She became the first individual state champion in the girls golf program after winning the Class 4A title in 2021 and then followed up with a third-place finish earlier this fall.

That success helped the THS senior land offers and interest from various collegiate programs.

In the end, she decided to head west for her next level of competition.

York signed a letter of intent Monday to golf at Fort Hays State University.

The THS standout said she had a handful of schools that were showing interest. She narrowed it down to FHSU and Park University. Located in Parkville, Mo., Park is an NAIA school next door in suburban Kansas City, Mo.; Fort Hays State is an NCAA Division II program about 3.5 hours west of Tonganoxie on Interstate-70.

In the end, she opted for the school out west with enrollment of roughly 3,800 at the Hays campus.

“The deciding factors about Fort Hays was the school and the team,” York said via text messaging Monday night. “The school is not too small and not too big. It just felt like the perfect size.

“When I stepped on campus for the first time it felt like I belonged.”

York qualified for state her freshman, junior and senior years and likely would have been a four-year qualifier, but she had to leave the 2020 regional meet early due to COVID-19 tracing protocols at the time.

She enjoyed plenty of success on the links while at THS, but York also appreciated the camaraderie with her teammates the last four years. That was another deciding factor when she picked FHSU.

“On my visit I got to meet with some of the girls,” York said of the Tiger teammates. “They reminded me of my team here at Tongie. They are close and the spend time with each other outside of golf.

“A good team dynamic was something I was looking for in a school.”

On the academic side, York plans to major in education, with an emphasis on elementary education and a likely minor in science or math.

With Monday’s signing, York became the first member of a THS girls golf team to sign to play at the collegiate level. She joins a handful of golfers from the boys program to continue their careers at the next level: Colby Yates at Missouri-St. Louis, Drew Sandburg at Washburn, Cody Campbell, Jacob Hall and Aiden McClellan at Kansas City Kansas Community College and Matt Scharff at Sterling.

York will join an established FHSU program that has been competing for about a decade. The Tigers’ first year as a varsity sport was 2010-11.