Emily Kemper | The Chronicle
From personal essays to activities lists, college applications are one big personal marketing campaign. For Mason High School (MHS) students hoping to continue their sport at the Division One level in college, the process of putting yourself out there for coaches and recruiters to see starts long before applications open. For athletes in sports like dance and gymnastics, recruitment is about much more than scores and skills.
This August, MHS senior Payton McClain verbally committed to the University of Nebraska on a full athletic scholarship for gymnastics. From starting out at three years old to now competing at level 10, the highest level in the USA Gymnastics Development Program, McClain said gymnastics has always been a place for her to find community and constantly challenge herself. McClain has won first and third place at the USA Gymnastics Development Program National Championships, and fifth at the 2026 Nastia Liukin Cup, two major national gymnastics competitions.
“I’m a very goal-oriented person, and I feel like there’s a lot to achieve in gymnastics,” McClain said. “For me, consistently having goals [to] check off has helped keep me in it, [and] college [gymnastics] has always been the next step.”
Finding a supportive environment to continue her training was especially important to McClain. While promoting herself was necessary, McClain said the coaches at the University of Nebraska valued her beyond her awards and skills.
“In July of last summer I fractured my back in three places, so I had to stop training,” McClain said. “[It] kind of helped me narrow down where I wanted to go because I wanted to be wanted, not just for my gymnastics. A lot of schools ghosted me because I hurt my back, which wasn’t something that stood out to me in a good way.”
MHS senior Tighe Albers did not realize collegiate dance was something he was interested in early on, but said he thinks it is never too late for students to decide they want to continue dancing beyond high school. Just a year and a half after attending his first college dance clinic, Albers was recruited for Division One dance at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV).
“I went to my first clinic [in summer of] 2025,” Albers said. “UNLV is a big team to go out for, but I really [loved] that team and [wanted] to go for it. I had such a fun time, and that was my brain switch of, ‘Oh wait, I actually want to do college dance.’”
Albers said that the college admissions process was not very different as a dancer, but going to clinics and conventions to show off his talents to recruiters added another layer to getting accepted. He attended three additional UNLV clinics after his first visit. Albers said the process of marketing himself to recruiters helped him become a more professional communicator and a stronger dancer.
“Clinics teach you so many life lessons and skills,” Albers said. “It teaches you to communicate with coaches by yourself, meet a lot of new people and even [to] pick up choreography quicker. You get to learn from so many different choreographers [and] coaches, and it just helps your experience in general.”
Albers said he is not sure how much professional dancing he will be able to do past college as he pursues a career in healthcare. Even so, he said the creativity and community dance has given him has driven him to pursue it for as long as he can.
“It’s very important to keep your passion,” Albers said. “If something catches your mind in life and you’re very passionate about it, you should keep [pursuing] it. It’s never too late.”
