From Ely to the NCAA

by Tom Coombe
Two Ely Timberwolves are taking their games to a new level.
Seniors Luke Olson and Brielle Kallberg, standouts in an array of sports at the high school, both signed letters of intent this week to play collegiate athletics.
Olson has accepted an offer to join the men’s track and field team at NCAA Division I South Dakota, while Kallberg is set to play volleyball at Minnesota State-Moorhead, an NCAA Division II school.
Signing ceremonies Wednesday in Ely capped a recruiting process that resulted in significant interest in both Timberwolves.
Olson visited several schools before settling on South Dakota, and Kallberg attracted the attention of numerous college volleyball programs.
A state champion last spring in the 800 meter run, Olson becomes the second Ely athlete to currently compete at the Division I level in track, joining 2017 Ely graduate Josh Heiman, a triple jumper at Army.
Olson won a state title in his first season as a track athlete and was a five-time state meet participant in cross country, earning all-state acclaim the last three seasons and back-to-back seventh-place state meet finishes in both his junior and senior campaigns.
He settled on South Dakota over two other schools.
“I visited USD in September and I liked it a lot,” said Olson. “I liked the nice, clean campus, the amazing athletic facilities, and the guys on the team. The student-athlete dorms are amazing. The coaches said they have big plans for me and that’s exciting to hear. Toward the end of the recruiting process I was trying to decide between three places and I went with what my gut told me.”
Like Olson, Kallberg will continue her athletic exploits in college - moving on to Moorhead after a dynamic prep volleyball career in Ely
A starter since her eighth-grader year and an all-conference performer the last four seasons, Kallberg amassed over 1,000 kills during her volleyball career and developed into one of northeastern Minnesota’s top-all around players.
The outside hitter helped lift the Wolves to back-to-back Section 7A final four appearances and a school-record 25 wins this season.
Kallberg was also active in off-season volleyball and attracted attention from several schools, including MSU-Moorhead.
“I wanted to go to a medium-size school and I’ve always wanted to play volleyball in college,” said Kallberg. “MSUM is fairly close to home, which I preferred. The main reason for choosing MSUM was because the coaching staff is good at what they do. My future teammates were very welcoming to me and they are skilled volleyball players I’m very excited and thankful to pursue my career in volleyball at a higher level.”
Both Olson and Kallberg took part in a signing ceremony Wednesday at the high school.