Grads take game to the next level
Katie Bykowski ‘08 plays soccer at the University of Tulsa.
Cailey Dougherty
May 13, 2010
Filed under Feature
Lewis, Keuchel, and Bykowski qualified to play division one sports after high school
According to the NCAA, the chance of playing a sport at the college level is not great. For example, only about 6 percent of high school baseball players go on to play on a NCAA sponsored team. However, Dallas Keuchel ‘06, Katie Bykowski ‘08, and Andrea Lewis ’09 are exceptions to the statistics.
All three of these athletes played varsity athletics while in high school.
“Most of the memories I think of when I look back on my high school experience came from being a part of the soccer and basketball teams,” Bykowski said.
Bykowski currently plays soccer at the University of Tulsa. She is majoring in Business Management and said she has had an overall good college experience so far.
“I have absolutely loved being at the University of Tulsa,” Bykowski said. “It is the perfect school for me because it was a very easy transition from Bishop Kelley to TU, and I really enjoy the smaller class sizes.”
Lewis is also enjoying her college experience so far. She attends the University of Missouri and is on the tennis team.
“It is a huge transition from high school and is a step of independence that requires adjusting, but is a lot of fun,” Lewis said.
Lewis is majoring in Industrial Engineering and hopes to get a MBA (master’s degree in business administration) after graduation.
In 2009, Lewis was named the Oklahoma Coaches Association’s player of the year and the Jim Thorpe Award winner. Now, Lewis is continuing to keep it up as she excels in Missouri tennis.
Keuchel has also enjoyed taking his sport to the next level. He attended the University of Arkansas where he had an outstanding baseball career, which included pitching in the 2009 College World Series. He was drafted by the Houston Astros Major League Baseball Team.
“My experience at Arkansas was tremendous and more than I could have asked for,” Keuchel said. “I’m happy with the decision I made out of high school, not only in athletics, but in academics as well.”
Keuchel majored in apparel studies and dreams of one day designing his own shoe line. For now, however, he is focusing on baseball.
The social life in college can be a lot different from that of high school, especially when one is committed to a sport.
“Even though soccer takes up a lot of my time, there is definitely a lot more freedom to do what you want,” Bykowski said. “It is easy to find a group of people who enjoy doing the same things you like to do instead of doing just what everyone else is doing.”
Lewis also agrees that the social life is different.
“My social life is different because there is so much time commitment with a sport, pretty much every day, that social time is limited so you have to spend it wisely,” Lewis said.
Although the time commitment is huge, all three athletes play for the love of the game, which makes the commitment worth it.
“I have some of my best times while playing my sport,” Lewis said.
Keuchel advises students to “keep an open mind, you never know what you’ll enjoy if you don’t try.”
Excellent blog!
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