By Ray Hamill — St. Bernard’s senior Alyssa Boham still has some unfinished work to take care of in high school, but she knows where she will be after graduation next year.

On Tuesday afternoon, in front of family, teammates and coaches at St. Bernard’s, Boham signed her letter of intent to compete in track and field at the Oregon Institute of Technology.

Attending the Klamath Falls college has long been a goal for Boham for academic reasons, and when the opportunity arose to also compete for the Owls in track, it was an easy decision.

“I’ve always wanted to go there,” Boham said. “I want to be an ultra sound tech and they have a really good program, and I love track so it was just like a bonus.

“We reached out to them and they were quick to respond. It was pretty cool to see that all work out.”

Boham is a four-sport student athlete who also plays basketball and soccer and has played volleyball for the Crusaders.

And she has enjoyed plenty of success in high school, including playing on the Crusaders’ state winning basketball team two years ago and winning a North Coast Section title in soccer.

But she admits that track and field is her favorite sport ever since she first began competing as a high school freshman, and that the decision to continue that at the next level was an easy one to make.

Boham will compete in the 100 and 200 meter sprint events for the Owls and is also hoping to be a part of the school’s 4x100m relay team.

She certainly appears to have the pedigree and work ethic to succeed there too.

The senior speedster set PRs in both the 100m and 200m at the NCS Class Championships last year, crossing the finish line in times of 12.92 seconds and 26.9 seconds.

And her high school track coach DJ Snowton believes that this coming spring she will break the school record in the 100m, which is 12.54 seconds and held jointly by Karin Lyon and Lindsey Harpham.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

Submitted photo

Boham visited Oregon Tech on a recruiting trip and immediately liked the area.

“It’s really pretty,” she said. “It’s kind of like Humboldt, so that’s what I love about it, because I’m a small-town girl and I don’t want to move away to a big city, so that’s what really cool about that.”

She also says that she is enjoying her time at St. Bernard’s and will miss her teammates and friends when she moves on.

Asked what she will remember most about her time at St. Bernard’s, Boham responded without hesitation.

“Definitely how we’re one family,” she said. “Like everybody here is connected. As you saw, all my teammates came and supported me from basketball, so everybody here is just connected and want to help each other out. You feel loved.”

The tremendous success she has enjoyed with all of her St. Bernard’s teams is also something she won’t easily forget.

“My favorite (memory) with track is definitely the white star meet always,” she said. “Like I love competing in the white star meet here. It’s a local thing that not a lot of different places have, so I love that, it’s very unique.

“And from basketball, it’s definitely winning state my sophomore year. And for soccer, definitely winning NCS. All of those are really good memories.”

The senior spoke to the gathering on Wednesday and thanked her family and coaches for helping her to get to where she is, as well as expressing her gratitude for the opportunity.

“I’m super grateful to receive this opportunity to be able to run track at Oregon Tech,” she said. “I want to say thank you to coach DJ and my teammates, who have made me a better athlete and have pushed me to become better over the years.

“I want to say thank you to coach (Matt) Tomlin and (Principal) Mr. (Paul) Shanahan for giving our school so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have got at other schools.

“And most importantly, I want to thank my family.”

Snowton, she said, has been particularly influential in her development on the track.

“DJ is really one of my favorite coaches,” Boham said. “He’s helped me so much with track, and he’s the reason that I honestly fell in love with it, and he’s helped me evolve as a runner. He’s definitely pushed me to become a better athlete.”

Boham will now turn her attention back to basketball, and is competing with her teammates at the Kelseyville tournament this week.

Photo by Taunya Caldwell Brunton