Seeley-Swan High School 2020 graduate Terra Bertsch signs on with the University of Providence to compete on their basketball and track teams. Bertsch was unable to compete in track her senior year but hopes to make up for lost time as she competes on the university team.
Lady Blackhawk Terra Bertsch clears the bar in the pole vault during the Western C Divisional Track Meeting in May 2019. The 2020 track and field season, Bertsch's senior year, was canceled due to COVID-19.
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley-Swan High School 2020 graduate Terra Bertsch recently signed with the University of Providence in Great Falls to compete in track and basketball.
Bertsch took a semester of classes at Montana State University in Bozeman before deciding to transfer to the University of Providence in the fall 2021.
As part of agreeing to compete for both teams, she was offered a full-ride scholarship. She was happy that she could work her schedule around both sports so she could remain active.
Bertsch started track in fifth grade. She was inspired to try the sport by her father Brian who participated in track throughout high school and college. She said he has acted as her coach throughout her athletic career. In addition to pole vaulting she also competed in high jump, hurdles and ran on the relay team.
She was the state pole vaulting champion her sophomore and junior years. She also broke the school's record for the event, reaching a height of 10 feet, 6 inches in 2019. The first year she won state was the first year she even began competing in pole vaulting. She believes she was successful because she was not hesitant to go as high as she could in every competition.
She was also a part of the track team when the team as a whole won state in 2019.
Her favorite aspects about competing in track were being part of a team and being able to socialize with students from other schools.
She began playing on the school basketball team in sixth grade. While she loved participating in the sport with her team, she felt it took longer for her to see an improvement in her performance due to the several skills she felt she had to refine.
During her senior year, the school's basketball team won divisionals and headed to state for the first time in her athletic career. The same day the Lady Blackhawks lost and were eliminated from the tournament, the entire tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
"It was really hard," Bertsch said. "And then that same day we found out that there wasn't going to be a track season. That was kind of a rough day. It just was a really weird time, like nothing was finished. No one knew what was going on."
Because she did not have the opportunity to compete in track and field her senior year due to the season being canceled, it was challenging to be seen by universities especially coming from a smaller high school. While the conclusion to her high school sports career was stifled, she is still optimistic moving forward.
"My senior year got cut short due to COVID and it just felt really unfinished so I'm super fortunate to have a chance to just kind of wrap things up and feel a little bit more complete about it," she said.
Bertsch is incredibly grateful for her parents and coaches who helped bring her to the level she is at today.
Reader Comments(0)