4 Christoval Athletes Sign With Colleges

CHRISTOVAL, TX — Christoval High School capped a strong athletic year Monday with a ceremony featuring four students signing to continue their careers in college.

Khloe Bolander, Logan Malley, Ryler Hunt and Keegan Dean all put pen to paper to make their athletic dreams a reality.

Bolander, who won a silver medal in the pole vault last week at the UIL Class 2A State Track and Field Meet, will be attending Lubbock Christian University, an NCAA Division II school that competes in the Lone Star Conference with Angelo State.

“She was a multi-sport athete up until this last year when she chose to focus on pole vault her senior year, and she did a great job,” Christoval athletic director Tanner McLean said. “She’s a tough kid who does a great job with all of it, in the classroom and athletically. She’s already approached me about wanting to make sure she has a plan over the summer so she’s ready when she goes up there, and that kind of embodies who she is. She’s a hard-working, tough kid who just has a lot of determination, and I think she’s going to do great at the next level.”

Malley and Hunt, who helped lead Christoval’s baseball team to the regional semifinals for the first time in program history, will remain teammates as they’re both heading to Dakota College at Bottineau in North Dakota.

The community college will give them a chance to continue their baseball careers for at least two more years with the opportunity to jump to a bigger program.

Hunt hit .397 this past season with seven doubles, a triple, two home runs and 32 RBIs, along with five stolen bases.

Malley hit .347 with three doubles, a HR and 21 RBIs. He added eight stolen bases.

“What I really loved about those two is they’re die-hard baseball kids, but that didn’t get in the way of them doing other things,” McLean said. “They both played football, even though it was not necessarily their first love. Baseball was definitely a higher priority sport, but they were both all-district offensive and defensive linemen, and I think that says a lot about those two guys. They do a good job of paying the price, so to speak, in terms of the work and their work ethic.

“They both wound up having big years together on the baseball team. They were part of a historical playoff run. It was the deepest in Christoval history, and guys like that were the reason we were able to go on that run.”

Dean, a linebacker on Christoval’s football team that earned a playoff trip, will be attending Mary Hardin-Baylor, a powerhouse D-III program in Belton.

A preseason knee injury limited Dean to playing about half his senior season, but he had already been offered by Mary Hardin-Baylor following a promising junior year.

“For him to have an injury like that and fight to come back and have the year he had was impressive,” McLean said.

“All four of those kids were kind of in the same boat as far as being hard-working kids, and this had been their dream their whole life. They told me that early on. That’s what they wanted, and they went and got it, so we’re proud of them.”