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CRANE – If you are a follower of easternoregonsports.com, you are well aware of the story of Crane senior Kelsie Siegner. Now, her journey back from an injury has come full circle as Siegner put pen to paper on Thursday, May 5, signing on to attend Eastern Oregon University in the fall and play on the Mountaineer’s basketball team.
“EOU has a successful history and is a great program, one that I want to be a part of,” Siegner explained. ”I just felt really comfortable there with Coach Weissenfluh and the team. We went out to dinner with my family and it just felt like this is the place I should be now.”
Siegner will join a team that includes Hermiston’s Maddy Juul and La Grande’s Ella Dunlap.
“Kelsie is a great fit, not just for our team but for the whole university,” said Weissenfluh during a phone interview. “She is quite simply just a great athlete and a great person. Our question was never ‘why take Kelsie’, but ‘why not take Kelsie’?”
Weissenfluh had her eye on Siegner for some time, watching her play since a freshman at Crane and also with the Idaho Flash club team.
“We continued to stay in touch with her and told her we always wanted to be a part of the conversation when she decided on a college,” Weissenfluh said. “We are always looking for the best fit for our team and Kelsie is the best fit.”
Siegner now joins a team led by Weissenfluh entering her 23rd year as head coach. Weissenfluh is the all-time winningest coach in EOU history with an overall record of 475-163 for a winning percentage of .744 and has guided the Mountaineers to 11 appearances in the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships. The Mountaineers have shared or won outright 11 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) regular season titles and won five conference tournament championships.
“These are Division I caliber athletes on this team and so is Kelsie,” Weissenfluh said. “I cannot tell you how excited this team is to get a athlete like her.”
For local fans, the Moutaineers are conference foes of the College of Idaho in Caldwell and we just learned Siegner will see Burns senior Kaitlyn Wright as the Oregon Institute of Technology announced her signing on May 5 also. The Owls are also a part of the Cascade Conference.
“This Cascade Conference is loaded with great players,” said Weissenfluh.
“I just wanted a chance to play and show what I have,” Siegner said. “I can’t wait to get on the court again.”
On a personal note, our congratulations go out to Kelsie. As stories evolve, some mean more than others. We were present during the good times, there during one horrific time and you allowed us in during the return to good times. Your signing on Thursday is not the culmination of your dream, but the continuation of your persistence and we thank you for allowing us to be a small part of that and letting us tell a small part of your story. We do have a gut feeling we are not done telling stories of student athletes signing letters of intent from Crane.
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