Injuries plagued Lauren Myers for much of her cross country and track and field career. And those injuries created a path that led to the Air Academy senior signing at an NCAA Division I program.

Myers was one of 20 Air Academy athletes who celebrated their college signings Wednesday. The senior will attend the University of South Dakota in the fall. Myers will run cross country, track and field, and compete for the school’s triathlon team.

“I found South Dakota, and they were so nice to let me do triathlons, cross country and track,” Myers said. “I get to do all my favorite things. It’s going to be a heavy load doing three sports, but I’ve been able to handle everything so far. I know that I can handle this as well.”

Myers, who’s on the Kadets’ track and field team, competed on Air Academy’s 5A state championship cross country championship teams in 2022 and 2023. But as Myers continued to run, the injuries began to accumulate.

“Throughout my career I’ve had a lot of bone injuries,” Myers said. “I had a fracture in my foot, two in my tibia and one in my back.”  

Her cross country and track and field coach Chuck Schwartz, and assistant coach Catherine Weber, put Myers on a cross-training program that had the senior ride a bike to collect her mileage. Myers said running was too harsh on her body, but biking allowed her to maintain her endurance and remain healthy.

Myers added that Weber is also active in the triathlon world and introduced Myers to the event.

“I started training for triathlons and realized I was good at it,” Myers said. “This past summer is the last time I dealt with an injury and I competed in a triathlon. That was when I realized I’m pretty good at this. I used to swim competitively and everything just came together for me.”

The Kadets also had five wrestlers sign to compete in college next season and have three going D-I. Aleq Countryman will head to the Air Force Academy, Michael Saba will wrestle at North Carolina State and Thomas Martell heads to Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Elly Siebert will play volleyball next season at Colorado College and will do so following a battle with leukemia.

Siebert said she learned she had leukemia in December but is in remission.

“The same week I was diagnosed with cancer I got into (Colorado College),” Siebert said. “That was a crazy week, but things are going much better now and I’m looking forward to college.”