Two more Ruston High athletes accept college PWO offers
Ruston High seniors Lorelei Freling (left) and Dylar Richmond will have the chance to continue their athletic careers after signing priority walk-on offers Wednesday afternoon. Freling will attend Rose-Hulman and Richmond will enroll at Louisiana Tech. Leader photo by Matt Belinson
Two more Ruston High athletes signed pr iori ty walk- on (PWO) offers to continue their athletic careers Wednesday afternoon.
Lorelei Freling signed to play volleyball at Rose- Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, while Dylar Richmond will head up the road to Louisiana Tech for track and field.
A preferred walk on offer means you’re guaranteed a roster spot, but you don’t receive athletic aid.
Freling won District 2-5A Defensive Player of the Year as libero for the Ruston volleyball team in 2022, finishing with 383 digs and 54 service aces.
The Rose- Hulman Institute of Technology is primarily an engineering school, with an enrollment just over 2,000 – with most students studying some specialization in engineering.
Freling will pursue biomedical work, hoping to work with athletic prosthetics after graduation.
“My recruitment process took a little time just because I really wanted to find a school with academics where I wanted and this was the best place for me really, just be-cause of what I want to study,” Freling said after signing.
Outside of academics, Rose-Hulman’s volleyball program interested Freling because of recent history of giving underclassmen starting opportunities and showing success in the HCAC Conference in Division III.
“The coaches were open with me the whole time and talked about how I could come in and help right away and that was great to hear from them,” Freling said.
Lucie Hunt, Ruston volleyball coach, said losing Freling will be a big loss for the program from her personality to her play but wished her departing libero encouraging words.
“It has been a lifelong dream of hers to play in college and she is getting to live that dream now and she’s always wanted to be an engineer and so she gets to go that route as well,” Hunt said. “She’s going to a school that fits her to a tee.”
Richmond won’t be making as big a move, taking his track talents to Tech to help fill needs in sprint relays and hurdle events for Tech track coach Brian Johnson.
As the District 2-5A champion in 300- meter hurdles in 40.92, Richmond went on to qualify for state and finish 6th, shaving his district- winning time to 40.05.
Ruston athletic director and football coach Jerrod Baugh said Richmond had the opportunity to sign as a PWO for Tech football or track and elected to stick with his favorite.
“It’s just unreal, honestly,” Richmond said. “I’m glad to have the opportunity to come compete at a hometown school. Right now, the only thing I’ve talked with the coach about is continuing to hurdle and to focus on that mainly.”
Trey Smith, a Tech alumnus, only coached Richmond for one season but knows he’s got big things ahead of him as a Bulldog.
“He’s truly going into this next level as someone that’s very versatile and obviously he’s a 4-for-4 state qualifier: He’s in all three of our sprint relays and he’s in the 300 hurdles,” Smith said. “It is a challenge and it is something this young man is ready to take on.”
