Philomath High seniors Janice Hellesto, Kaylie Kohler and Kyah Weeber signed letters-of-intent during a school assembly Monday morning in recognition of their plans to compete in collegiate athletics.
Hellesto, who just last week helped the school’s girls track and field team to a fourth straight state title, plans to attend George Fox University.
“The campus is so beautiful … the other schools I visited just didn’t seem very warm or friendly,” Hellesto said. “George Fox to me was super inviting and cozy and small, which are all things that Philomath are to me. It kind of just felt like another home.”
Beyond those team titles in track, Hellesto in four years won first-place medals in the long jump (2023 and 2025), 400-meter dash (2022), 100-meter dash (2025), 200-meter dash (2025), 4-by-400 relay (2022) and 4-by-100 relay (2024).
“I’m going to focus, I think, on the long jump but I also know the coach is interested as well in sprinting and I’d like to continue doing that,” Hellesto said about what to expect at George Fox. “I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Hellesto also holds PHS records in the long jump, 100 and 200 and as part of the 4-by-100 relay — all of those set this past season.
George Fox is a private Christian university located in Newberg. Hellesto plans to major in nursing.
“I really enjoyed, too, that it’s Christian and I felt a lot more connected to it and trusting in the education than if I was going to go to a public university,” she said.
Kohler will be furthering her education at Western Oregon University while a part of the school’s cheerleading squad.
“I really liked how close it was to Philomath but also far enough to get away,” Kohler said. “Every time I visited or anybody I talked to was really welcoming and answered my questions fully.”
Western Oregon is a public university located in Monmouth. Kohler plans to major in visual communications, which focuses on media and advertising.
“It’s a really good community and their campus is really nice,” Kohler said. “I haven’t heard anything bad about it.”
Coached by Caitlin Masterson, the program this past season had 30 members.
“They do competitions every other year,” Kohler said. “Sometimes they’re just on the sideline cheering at football games and basketball games.”
Kohler said this upcoming academic year will be a competition year, so the cheer squad will be headed to California to compete in the game day and traditional routine categories.
Weeber was the top individual female swimmer in Philomath High’s program this past season and won two medals at the state meet with third in the 100-yard breaststroke and sixth in the 100-yard butterfly.
She will be continuing her work in the pool at George Fox. In the classroom, she wants to study elementary education.
“I really liked how the college had both the swim team and the elementary education program, which is what I want to go into,” Weeber said. “I really like their ‘Be Known’ promise and got to talk to some professors that I could potentially be in classes with next year.”
George Fox’s Be Known promise is the university’s commitment that each student will be known — personally, academically and spiritually.
“I really liked the swim team and got to talk to their coaches over the summer and they were both really nice,” Weeber said. “I liked a lot of the practices that they were doing and the team seemed really inviting.”
PHS swim coach Iliana Kaiser described Weeber as demonstrating “exceptional talent, dedication and appreciation for the sport during her time at Philomath. Her commitment to swim for George Fox is a testament to her hard work and the support of friends and family through all the years of her swimming.”
During the signing ceremony, PHS Athletic Director Mike Hood read some comments from Hellesto, Kohler and Weeber, including responses to a question about what words of wisdom they would give to current student athletes.
“Choose a school not based on a division or number of championships but focus on how the coaches treat you, the academics at the school and the way the current players treat each other,” Hellesto said.
Kohler said, “Work on the little things, even if you think they are pointless. It is never too late to start trying.”
Weeber said, “Set goals and put in the extra work. After not making state my freshman year (in swimming), I set a goal to make it next year. I went to extra practices, lifted weights and made a plan with my coach.”
This week’s event was the second signing ceremony held this academic year at PHS. In December, Joe Barnes (baseball at Centralia College), Adele Beckstead (cross-country, track and field at Western Oregon) and Zoe Ringwald (acrobatics and tumbling at Limestone University) were featured.