BUTTE — Kodie Hoagland is staying in Butte and "excited to stay home."
The four-time all-state Butte High golfer signed with her hometown college, Montana Tech, on Tuesday afternoon in the Hall of Fame Room in the HPER Complex, joining fellow Butte High product Kennedy Lean.
"When Kennedy signed it kind of made me more interested because I love being her teammate," said Hoagland, who made the decision to sign with Tech over the weekend. "I think that definitely had an impact."
Hoagland was also motivated to make her college decision official before she heads into basketball season this winter and softball in the spring.
"I think I just wanted to do it before I started every other season," she said.
The sister of former Montana Tech golfer Trey Hoagland, the Butte senior was winner of the Western AA divisional the past two seasons in the tournament's first two years.
She finished in the Top 15 at the State AA tournament all four years, and finished with a runner-up performance, finishing seven strokes behind Bella Johnson of Billings West.
For third-year Tech coach Sean Ryan, Hoagland is the latest recruit to his roster that is chock-full of homegrown talent. Every player he's recruited has been a Montanan.
"She really turned it on this year, was one of the leaders in the AA," said Ryan, who was also Trey's coach. "And for her to be the runner up really put a capstone on her high school golf career and I think she's gonna take it even further in her college career."
The Orediggers are now in a break through winter before the spring season begins in March. The focus is now on finals and finishing the fall semester strong.
"And then we'll turn it full force and start getting ready for the spring," Ryan said. "A really solid fall that we had on the men's and the women's side this year and excited to see where that takes us in the spring."
