College athletics can sometimes be a choice for camaraderie and coaches who want your personal growth

By Henry Creel

High school athletes sometimes have choices about where they play in college – Division I or II, where athletics will likely dominate their lives, or a Division III school that allows more freedom for other pursuits. 

Here are two athletes who navigated that path toward D-III and discuss how their decisions turned out. 

When Stella Anderson Moye swam at Simley High School in Inver Grove Heights, she treated it like a job. She was committed to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, which has a D1 program. Her running joke with her best friend at the time, she said, was that life could be bad, but at least she wasn’t going to Gustavus.

But for personal reasons she did not want to discuss, her commitment ended up falling through, which at the time for her seemed as if her life imploding, she said. Now she swims for the same school that she joked about being her nightmare. Gustavus Adolphus College, a D-III program in St. Peter, Minn.

Gustavus head coach Jon Carlson was always consistent with her through recruiting, so due to the relationship that Calrson built it seemed natural for her to end up there. In her time as a Gustie, she has stood out. She was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference swimming Rookie of the Year in her first year. The Gusties have also won the women’s championship in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in all the three years she has competed.  Her favorite part about D-III swimming, she said, is that it allows her to be a rounded person. She also appreciates the bonds that she has made with her teammates. 

“What I remember more was holding the hands of the girls that I swam with, and then looking up at the crowd and being able to see the faces of all my roommates,” said Anderson Moye.

Gavyn Schacher, a baseball player at South High School, graduated high school with offers from Maryville University, Winona State and the University of Minnesota Crookston, which are all DII programs. He opted for Maryville in St. Louis. After two years of competing for a spot on the field, and dealing with injuries, he transferred to D-III University of Wisconsin-Stout where he has started every game at shortstop, which was his position in high school. 

Schacher said the D-III culture was refreshing partly because it didn’t involve the competition of scholarships or NIL deals. “It’s very much a different culture of more camaraderie,” he said. “ Everyone is in it together.”