After helping Merced cross country make history, where is this star headed to next?

Quinn Hagerman helped the girls cross country team make history during her time at Merced High with back-to-back Central California Conference championships.

The first title in 2016 snapped a 29-year championship drought for the Bears.

Hagerman will be joining a college team that is coming off a history making season. The Southern Utah University women’s cross country team qualified for the NCAA national championships for the first time in the program’s history.

Hagerman signed her national letter of intent to accept a cross country and track & field scholarship to Southern Utah University on Wednesday during a ceremony in the Merced High gymnasium in front of family, teammates and friends.

“I’m so thankful and excited,” Hagerman said. “It means a lot that I’m being recruited by a team that made school history by competing for a national championship for the first time.”

Hagerman left her mark at Merced as one of — if not the best — female long distance runner in Bears history. She was a three-time CCC MVP and qualified for state meet three times. She finished ninth in the Division III race at the state meet as a junior with a time of 18 minutes and 32.6 seconds.

Hagerman finished 35th this past weekend at the state meet with a time of 19:19.1.

Hagerman is also a two-time Merced Sun-Star Cross Country Athlete of the Year. She also holds most of the long distance track records at Merced High.

“When Quinn put on her running shoes for the first time in third grade, I never thought it would come to this point,” said her father and Merced High coach Tim Hagerman. “Running has been a big part of her life. She lives and dies by her performances.”

Quinn said she gravitated to cross country after starting out as a soccer player when she was a kid.

“If you saw me play soccer you would know I couldn’t do much of anything when I was younger,” she said. “There wasn’t a lot athletically that I was good at. I did play soccer, but the only thing I enjoyed was running around the field while everyone else was tired.”

In sixth grade, Hagerman was encouraged to join the cross country team by her friend’s mom, who was also the cross country coach at her school. She’s been running ever since.

“I was good at it and like anything you’re good at, I stuck with it,” Quinn said.

Her college choice came down to Washington State and Southern Utah University. She liked both schools, but felt the smaller college was the best fit for her.

“The campus is surrounded by mountains, wilderness and trees,” said Hagerman, who has a 4.35 GPA at Merced and plans to double-major in hospitality business management and marketing at Southern Utah.. “It was kind of s surprise. When you think of a college, you think of somewhere like UC Davis with the town or city. SUU has this homey feeling. It has like a max 9,000 students. I feel like I will develop better as a student and an athlete at the smaller school.”