Oak Hill's Gilkey signs with W.Va. Wesleyan
May 5—Eden Gilkey says she's ready to take on the next challenge in her young life.
In a special ceremony last week at Oak Hill High School, Gilkey, a four-year member of the Red Devils' track and field squad, signed to enroll at West Virginia Wesleyan College and compete for the school's track and field program.
"I was real excited," Gilkey recalled Tuesday prior to practice at John P. Duda Stadium. "It was just like all my dreams came true, honestly.
"I was just so happy and proud of myself, and proud of the people that supported me and just motivated me to do this."
Competing at the next level "was just unexpected," she said. "When I got the text from the Wesleyan coach, I really just had to sit there and think 'do I really want to do this?'" in reference to making the commitment to continuing to mix academics and athletics. "Wesleyan is a great school."
She expects to run her normal middle distance races (800 and 1500) for the Bobcats, as well as possibly being used on the 4x400- and 4x800-meter relay teams.
Her time at Oak Hill High prepared her athletically and academically to move forward in college, she said. "High school got me ready athletic-wise. I've got great coaches and teachers, too, school-wise. I'm looking at going into marketing; shout out to my personal finance teacher (Kathy Carte). She got me interested in doing marketing and stuff.
"I plan on keeping my grades good and working out and doing my track and stuff. Just gotta balance all that; I think I can do it."
Right now, she simply wants to "finish off (track season), go to states and finish off on a good note," she said.
"Having Gilkey on this team is not only great for points, stats, but she has a great personality that just really encourages the team," said OHHS head coach Matthew Sydnor. "Like if someone's down, she's good at picking them up.
"She has that really outgoing, contagious personality."
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