Boehnke signs with Albertson College

A two-sport athlete at the collegiate level is a rare commodity these days. But Carson High is going to have its own two-sport collegiate athlete beginning in the 2007-2008 school year.

Mats Boehnke signed a letter-of-intent on Monday to attend Albertson College of Idaho where he will compete in soccer and skiing. Albertson is a national power in both sports, advancing to the NAIA regional semifinals last fall in soccer and finishing ninth in the nation in men's skiing, competing in the United States Collegiate Skiing Association.

The USCSA features junior colleges and four-year schools who don't compete in the NCAA. Albertson also won the Northwest Collegiate Skiing Conference title this past season, beating out British Columbia, Oregon, Washington State, Idaho, Washington, Puget Sound, Oregon State and Seattle.

Boehnke is himself an accomplished athlete in both sports. He earned all-Sierra League first team honors as a defender this past fall in helping the CHS boys soccer team win the league title and advance to the Northern 4A finals. He also helped Carson win the Northern 4A crown as a sophomore in 2004.

He's also only one of two Carson skiers to win the NIAA State combined skiing title in slalom and giant slalom as a freshman. Albertson also competes in the slalom and giant slalom.

Boehnke has gone on to compete in United States Skiing Association Far West events and had a solid season this past year where he finished third in the giant slalom and fifth in the slalom. He also took ninth in the giant slalom at the Western Regional Junior Olympics.

Originally, Albertson recruited Boehnke just for skiing. Boehnke had originally planned to take a year off from school, but then he attended a soccer tryout at Albertson last month.

Albertson offered him a spot on the team and a scholarship package that will pay more than half his expenses. The chance to compete in two sports in college was too good to pass up, so Boehnke will enroll at Albertson as a freshman this fall when he'll play soccer and then will compete in skiing in the winter.

"I think it's going to be really cool," Boehnke said. "It's kind of a small college so I can do both. I really think it's going to be good."

Boehnke doesn't know what to expect in soccer, but figures he'll continue to be a defender.

"They just asked me what size jersey I wanted," Boehnke said. "That's all they really asked."

But Boehnke does have lofty goals. He wants to help Albertson at least finish in the top 25 in the nation in soccer and to finish in the top five individually in the nation in skiing.

Along with proving himself in competition, Boehnke said he'll "hopefully prove myself academically also."

Boehnke has maintained a 3.5 grade point average and hopes to be a pre-med student while also studying business in college.