Scrolling through their Instagram feed, junior Alisha McMurtry’s teammates, friends, and family come across McMurtry’s October announcement of her commitment to the University of Nebraska Omaha. Flooding her comments with many positive messages and congratulations, they start imagining her future as a college athlete. Most of them aren’t thinking much about the actual process that led up to her commitment.

As high school athletes enter their junior year and continue throughout their senior year, the process of college recruitment and commitment emerges. For some, college offers are deciding their fate while others are applying for athletic scholarships on their own. In both cases, challenges and a lot of thought go into their decisions of accepting college offers or applying for them.

“When I first committed… I kept it on the down low,” McMurtry said. “The only people I told are my family, and then a couple of my coaches and I told Onken, my high school coach. Then I told my teammates where I was going on visits, and then they guessed from there.”

Athletes all have different journeys when it comes to finding the right college for them. In senior Gabriella Dill’s case, her journey was very straightforward. Dill sparked interest in Briar Cliff University, attended their ID camp, applied for a scholarship, got accepted, and then officially committed.

“Actually, my soccer coach for high school went there and he played for the boys soccer team, and he was always talking about how much he loved it,” Dill said. “He’s a huge role model for me and so if he liked it, I was like, ‘I’ll give it a try. I’ll look at it.’ and then I ended up liking it for myself.”

McMurtry’s college commitment journey had her constantly weighing her options. She attended a showcase tournament camp in summer 2024 in order to get exposure to college coaches. Then on September 1, when colleges were able to reach out to students, McMurtry had conversations with college coaches, visited their campuses, and explored their softball programs. Based on the offers she received, she condensed her decision to two schools.

“The head of my club organization, Larry Swift, helped me through my recruiting process the most,” McMurtry said. “Towards the end of my process, I narrowed it down to Creighton and Omaha. I was really torn between the two, so I called him one day and he was like, ‘you just have to go where you feel at home,’ and that’s how I picked Omaha.”

When making decisions on picking a college to go to as an athlete, Head Softball Coach Casie Onken believes evaluating academic decisions for a college is just as important. Onken starts off by having her athletes decide what their career aspirations are and then tries to match certain colleges to them based on what fields of study the college offers. That way academic and athletic aspects both play a key role in committing to a college.

“Once you’re done with college, you’re probably done in most cases,” Onken said. “It is really important that you take that time in those years and you actually get a degree in the field of study that you actually want to try to go into if you can.”

Only 7% of athletes actually play at the college level so getting scholarships or full rides based on athletic abilities can be deemed as a great success. Onken states that while college coaches are looking at one’s ability to play their sport effectively they are also looking for many other qualities.

“A, they look for grades. B, they look for athleticism and talent, but they’re also looking to see if you’re a good teammate, your attitude, and work ethic,” Onken said. “You never know as an athlete who’s watching so always make sure you’re giving 110%.”