Benedictine to benefit from Cosio’s declaration
Benedictine College may not have landed a more enthusiastic recruit during the past couple weeks than Solymar Cosio. She was interested, contact was established, information/statistics/video exchanged, an offer was made … and BOOM! Just like that, the Ravens scored a middle blocker eager to progress on multiple levels.
“I went on a youth travel group there last summer … and it just kind of helped me realize that it was such an awesome place to grow my faith,” Cosio noted. “And right after I decided in my heart that I was ready to go to Benedictine, they offered me a position … on their volleyball team. That was my last, like, sign that I was ready.”
“I love sports so much, and I’m so excited to go to a college that I love – I know I’ll love being there and love playing volleyball too,” she said, after being saluted before family, friends, coaches, teammates and supporters Thursday afternoon, March 28, for signing paperwork to become a BC student-athlete this fall. “And being back in this gym for, like, one last ‘little’ thing … I want to thank everyone that’s had a part in helping me become such an athlete; I’m just over-filled with joy. I just feel very blessed for all the experiences that I’ve had.”
Under third-year head coach Victoria Hurtt (now 51-39 overall at BC), a former NCAA Div. I player at Iowa State University, Benedictine – located roughly 45 minutes northwest of Kansas City, Kan., in iconic aviator Amelia Earhart’s hometown of Atchison – finished a solid 21-9 overall in 2023 after reaching the NAIA National Tournament for the first time in program history, but failing to advance into the 24-team pool-play phase or beyond.
Finishing 10-3 upon Dugan Jones Court inside Ralph Nolan Gymnasium, and posting a 12-5 mark in Heart of America Athletic Conference play, the Ravens’ historic season was cut short by an 18-25, 21-25, 6-25 loss to Park University in the Heart tournament’s semifinals, and then a 25-23, 11-25, 25-12, 8-25, 7-15 loss at University of Jamestown (N.D.; 2022 NAIA National Champion) inside a nervous Harold Newman Arena in the Nationals’ 48-team opening round.
Recruited as a front-row force, Cosio realized she’ll have to show and prove to earn court time for such a squad – set to graduate both a First Team and a Second Team All-Conference pick – but expressed readiness to go for each minute, not unlike the drive which helped her power Ignacio to a 21-8 finish and CHSAA Class 2A State Championships appearance in ’23.
“In the NAIA they definitely stress … not sitting on the bench – that’s why (teams) have a JV and a varsity,” she said. “And there’s a lot of JV teams in (Benedictine’s) area. They want me to play as a middle on their JV team? Improve on your skills, you never know where you could end up!”
Cosio credited current IHS head coach Jennifer Seibel with putting her over the top in terms of favoring volleyball over basketball – in which she was recently named Honorable Mention All-3A for the ’23-24 campaign.
“She was kind of a little bit shocked that I wasn’t going to play basketball!” Cosio recalled, accompanied by an amazed laugh. “She really instilled that new love of volleyball – like she did in middle school – with me, and just made me fall back in love with the sport this year. And that’s why I took no second (thought) to go play volleyball.”
“I love both sports so much and I’ve put so much time in. She and (IHS assistant coach) Cloe Vallejo have just helped me grow so much as an athlete and to want to keep improving.”
Academically, Cosio sounded as though she’d already commenced her studies.
“I’m interested in being an athletic trainer or a P.E. teacher,” she said, “so I want to study Exercise Science because I feel like it can lead me to many different pathways. I’m really interested to stay in sports and stay learning about the body – and help other athletes later on in life.”
“I definitely think we have a lot of gifted athletes here, and in the area in general,” Cosio said, “and it’s just been so awesome to see, like, since I was a freshman to a senior, the gym fills up more and more. I think just putting our names out there – looking here at athletes to come – is very important. If athletes want to go play in college, then they can do it! They just have to put their work in.”