Wawasee senior Autumn Turner, seated with Wawasee girls cross country coach Doug Slabaugh, has chosen Manchester University as her college running choice. Standing behind Turner are Michael Turner, Samantha Kiser and Eric Kiser.  InkFreeNews photo by Mike Deak

By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE – Wawasee senior Autumn Turner wondered if it would happen. When it did, she jumped at the chance.

The Wawasee runner is taking her talents to Manchester University, where on Tuesday it was made public in a ceremony at Wawasee High School. Turner had already officially signed several days ago to become a Spartan.

“The coach reached out to my mom several times and was interested, so we tried a visit and to see how it went,” started Turner. “When we walked into the room, it was everything we wanted. Everything they had told us, they proved it. I just loved it.”

Having graduated early from Wawasee in February, Turner has been waiting to get down to Manchester and run for coach Brian Cashdollar.

Turner, who ran cross country in the fall for coach Doug Slabaugh, was awarded the Leadership Award for her team. Turner ran a season-best of 23:07 at the Northern Lakes Conference round robin stop two at Warsaw, and had a personal best 22:22 as a freshman.

“Super excited for Autumn and I just know that she is going to bring a lot of energy and excitement to the team there and do what she can to help the team,” Slabaugh said. “A new environment will be good for her. Excited to see her excel at the next level. She has always vocalized about a dream to run in college and now to see it come true, that’s pretty awesome.”

Turner ran in the 24-minute range for much of her senior season, but has bought into a program Cashdollar is implementing at Manchester. Turner is confident those 24’s will drop quickly.

“When he explained the program and workouts, it was more individualized, if I am running 23s now, bet I will be in the 21s when the fall season ends,” offered Turner. “It’s something that really interests me. The workout plan of being able to shave off three or four minutes really interests and motivates me.”

Turner, the daughter of Samantha and Eric Kiser and Michael Turner, is an exceptional student athlete, evident by an 11.55 GPA (on a 12-scale). She is ranked No. 14 in her graduating class and has been involved with Dollars For Scholars, National Honor Society and was a Scholar Athlete. The proud Wawasee graduate is looking to major in finance and minor in sociology at Manchester University.

“My grandma, aunts, they all worked in banks and I’ve always had an interest in finance,” noted Turner. “Sociology has always been something I’ve been interested in and want to learn more about.”