HAILEY — A pair of Wood River High School athletes signed their letters of intent to play at four-year colleges.
Annie Kaminski will continue her volleyball career at Boise State, while Payton Bacca will head to Salt Lake City to play soccer for Westminster College. Both seniors signed with their respective schools on Wednesday.
Kaminski’s signing was two years in the making. The 6-foot-1 middle blocker committed to Boise State in April of her sophomore year, just a few years after she picked up volleyball.
Kaminski preferred soccer until seventh grade, when her father (former University of Utah football player Craig Kaminski) urged her to pick up volleyball. It took her some time to embrace the sport, but her ability was apparent to everyone, including colleges, by her sophomore year.
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“I don’t think I really understood the magnitude of it yet,” Kaminski said of the college interest. “I didn’t even know I wanted to play college volleyball yet. It was really fun, though.”
Kaminski said she received interest from Colorado, Colorado State, Utah, Washington and Washington State — all Division I schools, like Boise State. She wanted to stay in the west, and Boise State’s proximity to Sun Valley was a major plus. Few of those other colleges extended offers to Kaminski, she said, in part because she committed to the Broncos so early.
Kaminski will receive a full-ride scholarship from Boise State, she said.
“That’s where I knew I wanted to go,” she said. “I just liked Boise the most and the team the most.”
Last year, Kaminski made the all-Great Basin Conference and all-state first teams, and she was a first-team all-conference selection again this fall. She also plays for the Idaho Crush Volleyball Club, which includes Burley junior Makayla Tolman, who is committed to BYU.
With her high school career over, Kaminski is happy that the commitment she made two years ago is now official.
“The competition is gonna be a lot more challenging, which I’m super excited for,” she said.
Bacca wanted to be a college soccer player since she was 12 years old. Six years later, that dream came true thanks to a hefty scholarship offer (not quite full ride) from Westminster.
Among the many things Bacca liked about the Division II school, she was especially impressed with the head women’s soccer coach, Tony LeBlanc.
“I played with them a little bit last November at an ID camp, and I really liked how he coached and how the girls played,” Bacca said.
Bacca, a second-team all-Great Basin Conference selection this season, began considering college soccer when she was a freshman. After her junior club season, the striker realized a scholarship was attainable. A pair of Division I schools — Utah and San Diego State — extended small offers, she said, as did Division III Colorado College.
The larger offer and overall package made Westminster an easy choice.
“It’s a little bit like home, but it’s a city, and I can still snowboard there,” she said.