Michael Fauser, a senior distance runner at Boone Grove High School, signed a letter of intent to attend St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, IN, on Tuesday, April 20th, in the media center at Boone Grove High School.
Fauser’s parents, Jim and Dawn Fauser, were in attendance, along with his grandparents Matt and Carolyn Such, and his aunt and uncle, Mike and Michelle Richardson. Boone Grove administrators attending included Principal Garry DeRossett, Assistant Principal Ben Parrish, and Athletic Director Doug Knutson, and Fauser’s high school coaches, Reggie Flesvig (cross country) and Bob Witt (track & field). Members of the Boone Grove student publications class were also in attendance to cover the event for the school’s media outlets.
Fauser selected St. Joe’s over a number of other universities that included Olivet Nazarene, Wabash, University of Indianapolis, Grand Valley, and Butler.
“I like the coach (Bill Massoels) and what he had to say,” said Fauser. “The teammates seemed like a good fit. I liked their personalities, and their goals were the same as mine,” he added.
Fauser will compete for St. Joe’s in cross country and track, where he expects to run the steeplechase and the 1500m or 5,00m.
Fauser, who plans to study physical therapy, said St. Joe has everything he was looking for in a college academically as well. At Boone Grove High School, Fauser maintains a 3.7 GPA and ranks 25th in his class of 139 students. These statistics earned him academic wall of fame honors.
In his cross country career at Boone Grove High School, Fauser was sectional champion in 2008 and 2009 and advanced to the semi-state meet both of those years. He has been PCC all-conference all four years and was conference champion in 2009. Fauser also received All-State Honors (3rd team) in 2009 by the IATCCC. In 2009 the PCC cross country coaches selected Fauser at the mental attitude award recipient in cross country. He was voted into the BGHS Athletic Wall of Fame earlier this year by the high school coaches.
In track and field at Boone Grove, Fauser has won sectional titles in the 3200m (2008), the 1600m (2008, 2009), and was conference champion in the 1600m (2008, 2009), 3200m (2008), 800m (2009) and pole vault (2009). He also holds the school records in the 1600m (4:29), 800m (2:01), 4x400m (3:35), and 4x800m (8:24).
At Boone Grove High School Fauser is also involved in the Student Athletic Advisory Council, Natural Helpers, the BG Wrestling Club, and the student athletic trainers. Besides running, Fauser participated in wrestling during his entire high school career and advanced to regional competition in his junior and senior seasons.
Fauser’s father Jim said he was proud of his son because he “stayed grounded through all of his successes.” But he was most proud of his son’s academic successes, especially the academic wall of fame honor.
Fauser’s mother Dawn noted that his high school career went by too quickly. “I was most proud of his maturity level and how he balanced everything,” she said.
Fauser’s uncle, Mike Richardson, pointed out all of the extra hours, hard work, and mileage his nephew has put in over the past four years to earn this scholarship, an award that has the value of approximately $120,000 over four years, according to Athletic Director Doug Knutson.