George Ferguson
Havre Daily News Sports
gferguson@havredailynews.com
The list of Havre High School athletes from the Class of 2005 who will be moving on to collegiate athletics next year continues to rise.
That is because HHS senior standout Scott Robinson announced recently that he has signed an NAIA national letter of intent to attend Bethel College in Mishawka, Ind., on a track and field scholarship.
Robinson has had a star studded athletic career at Havre High School that includes accolades on the track and football field, as well as in the swimming pool.
Yet, it was his future outside of athletics that ultimately led him to choose the small private Christian college so far from home.
"My major of choice is youth ministry," Robinson said. "But I have always wanted to be involved in college athletics, so I searched the Internet for track and field and youth ministry and I came up with about 20 schools where I could do both."
Of those 20 schools, Robinson narrowed his choices down to four. Those included Bethel, as well as Northwest Bible College in Washington, Trinity Bible College in North Dakota and Indiana Wesleyan.
"I ended up choosing Bethel College because I spoke with the coach and they offered me a really good scholarship," Robinson said. "Indiana is a long way from home, but they are building an elite track program there and I really wanted to be a part of it."
Bethel head coach Tony Natali was obviously excited to land an athlete of Robinson's caliber as well.
"Scott is one of the most versatile athletes we have ever had in our track program here at Bethel College," Natali said. "We expect big things from Scott over the next four years and he expects nothing less from himself.
"He can help us in so many different areas. We will use his abilities in a way that is best for Scott and for us as a team."
While Robinson intends to run the 400 and 800 meters for Bethel, he also has his sights set on an event that is foreign to high school track. And he is hoping that he will be able to help Bethel reach that elite level in NAIA that it has been striving for since the program began six years ago.
"I will still run the 400 and 800 meters, but I am hoping by my junior year I will also be ready to do the decathlon," he said. "That is something that is really exciting to me.
"Bethel has a really strong program right now and they just sent 11 athletes to the NAIA national championships last season," Robinson added. "So they are really starting to get to a high level of track and field, and I am looking forward to being a part of that."
While Robinson is looking forward to the next four years, the last four years haven't been so bad either.
Robinson has been an integral part of the HHS track team since his freshman season when he helped capture a state championship for the HHS 400 relay team. That same relay team finished second at the state meet his sophomore year, and at that same meet he finished a stellar second in the 800 meters.
During an injury-plagued junior season, Robinson still finished a strong fifth in the 800. This season he has shined in the sprints and the long jump for the Blue Ponies and is poised for more gold at the Class A state meet in Great Falls in two weeks.
Track isn't the only sport where Robinson has excelled. He has played on the varsity football team for the last three seasons and has earned all-conference and all-state accolades at running back, while helping guide Havre High to the 2004 Class A state championship. He also has two state championships in swimming.
While Robinson's athletic career has been nothing short of remarkable, he has also been a model student at Havre High where, earning such merits as the Presidential Award in National Honor Society as well as Academic All-State all four years of high school, while carrying a 3.6 GPA.
But with high school nearly behind him, he now looks forward to his future in Indiana, both in the classroom and on the track.
"Its very exciting to know that I am going to get to run track in college and pursue the major I have always wanted to go into," he said. "I am really looking forward to next fall and and to see what the future holds."
Scott is the son of Annmarie and Randy Robinson.
