This comes after the Nowra High School student was recently offered an athletic scholarship to study exercise science at Marshall University West Virginia from next year.

Check's college ambitions all originated from a chat with Australian distance runner Jessica Hull at the South Coast CHS Sports Awards two years ago.

"I had received a few messages from colleges through Instagram after they found me on the athletics world ranking list and I started researching into the idea from there," Check said.

"The idea [of attending college] appeals to me because it gives me the opportunity to train and study on campus in a team environment and be financially supported to pursue my dreams.

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"I look forward to the challenge of competing in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) division one and having the strong competition push me and improve my own performances, particularly in my pet event of heptathlon."

Following this, Check and her mum Janie started liaising with numerous US colleges, before deciding to join coach Don Yentes' team at Marshall University.

"After receiving some offers from colleges who had found me through world rankings, I researched a few other colleges that interested me," said the 18-year-old, who missed most of the 2021 season through an ingrown toenail injury (requiring three surgeries) and tearing her peroneal tendon (putting her in a cast for six weeks).

"Mum created me a webpage uploading my information with school reports, athletics achievements, personal bests and videos of me competing and sent the link to the coaches of the colleges I was interested in.

"A friend of mum's enjoyed the experience of competing in the US when she was younger, so we asked her for some advice and recommendations too.

"She put us in touch with her coach, Don Yentes, from 20 years ago.

"Mum asked him for his recommendation and he asked to see my competition videos, personal bests and school reports and replied that his recommendation was to 'sign with him at Marshall'.

"We had a few phone and video calls with the coaches and really liked coach Yentes and Marshall University, so I decided to accept their offer."

As part of the full scholarship, which is worth up to $300,000, all of Check's campus and meet accommodation, meals, flights, tuition, books and medical expenses are covered.

Not to mention a Nike sponsorship deal for apparel, which includes a new set of shoes for each event she competes at and a monthly cost of attendance cheque to spend on anything she likes.

All of this was originally slated to come to fruition in January but as with a lot of things over the past two years, COVID-19 interrupted.

"I was planning to fly over on January 4 and commence on January 10, but as COVID-19 has delayed the release of the HSC results, I will now be commencing in their August summer intake, which is when most students in the US commence anyway," said the Athletics Wollongong product, who finished the season by winning all seven Shoalhaven Zone Combined High Schools Athletics events she competed in, including breaking five records.

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Check, when she does arrive, is excited to take her performances to the next level.

"There is a lot more financial support allowing me to study and train without the need to balance working for an income," said Check, who also credited coach Peter Lawler and chiropractor Katrina Ward for helping her get to where she is today.

"Living on campus with an indoor track also provides facilities I can use every day to train.

"These will hopefully help me attain qualification for both the World Junior Championships and Commonwealth Games in the heptathlon as well as gaining selection to compete in the US division one nationals which are extremely competitive."

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