and develop as a player," said Goerges, who plans to major in exercise science.

Clark to Carthage

Every day in college will be a day at the beach for Edgewood guard Cara Clark, who recently committed to continue her basketball career at Carthage College.

The NCAA Division III school is located in Kenosha, Wisc., right between Chicago and Milwaukee on the western shore of Lake Michigan.

The Firebirds, 11-14 last year, are coached by Tim Bernero, who has over 300 wins in 20 years at the helm. Carthage is a member of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Raake mountain high

Maybe. Edgewood standout sprinter/soccer player Zack Raake, who broke the school record in the 100 (10.79), knows he wants to study engineering in college and one of the great places to do that is the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

Raake has a friend at the Air Force Academy and another who goes to CSM.

"I visited over a weekend and I really enjoyed it," Raake said. "It's a good school for extraction engineering, petroleum and mining in particular is interesting to me. And you can minor in space mining, which blows me away.

"Biomechanical engineering is also interesting. It's such a good school. And the mountains..."

As for giving running track a shot at the NCAA Division II powerhouse? That's up in the air, too. The Orediggers are distance specialists who were top 10 at the NCAA outdoor meet this year, but literally had no one run the 100 or 200 this past season.

"The coach responded and said they're mostly waiting on roster numbers, to see if there's room," Raake said. "If there is, then the impression I got is I would be on the team.

"I love running. So it would be great to get money for it. I just want to run and compete and go as fast as my body can go."

Pierce to Manchester

Megan Pierce has committed to NCAA Division III Manchester for swimming and also plans to compete in track.

Pierce, who did not compete for the Mustangs as a junior or senior, was top five in the Western Indiana Conference in breaststroke and butterfly in 2020 and was 18th in both events at sectional.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo. Follow Seth Tow on Twitter @SethTow, and email him at stow@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Super 7: Edgewood Mustangs lock in college plans