When an athlete graduates from high school, it is assumed that the majority of those graduates will not participate as an athlete in their collegiate experience. For some college students, however, they continue their athletics. This is the case for former Buccaneer tracksters Jake Zebedee, Nick Beattie, and Marissia Hagedorn.

Jake Zebedee

Zebedee, now a student at the University of Sioux Falls, continues to pole vault as he had at Blue Earth Area back in 2012. He set a big record for the USF?Cougars this past season.

During the indoor season, Zebedee had the season’s best vault of 15-7 and attended the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Championships where he placed fourth overall with his NCAA provisional qualifying vault.

His outdoor work was just as spectacular for USF with a vault of 15-5 at the Red Raider Open. Zebedee also finished fourth at the NSIC Championships with his clearance of the bar at 14-9. Zebedee is the son of Steve and Mary Zebedee who reside in Winnebago.

Nick Beattie

Beattie, a 2013 BEA grad, won three medals at the 2013 state meet for Blue Earth Area, including anchoring the 4×200 relay to the State Championship.

As a University of Minnesota, Duluth, Bulldog, Beattie is still on a hot streak with his 4×100 team. Throughout the season, Beattie and the 4×100 Bulldogs team brought back victories during the Meet of the UnSaintly at Hamline University, the Golden Bear Twilight meet in St. Paul, and the Holst Invitational at Concordia.

Beattie also took fourth place in the 100 meter dash and fifth in the 200 meter race during the Bolstorff Twilight meet in March at Macalester. Beattie is the son of Jim and Renee Beattie of Blue Earth.

Marissia Hagedorn

Hagedorn, a track champion with the Buccaneers until her graduation in 2012, is now a South Dakota State University Jackrabbit, and her success on the SDSU team would be fairly traditional if it weren’t for her unique collegiate experience thus far in track.

As a freshman in college, Hagedorn did well during her indoor season, placing 10th at the Summit League Indoor Track and Field Championships for her best time of 9.11 in the 60-meter hurdles, and achieving the best height in pole vault during the Bison Open with a mark of 10-8, also placing 10th in pole vault at the Summit League with a height of 9-11 1/4. But, during a pole vault that season, Hagedorn broke her back, making her redshirt for the outdoor season of 2012-13.

Most would assume Hagedorn’s college career ended there, but Hagedorn’s determination did not fade.

During the 2013-14 season, Hagedorn ran for both the indoor and outdoor seasons, breaking records left and right. She ran an indoor season best time of 28 seconds in the 200-meter dash at the USD Alumni Meet, clocked in for an indoor season team best time of 9.03 in the 60-meter hurdles and finished third at the 2013-14 Summit League Championships.

Her outdoor season gave her the best time of 12.94 in the 100 meter dash at the Nebraska Quad and best time of 26.95 in the 200 meter dash at the USD Snowbird. She also won the 100-meter hurdles at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays with a time of 14.32 and she won the 100-meter hurdles at the USD?Snowbird with a time of 14.63. She won numerous other times during the outdoor season. Those efforts granted Hagedorn a spot on the All-Summit League and she was named to the Summit League Academic Honor Roll as well. Hagedorn is the daughter of Darren and Kim Hagedorn of Blue Earth.