Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Eli Salisbury signs his National Letter of Intent to compete in track and field at North Dakota State University on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — With a quick scribble of the pen, the next step to Eli Salisbury’s athletic career was complete. The Marshall senior signed his National Letter of Intent on Tuesday to compete in cross country and track and field at North Dakota State University.

Salisbury said it was a relief to finally be committed and have this day come.

“It’s awesome. NDSU is a school that I wanted to go to since I was younger and just to be done with the recruiting process is nice,” Salisbury said. “I can run my whole senior year without worrying about college and I can have a stress-free track season.”

Salisbury said what ultimately drew him to NDSU was the proximity of the campus as well as being able to run at a high competitive level. He added he plans to major either in business and accounting.

“NDSU is pretty close to home, so if I ever get homesick it’s not a far drive and I’ll be running at a competitive level,” Salisbury said. “I just thought I’ve worked really hard for almost four years of high school to not run in college, I want to actually run and continue developing.”

Salisbury has been a key contributor to Marshall’s success on both the soccer field and the track throughout his time at MHS. He attributed that to the impact that his coaches and teammates have had on him.

In track, Salisbury said he’s been grateful for what coach Marie Sample has been able to help him accomplish.

“Sample’s been such a huge impact; I wouldn’t be anywhere without her,” Salisbury said. “She’s such a good coach and brought me so far and I can do nothing but thank her.”

Salisbury added that his teammates, both in soccer and track, have pushed him to improve each day.

“They push me every day. If I’m ever having an off-day where I didn’t get sleep or something, they’re there to push me and make me do better,” Salisbury said. “And that includes my soccer teammates; soccer’s also a lot of running and those guys have always pushed me to be better and made me have fun at practice. High school sports are an amazing experience.”

Before he heads up to Fargo next year, Salisbury will hopefully have one final spring with the Marshall track and field team. Salisbury said he’s looking forward to running in a meet again and participating in the larger events of the season.

“Just being able to run again; I haven’t raced in a year and a half,” Salisbury said. “And the larger meets like Howard Wood, Hamline, sections and state, those are so fun and such an adrenaline rush and key experience to run in, so I’m looking forward to all of those.”