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BLOOMING PRAIRIE -— Blooming Prairie senior Annaka Forsberg is already one of the best high jumpers in the state of Minnesota, and now she’ll be lifting the bar even higher as she aims to leap at a national level.

Forsberg, who won the last two Class A state titles in high jump, signed her national letter-of-intent to compete with the track and field team at Division I Coastal Carolina University next season at Blooming Prairie High School Thursday.

Forsberg took a brief moment to let a smile loose after her signing as she became the first BP track and field athlete to sign with a Division I school in 19 years.

“It was a lot of work. I’ve always thought about what I wanted to do after high school and I definitely wanted to go to college,” Forsberg said. “To have that weight lifted off my shoulders, it’s going to be super fun to put my all into my last year of high school and get ready to compete in college.”

To compete for the Chanticleers, Forsberg will be moving 1,285 miles southeast of BP as Coastal Carolina is located in Conway, South Carolina. Forsberg chose a school near the ocean largely because she wants to study marine biology.

“My major was my major factor as far as where I was going to look,” Forsberg said. “Once I narrowed it down to the coast, track started to factor in and I really like the team and the program at Coastal Carolina. It’s going to be a huge change and I can’t wait for it to be warm.”

Forsberg won a state title in high jump this past spring with a height of 5-feet, 4-inches and she took home her first state title in high jump when she cleared a height of 5-6 at the state meet in 2022.

Forsberg finished fourth in the state high jump as a freshman in 2021. She holds the BP school records in the high jump and triple jump, where she took sixth place at the state meet last season.

Forsberg has shown a lot of resilience over the years to invest heavily in a sport that involves a lot of falling down and occasional frustration for anyone looking to push themselves to their limits.

“You just have to push through every day,” Forsberg said. “I think it’s my love for track that has carried me through.”

Coastal Carolina competes in the Sun Belt Conference.