By RYAN WALKER
PONETO — Indiana University Kokomo gained two new runners from Southern Wells High School Thursday afternoon. Seniors Potter Garrett and Nick Lozoya signed their national letters of intent on the stage in the cafeteria.
The two are planning on spending the next four years rooming together and will start their careers with some familiarity. As Garrett put it, he gets to spend another four years with his buddy.
“That’s my best friend,” Garrett said. “We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. We’ve just gone through all of these years together, and I’m excited to be able to do four more with him. It’s going to be awesome.”
Lozoya echoed the same message.
“Potter and I, we’ve been friends for so long,” he said. “Sticking together throughout high school and making really good memories. We just thought it would be a good idea to go together, create more memories as friends and meet new people and just have a good time over four years of college.”
Garrett will be running cross country and track for the Cougars, while Lozoya will take his talents to just the track and decide later in the future about doing both.
Josh Colvin, the head coach for all three sports at Kokomo, cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and his assistant coach, Jordan Fivecoate, made the 54-mile trip to attend the signing.
Perhaps the biggest recruiter was junior Nathan Lozoya, brother to Nick who was also in attendance.
“He tried, he did try (to recruit him),” Nick Lozoya said. “He wanted me to go over there, but he knew I wasn’t really much of a cross-country runner, but he did know that I was capable of being on the track team. He introduced me to all the coaches and everything, and basically how it went.”
That wasn’t the only reason the two of them chose Kokomo. Lozoya added that he took a visit a few months ago, and he loved the feeling of a small community and the people he met there, especially his future teammates.
Garrett, who has been wanting to run past high school for a while now, felt the same way.
“I just like all the kids on their cross country team,” he said. “I’ve known them, and I’ve hung out with them before, and they’re, like, so welcoming. When I was there for my visit, I was nervous, but they were so welcoming, and it’s nice, and it felt like a good group of people to be around.”
IU Kokomo is a 51-acre campus established in 1932 with a total enrollment of 3,123 students, according to the university webpage. The athletic programs go through the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Cougars compete in the River States conference with 13 schools inIndiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
The two will finish their high school careers on the track team for the Raiders in the spring.
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