North Butler’s Nicole Heeren to throw for Wayne State College

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

GREENE — You can open the door gently, or you can throw it open.

Nicole Heeren did the latter at the State Track and Field Championships.

“I think that may have helped put my name out there,” the North Butler senior said.

Last spring, Heeren — then a junior — picked the ideal time to finally record a shot put throw of greater than 40 feet. Heeren had never breached that distance before, not even in practice. That was before Heeren’s final throw of 40 feet, 4 inches earned her runner-up status among the Class 1A competitors.

“I just wanted to stay relaxed and enjoy the moment,” Heeren said shortly after receiving her medal — the year before she wasn’t so relaxed and had a sub-par performance at state.

Heeren maintained the optimum state of mind and then some several days later when she won the discus with a throw of 123 feet, 6 inches.

Even after her stellar showing at state, Heeren still wasn’t sure what athletic path she was going to take after high school because, as a standout catcher for the Bearcats, she was also considering continuing her softball career in college.

“But I love to throw and I decided to go with that,” said Heeren, who on Wednesday signed on to throw for the Wayne State College track and field team.

“I visited five different schools … all of varying sizes,” Heeren said of her selection process before deciding on the NCAA Division 2 school in Nebraska.

“Wayne State kind of reminded me of Wartburg,” Heeren said. “It felt like home.”

Before becoming a Wildcat, Heeren still has some Bearcat business to attend to as she is a returning letterwinner in basketball as well as in the aforementioned track and field, and softball sports.

“I actually made the decision in September,” said Heeren, who was putting together an all-conference season with NB’s volleyball team at the time. “It helps that I got it out of the way so I can enjoy the rest of my senior year.”

Heeren was originally going to hold her public signing at 8 a.m., but she moved it up 15 minutes for a chance to say goodbye to her older brother Matt, who serves in the United States Navy and was due to fly out overseas to be stationed in Japan.

“He never really got a chance to see me play in high school, and he’ll likely won’t get much of a chance to see me in college,” Heeren said of her brother, “but I’m just happy he was able to be here for this.”