“I’m nervous and excited,” said Nash Coley, who’s headed to Montana State for track and field, “just because it’s a huge decision in life.”

Coley and Sippos were joined on Wednesday by Bryce Hampton, who will play baseball at Washington State; Julia Huffmaster, who will swim at Southern California; and volleyball teammates Addie Swanson and Karsen Breeding, who are both headed to Colorado Mesa. A seventh athlete, swimmer Danika Varda, signed with Ohio State but was not in attendance because she’s training this semester in Florida.

Sippos helped Gallatin’s girls soccer team to a state championship in 2022, a title game appearance in 2021 and the state semifinals this season. She felt convinced Nevada was the best place for her after visiting the campus and finding a supportive group of coaches and fellow players.

“It’s such a good opportunity for me, and I’m just excited for the next steps for myself,” she said. “It’s been my dream since I was a little girl to get to play (in college), so just continuing that dream of mine and getting to play, developing as a player, getting a new experience, new team, new coaches, it’ll be really fun.”

Committing to MSU fulfilled a dream of Coley’s. He had long been evaluating how his track times compared to what was necessary to compete for the Bobcats.

“Once I started improving, I kept on looking at the marks I wanted to hit,” he said, “and after I hit them, I was just like, ‘Sweet, I can go.’”

His older brother Garret, Montana’s Gatorade Player of the Year in boys track and field in 2022, currently competes for MSU.

Nash Coley is Gallatin’s school record holder in the 200 meters (22.08 seconds), 400 meters (49.28), 110-meter hurdles (14.80) and 300-meter hurdles (38.47), and he is a member of the program’s two fastest 4x400 relay teams. Both of those relay groups won state championships the last two seasons, and he also added individual state titles in the 400 meters and 300 hurdles as a junior.

Coley expects to compete in the heptathlon during the indoor season for MSU and in the 400 hurdles, the flat 400 and the 110 hurdles outdoors.

“I’m going to be very excited because it’s a whole other level of competition,” he said. “I’m just ready to see what I can actually do against similar people.”

Huffmaster is a year-round athlete for the Bozeman Barracudas Swim Club, which had four Division I signees on Wednesday. In addition to Huffmaster and Varda, Bozeman seniors Rylee McColley and Winston Sundeen both signed with Utah.

Barracudas head coach Hans Dersch said that quartet of swimmers has provided the club’s younger athletes with “phenomenal role models.”

“And not just with their performances, but who they are as human beings. They’re just quality people, and I’m glad to have them as examples to look up to,” Dersch said. “These guys came from a place where swimming is not really a known sport, and they turned it into a place where they could launch into some really amazing opportunities — doors that they opened themselves through their own hard work and dedication.”

Huffmaster has competed within Montana Swimming since she was 9 or 10 years old, she said. She’s loved getting to travel around the state and to regional, sectional and national meets with the Barracudas. When she was researching colleges, Huffmaster hoped to find a school that could offer her a similarly fulfilling experience.

“(USC) reminded me of Hans and my coaches here now, and that’s something I really wanted to look for — great coaching,” Huffmaster said. “The team environment and culture down there was awesome.”

Huffmaster has specialized to this point in the 200 individual medley, the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle, and all of her effort has led her to a Division I opportunity.

“After putting so much work into swimming, early mornings and just having to really be focused on showing up every day to practice, it’s just nice to know that after all those sets where I’m like, ‘Why do I swim?’ I know why,” Huffmaster said. “I’m really excited to swim for USC.”

Because Gallatin does not have a baseball team, Hampton had to rely on his play with the Bozeman Bucks in the spring and summer and with the Big Sky Baseball club program in the fall to attract interest. He often took to social media to put himself out there more.

“I think a big part of it for me was Twitter,” he said. “It actually helped a lot posting myself on Twitter, tagging coaches, getting seen by people that can’t see me normally out in Montana.”

He ultimately found his way to WSU with the help of a friend.

After the Cougars’ baseball program went through a coaching change this summer, the new staff traveled to Arizona to watch Billings Central Catholic’s Kyler Northrop, a recruit the school had previously targeted, play with Big Sky Baseball. Hampton plays on the same team and caught the eyes of WSU’s coaches. Now both shortstops are committed to WSU.

“I get to play with one of my best friends from Billings, so that’s going to be great just to play along with him,” Hampton said. “And just the atmosphere of Washington State, how much they care about the sports, just everything about Washington State was great.”

Gallatin’s volleyball team has benefited the last two years from the pairing of Swanson, a setter, and Breeding, an outside hitter. They hope their success continues at Colorado Mesa, a Division II school in Grand Junction.

“We have a really good connection on the court,” Swanson said. “And I think it’s super exciting that we get to stay together and take it even further.”

Swanson visited the campus over the summer and got to practice with the team, which helped influence her decision.

“I really like the coaches, the team, everything about the campus and the opportunity for what I want to major in,” she said. “Just kind of a no-brainer for me, honestly.”

Breeding first heard from CMU during her sophomore year while still living in Wyoming, but she didn’t truly focus on the school until more recently. Swanson committing there was a big selling point, but there were others also.

“I like the area of Grand Junction. It kind of reminds me of Bozeman,” Breeding said. “I really like that a lot, and there’s a lot of outdoor activities there. And then I really liked the coaching staff a lot.”

Both athletes plan to study kinesiology, a natural decision after taking so many bio-med classes together during high school.

Before fully turning their attention to college, though, they hope to end their Gallatin careers on a high note. The Raptors have qualified for the state tournament for the second season in a row after placing fourth in 2022. They’ll look to build on that performance starting on Thursday at MSU’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

“Last year was so much fun,” Breeding said of the state tournament. “I’m excited to get back again and do better hopefully.”