Two Ellensburg High School (EHS) students signed their National Letters of Intent (NLI) on Nov. 10 to continue their education and athletic careers in Ellensburg at CWU: Rylee Leishman and Joshua Boast

Leishman, senior at EHS and CWU women’s basketball commit, said, “It’s just something that I have prayed about … [CWU] is where I want to go.”

Leishman plays guard for EHS and assisted the team to a state championship in March. 

Another CWU commit, Boast, signed to continue his running career on CWU’s track and field team. 

Boast is a versatile track athlete, participating in multiple events including the 110m high hurdles, triple jump, long jump and the 4×100; this spring season Boast also expects to run the 300m hurdles. 

“I initially started in seventh grade … From there I kind of just excelled,” Boast said. 

These athletes have been representing Ellensburg the last four years through EHS, now they get to identify under the town’s only university.

“I have built relationships with people of the community, where being able to play in front of them for another four years is truly amazing,” Leishman said. 

According to Leishman and Boast, they both expected to go to college outside of Ellensburg, but when opportunities arose, they could not deny them.

“I’ve always wanted to go out of town and see other places … but Central was automatically on my list,” Boast said. 

Leishman said, “In the beginning I was like, ‘No, I want to go out of state or at least out of my hometown.’ I wanted something new.”

According to Leishman, it wasn’t until she traveled out of state for a basketball tournament that she realized she wanted to stay in Ellensburg and attend CWU. 

“I was in Ohio for a basketball tournament with my mom and just all of a sudden I was like ‘I can’t leave, I can’t imagine not having my family at every game,’” Leishman said. 

Boast, being a triathlete in track and field, football and basketball, said he didn’t expect to continue running throughout college until the end of his junior season. 

“I didn’t see myself running track until last year because I went to state last year for the first time so I was like, ‘Dang I gotta start looking for places to run for,’” Boast said. 

Boast and Leishman will be graduating from EHS this upcoming spring. Leishman prepares to enter CWU’s elementary education program, while Boast’s choice is a toss up between sports medicine and aviation.