Tuscola runner Eva Rinker signs with West Virginia
Nov. 4—Tuscola senior Eva Rinker signed her national letter of intent with West Virginia University to compete in cross country and track on Nov. 2.
Rinker will join WVU's championship-caliber team, which came in second place in the Big 12 Cross Country Championships held Friday, Oct. 28.
"We're here today to celebrate a milestone in the life of a student-athlete," Tuscola head track and field/cross country coach Kevin Fitzgerald told the crowd. "Eva has had a lot of support, particularly from her family."
A cohort of Rinker's family attended the signing: mother Joanne, father Jeremy, sister Gracie, her grandparents Phil and Eileen Chieppa and Grandmother Jean.
"And Papa Frank has been watching over Eva from heaven for the past 377 days," Fitzgerald added.
Fitzgerald said Rinker approached him in the spring of 2020 and asked him if he would help her to improve her running so she could qualify for the state meet.
"I agreed, and that began a partnership that endures to this day. Her goals changed; she set her sights on running in college, and with today's signing, she has achieved that goal and is going to the next level," Fitzgerald said.
With support from her coach, family and teammates, Rinker qualified for the state meet in 2020.
"Let me be perfectly clear about one very important thing; while many of us have supported Eva, there is only one person who is solely responsible for today, and that is Eva Rinker. Period, exclamation mark," Fitzgerald added.
Rinker's accomplishments are lengthy: In cross country, she's been the number one player on the team for three consecutive years. In 30 races, she's come in first 11 times, second six times and third once to make the podium 18 of 30 attempts.
She's a three-time all-conference runner, a two-time all-region runner and a three-time state meet qualifier.
Rinker was 65th in the state as a sophomore, 19th last year, and will run in the state meet this Saturday.
In track and field, she was the number one 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 runner on the team. She was all-conference last year, finishing first in the 800 and the 1600 races. She won regional honors by finishing first in the 800 and anchoring the 4x400 and 4x800 to fourth place. At state, she finished third in the 800-meter run at the 3A state championships.
"I'd like to start by thanking all of you for coming today," Rinker told the crowd. "It means a lot. Thank you for celebrating this special moment with me. There's one person I'd especially like to thank, and that's coach Fitz."
Rinker said over 50 Division I, II and III schools contacted her about competing for their programs. She said Fitzgerald led the communication between herself and WVU's coaches.
"[Which led] me to continue my athletic and academic career at WVU."
"I'm really excited for her," said Rinker's dad, Jeremy Rinker. "West Virginia has been Eva's number-one choice for quite some time now. Her mother and I both graduated from there. We've taken her back numerous times, and it's a place that feels comfortable to her."
Jeremy Rinker said his daughter attended camps at WVU and fell in love with the school on her official visit.
He believes the timing of her college signing is fortuitous.
"By doing this signing, she is going to run free, with all that weight lifted of what her future holds. I'm excited for her to compete this weekend, represent Tuscola and run with her teammates," Jeremy Rinker said.
Rinker said her goal is for her team to finish third.
"We've got to beat the right runners to be able to finish third," she said.
At WVU, Rinker plans to major in exercise physiology and double-minor in Spanish and math.
