Out of the three Salisbury seniors who signed collegiate letters of intent last Tuesday at Bethlehem's The Goosemen, Katie Toman was the last to decide on the school of her future.

It wasn't necessarily a difficult decision for the Falcon track and field senior, it just took a bit longer than her two classmates.

After deciding just a few weeks before making it official on Tuesday, Toman chose to continue her track and field career at Lehigh University. Toman, last year's District 11 Class AA pole vault champion, sided with the Mountain Hawks over Bucknell, another Patriot League school.

"It's all been pretty sudden," Toman said. "I've been recruited by Lehigh for awhile now. I took a couple official visits, and after all of them I was like, 'This is the school for me.' It was kind of an easy decision."

Toman weighed a number of factors before joining the brown and white of Lehigh. In addition to her enjoyment of the coaching staff, she sought a school that offered a strong civil engineering program.

Lehigh was clearly the best fit.

And while some students entering college want the freedom of choosing a school relatively far away, Toman enjoyed the location of Lehigh.

"I really, really like the coach for Lehigh," Toman said. "That definitely made it a great decision. The fact that it was really close to home was also a factor. I've liked growing up with the school.

"It's a great school for engineering, which is what I plan on studying. Obviously academics are very important."

Being in the civil engineering program, Toman understands there will need to be a balance between her athletic career and studies. There's no better place to separate those two obligations than her favorite part of Lehigh's campus.

"I love the library," Toman said. "When I took my visit there, I sat in there for a good 10 minutes and was like, 'This is my school.'"

What made Lehigh even more of an easier choice was that Meagan Eripret, Toman's best friend and teammate for two varsity sports, committed to play basketball as a Mountain Hawk in the same room on Tuesday night.

"She committed awhile ago," Toman said. "Getting to go to college with your best friend is something really cool."

Toman still has a year of high school track and field to go, but she'll be a member of the Mountain Hawk family in less than a year.

"When I took my official visit, the emphasis on family as a team really, really influenced my decision," Toman said. "That's what I was looking for. I wanted a place where you always had a support group of people."

Toman won her first the district gold medal in pole vault as a sophomore with a mark of 11-0. She captured gold the following year with a mark of 11-6. And despite those accolades, she knew competing at a Division I college was a real possibility after finishing first at last year's New Balance Nationals.

"It really hit me last year at nationals," Toman said. "I ended up placing second in the emerging elite category, and I broke the emerging elite record. It was like, "Wow, I can actually do this.'"