MOSES LAKE — Friends, family and coaches gathered in the gymnasium at Moses Lake High School to celebrate senior Sylvie Gephart signing her letter of intent to run cross country and track and field at Central Washington University on Tuesday afternoon.

“This is a really exciting day for me,” Gephart said. “I never really thought I was going to run in college — I never thought I was going to be fast enough — so it’s really exciting to get here and be able to do this. I feel really happy that I get to share it with all (my teammates) because they all pushed me to get here and worked with me.”

Gephart said she decided “on a whim” to compete in cross country, later joining the Moses Lake track and field team. She had previously run when she was in middle school, but it was the coaches and teammates at Moses Lake High School that got her hooked.

“I immediately clicked with everyone there, and the coaches sat me down and (said) ‘You have potential, we want to see you blossom into an amazing runner. We see that, and we want to help you get there,’” Gephart said. “I never had a coach tell me that before.”

“You could tell that there was some talent there, and she was really going to be somebody in the sport — you just didn’t know when, because she really hadn’t run very much,” Moses Lake cross country head coach Larry Dagnon said. “As each season went on, she quickly made varsity and she fell in with the team leaders on the team.”

The aim to compete at the collegiate level began in her junior season, she said. 

“Going into my junior year, I was just like this is something that I want to take seriously and keep working with to go further than just high school,” Gephart said. “When I hit the summer going into my senior year we started cross country summer training, and I was like, ‘This is my year — if I want to do something about running in college, I have to do it now.’”

She was reached out to by Eastern Oregon and Central Washington but settled on the Wildcats and the thought of joining an up-and-coming program.

“They have really nice facilities, and their coaches were really kind,” Gephart said. “It’s nice and close to home, which I liked, and I feel like their program is getting built up right now. They’re rising up in their (conference), and I found that as something I want to be a part of.”

The newly-signed Wildcat will join 2023 Moses Lake graduate Camryn Holterhoff, who also competes in cross country and is a distance runner in track and field for Central.

“I talked to her through my whole recruiting process,” Gephart said. “She was really nice and told me what it’s like to go to college and what her workouts are like. She gave me a lot of helpful advice, helped me figure out if this was really a match for me.”

Gephart will compete in cross country, indoor and outdoor track with the Wildcats. The senior said she runs the 800-meter run and the mile run.

“I’m really excited to race at bigger meets,” Gephart said. “I think that’s going to push me so much, and that the workouts are going to push me, and everything’s going to make me grow so much more.”

Even with signing on to compete at the collegiate level, Dagnon said the area for growth is still there for Gephart.

“She hasn’t even hit her potential, she still has so much room for growth that it’s going to be fascinating four years from now to see what she does,” Dagnon said. “She hasn’t hit her ceiling yet, and for me, that’s exciting.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. 

    Moses Lake senior Sylvie Gephart, center, signs her letter of intent to run cross country and track at Central Washington University. Gephart said she decided on Central after seeing their facilities, and wanting to join a program on the rise.