Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – In the time leading up to her first days as a high schooler Callie Levin began compiling goals for her prep basketball career.

The goal list for Levin mentioned milestones shared by many high school hoopers like winning seasons and state tournament trips.

Before playing in her first high school game Levin added a milestone that she didn’t have included on her list.

A freshman guard at Solon, Levin picked up her first first scholarship offer from Arkansas earlier this month.

“When this opportunity came I was just star struck to be given an opportunity like that this young,” Levin said. “I didn’t think I’d get an offer like that but now that I did it just makes me want to work that much harder and it makes me determined to chase my goals.”

A 5-foot-8 point guard, Levin spent the summer months playing with the All Iowa Attack.

Levin drew the attention of college coaches when she played up several grade levels with the Attack’s team on the Nike EYBL circuit.

One of the college programs that was immediately intrigued by Levin was Arkansas which made contact through Solon coach Jamie Smith.

When Arkansas coaches told Levin during a phone call they wanted to speak with her parents she could sense something big was coming.

“(All Iowa Attack) gave me the opportunity to play up and a lot of coaches saw that,” Levin said. “When I got in touch with the head coach he asked me to get my parents and offered me the scholarship. It was really awesome that this young, someone would put the trust in me to give me an offer. It was just a crazy moment.”

The offer came as a surprise to Levin but Smith knew it was only a matter of time before college coaches came calling even for a player yet to play a high school game.

“I think number one is she has a very high IQ and that comes from playing quite a bit of basketball,” Smith said. “Her shooting has gotten better and she has a motor. People look at everything else like the shooting or scoring but she has a motor and she can really defend.”

Smith described Levin as a player that makes those around her better.

It was her ability to score that she says first drew the attention of the Arkansas staff.

“They told me a big part of it was I fit into their offense really well because they like to shoot and I like to shoot,” Levin said with a smile.

Even with an early scholarship offer Levin is still focused on the goals she had previously set.

Starting with getting Solon to a state tournament.

Levin joins a Solon lineup that returns four starters and its top two scorers including Callie Levin’s older sister Makinley Levin who is already a two-year starter for the Spartans.

“I watch my older sister play and that has excited me even more to get started,” Levin said. “I’ve set some goals for this high school season as a team and individually. It’s going to take a lot of work but I’m willing to put in the work.”

Solon went from a three-win season in Smith’s first season to 9-13 a year ago when the Spartans dropped their Class 3A regional opener at home to Vinton-Shellsburg.

With only two seniors graduated from last year’s roster expectations are growing.

“We talked about it last year it was a big deal to get a home game in the tournament and we talked about how we asked for that,” Smith said. “Going into this year there is some excitement and we asked for that so we are going to have to deal with it.”

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