Washington High School senior Allie Mongold, earlier this week signed a letter of intent to attend Capital University, located in Columbus, Ohio.

There she will continue her education and her athletic career as a member of the Comets women’s track team.

After much consideration, Mongold narrowed her choice down to Captial and Baldwin Wallace University.

“I really liked the location of Capital better,” Mongold said. “It would do better for what I want to major in, that’s why I chose Capital. I would like to major in sports medicine and do a minor in nutrition. So, I’m kind of going down the route of pre-physical therapy.”

As for the track aspect of going to Capital, Mongold explained, “Right now they’re in the growing part of their track (program). I really want to be a part of that. The girls there are very welcoming and their coach seems really invested, which is what I like.”

Mongold spoke about her favorite subject in high school.

“Out of all the classes I’ve taken in high school, chemistry is probably my favorite,” Mongold said. “I like the science.

“My favorite teacher is definitely Mr. (David) Penwell,” Mongold said. “He teaches the business classes here. He makes everything so much fun.”

What about studying and competing at the next level?

“I’m definitely going to have to prioritize,” Mongold said. “I’m going to have to miss out on some of the fun things, but school and sports definitely come first. I’m just going to have to be committed to what I love.

“I want to thank my parents a lot,” Mongold said. “They support me through everything. My sister pushes me in the workouts, she’s right behind me, and, you know, you don’t want to get beat by your little sister. She pushes me really hard.

“Also Coach Q (Raquel Warner) and Coach (Louis) Reid, they made me love track,” Mongold said. “Now I’m going to the next level.”

“Allie’s been running for us for two years now,” Washington High School head track coach Louis Reid said. “We’re really excited to have her on the track team. She’s worked extremely hard. She’s done extremely well for us.

“She was a Regional qualifier for us last year,” Reid said. “She’s a 200 and 400-meter specialist. She did really well on our relays this past winter. The 4 x 2 team was fifth in the state indoors. She was a big part of that.

“I have no doubt her hard work is going to pay off for her at Capital University,” Reid said. “She’ll contribute in a big way for us on our relays and the 400-meter dash. She almost made it to the Regional last year in the 400. We expect her to go pretty far this year.”

Raquel Warner works with the sprinters on the Washington track team.

“Her first year running track was last season,” Warner said of Mongold. “The amount of dedication she puts into everything she does was so apparent from the very beginning. She really took on the idea of being a reliable sprinter, which is so hard to come by, especially as a high-schooler.

“And to get to the point now where she feels comfortable enough running in college at the next level is not surprising to me, because I know her so well, but how impressive that is to be as young as she is and as dedicated and hard-working as she is,” Warner said. “She is a natural-born leader. She led that 4 x 2 to the State and we ended up getting fifth in the State our first year running indoor. And it’s because of her and her leadership.”