GALION — After concluding her track and field season with Northmor this spring, senior Hope Miracle will continue performing in that sport at Ashland University.

“They’ve been on my list for a while,” she said. “I went to track camp there and liked it.”

Miracle, who will major in graphic design, noted that she liked a lot of aspects of Ashland.

“Their graphic design program and I liked the professors and liked the track and pole vault coach,” she said. “And it’s not far from home.”

While at Ashland, Miracle will compete in the pole vault, while also taking part in the university’s honors program.

“You have to have the grade point average to get in it and take certain classes for honors students,” she said.

Before picking Ashland, she looked at a number of different schools, mentioning that since the beginning of last summer, she made over 14 visits, including trips to Marietta, Malone and Montevallo (Alabama).

The thought of being able to compete athletically in college didn’t immediately come to Miracle, who noted that she started receiving consideration after a successful junior year which saw her clear 9’8” in the pole vault.

“I definitely didn’t think about that at first,” she said of college athletics. “I got a few looks after my junior year. I went 9’8”, which is a decent height.”

That year provided her with one of her favorite track memories to this point of her career.

“Probably last year at the district meet when I won it and got a new PR and set the school record,” she said.

Miracle feels the sky is the limit for when she competes at Ashland, stating that she still is pretty inexperienced as a pole vaulter and believes she’ll only improve working under a coach dedicated to that event.

“Getting out of high school and I think I’ll get a lot better in the pole vault,” she said when asked what she was looking forward to about the move from high school to college. “I’ve only done it since my sophomore year.”