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MINSTER - Two Minster athletes announced their college choices on Wednesday.
Lilly Barhorst is heading to Findlay for volleyball, and Alex Schmitmeyer will play baseball at Wright State-Lake Campus.
Minster's Lilly Barhorst, seated center, signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday to play volleyball at Findlay. Seated with her are her parents, Chris and Brian, and standing is Minster coach Chelsea McGhee.
Between Dayton, Ohio Northern and Findlay, Barhorst settled on the Oilers.
"Their coaches, the team, just getting to know them was really nice," she said. "I just enjoy the whole environment of Findlay."
She came back in August against Marion Local from a knee injury suffered late in her junior year, which continued to hamper her early in the season.
Still, she played 67 of Minster's 79 sets and averaged 3.1 kills and 1.9 digs per set while serving 23 aces, good for second on the team.
"With her continuing to give herself time and work through that, I think she's going to continue getting better and better," coach Chelsea McGhee said. "I would've loved to see what she would've done if she fully recovered from the injury before coming back. Not that she didn't do well or wasn't great for us, but that knee injury held her back in some ways. I think once she's completely, fully healed, she'll be even better."
For Barhorst, making her return from injury and playing well despite it was a significant accomplishment.
"With the support of the teammates and coaches, just being able to play and compete at a high level was really exciting," Barhorst said.
Barhorst plans to study graphic design with a marketing major and to continue playing outside hitter, where she moved full-time her junior and senior year.
She said the coaches advised her to take advantage of the voluntary camps in the summer, but didn't give her an indication of what she might expect to do in her freshman year.
"They told me that they're not going to guarantee any playing time," she said. "That's their philosophy, and I agree. So I'm just going to go in and work for it."
Alex Schmitmeyer, seated center, signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday to play baseball with Wright State-Lake Campus. Seated with him are his parents, Melissa and Justin Schmitmeyer, and standing are Minster coaches Jeff Stueve, Bill Smith and Mike Wiss.
For Schmitmeyer, who also considered Edison State, the choice to go to Wright State was the most practical one.
"It just makes the most sense," he said. "It's close, it's cheap, and I get to play baseball."
Last year, starting three games and coming on in relief eight more, Schmitmeyer went 4-2 and added a save. Over his 28 1/3 innings, he recorded a 1.48 ERA - improving more than a full point from a mark of 2.80 his junior year, when he went 2-3 with two saves - and had a 2-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, recording 32 strikeouts and 16 walks.
He returns for his senior year as part of an experienced pitching staff, with Louis Magoto, Tyler Stueve and Connor Schmiesing also returning in 2024 after seeing time on the mound.
"Just trying to be the best human being I can every single day," he said of his proudest accomplishment at Minster so far. Of goals for his senior season, he said simply, "Get better."
At WSU-LC, he plans to study education, focusing on the middle or high school level.
