She could have gone to Washington State University, her hometown college, where both of her parents work as professors. She could’ve gone to Idaho, still close to home but perhaps with some space to feel like she was out on her own. She could’ve gone to Colorado, which offered her a spot on its top-tier track team.
After months of weighing those options, she landed on the not-so-obvious choice, the one everyone else thought was far-fetched: the University of Utah.
She liked the coach. She liked that its track team specialized in the high jump. She felt there was “a lot of student support.