By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
SUAMICO – Two Bay Port student-athletes were recognized in a National Letter of Intent signing ceremony Feb. 6 at the high school.
Swimmer Riley Melendy and runner Rachel Hoffman will each continue their athletic and academic careers at the collegiate level.
Melendy, a four-time WIAA state qualifier in the pool, committed to swim at Division I UW-Milwaukee beginning next fall.
“It was just a matter of whether I wanted to swim in college or just focus on my studies,” Melendy said, whose specialty is the backstroke and individual medley. “In the end, I chose to swim, so Milwaukee was a great choice for me. If I hadn’t decided to swim, I would have attended Madison.”
Melendy, who will most likely study business or engineering at Milwaukee, was also a part of four Fox River Classic Conference championship teams during her four-year varsity career at Bay Port and finished 13th in both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke at the 2018 state meet.
Hoffman will be attending Division II Winona State for cross country and track.
She is a two-time WIAA state qualifier in cross country – doing so her junior and senior seasons – and once in track during her sophomore year.
“The area around Winona is really great,” said Hoffman, who will study exercise science. “I like the competitiveness of Division II. Instead of starting out at the bottom, I’ll be somewhere in the middle and try and make my way up.”
Hoffman finished 40th at the state meet in Wisconsin Rapids this past fall.