After years of hard work and dedication, Emma Israels’ 21 and Hannah Bodine’ 21 have officially committed. Israels announced her commitment to Miami University for swimming on Oct. 3 in an Instagram post. Bodine also announced her commitment to Grand Valley State University for cross country and track on Oct.8. They will both continue their athletic careers next 2021-2022 school year. 

Bodine expressed her excitement about committing because GVSU has very talented and fast teams. “Both the girls and boys teams are ranked the best D2 team in the nation,” Bodine said. “And the coach is really great, he has helped the team win many national championships over his years of coaching.”

After Israels visited her friend who swims for Miami, she knew Miami was the right college for her. “After my visit, I was so excited because I knew that I had a great option in front of me, and that’s when I knew I wanted to go there,” Israels said

For many young athletes, it is their dream to continue their athletic careers past high school. “As soon as I was a freshman in high school, I knew I wanted to swim in college,” Israels said. “A lot of the older girls on my club team had just started to commit, so I looked up to them and wanted to do exactly what they did when I got to be a senior in high school.” 

Bodine has also always wanted to run in college but she wasn’t sure if she was fast enough to be recruited. But her running career really took off her sophomore and junior year seasons. “It wasn’t until my sophomore year track season that I ran an 800(meter race) that ranked me 5th in the state, and then my junior cross country season I was 7th in the state, and that’s when colleges started taking interest in me,” Bodine said. 

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and canceled seasons the recruiting process has been harder this year for athletes than in past years. “I had always wanted to swim in the BIG 10, but COVID-19 made the recruiting process super hard for swimming,” Israels said. “I was stressed for the longest time until I visited my friend who swims for Miami.”

Amazing athletes wouldn’t be where they are today without support and Israels is no exception. “My biggest supporters have for sure been my mom, Coach Butch, Coach Chris, and Coach Josh,” Israels said. “They have pushed me harder than anyone else and I wouldn’t be where I am without them today,” 

Both Israels and Bodine mentioned they knew their schools were the right one by how welcoming the teams were. 

“I chose Miami because when I went to visit there I instantly connected with the team and felt like I would fit in well there,” Israels said.

“I am very excited, I already know some of the girls on the team and they have been very inviting to me,” Bodine said.