King’s Fork High School senior Sonora Curliss has taken a history in the pool that extends back to when she was in second grade and made it a platform for reaching the college level.

She formally committed to swim for Milligan College in Tennessee during a recent signing ceremony held at Oakland Christian Church.

“It was definitely a big accomplishment,” she said. “It’s been a goal of mine since middle school.”

Curliss first swam as a member of the YMCA Gators. Later when she was in eighth grade, she started swimming for the Old Dominion Aquatic Club, which she said definitely helped her abilities grow so she could be prepared for the college level.

She is a four-year letterman in swimming at King’s Fork, where she currently holds records in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle, the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke.

During her career, she also won conference titles in those same events and twice in the 100 back.

Excited for Curliss’ signing, King’s Fork coach Erin Manning said, “It’s great for her. We’re really proud of how hard she’s worked.”

Recalling what Curliss brought to the Lady Bulldogs, Manning said, “She gets us points in every meet, she’ll swim anything you need her to, which is really helpful in the King’s Fork program,” where year-around swimmers are not in great abundance.

“I think it’s great that she’s going to be able to move on and swim in college,” Curliss’ ODAC coach Karen Keenan said. “I would say that she’ll bring some leadership to a college team. I think Sonora’s a good role model and a good leader.”

Curliss’ mother, Sharon Curliss, said she could not be prouder of her daughter’s decision to sign.

“(It) just feels like she’s all grown up already,” Sharon Curliss said. “That’s a contract she’s signing. It just was a big step in the right direction to become a young adult.”

Sonora Curliss signed for a partial athletic scholarship that should cover about a third of her school bill.

Later on, “I should be receiving an academic scholarship,” she said.

The college selection process for Curliss came down to Chowan University and Milligan, both of which she said her dad had discovered online while looking at National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics schools.

She visited Milligan’s campus in July of 2015.

“I went back in February and stayed overnight with a girl on the team and got to practice,” Curliss said. “It was February where I was really sold on it.”

While coaches there talked to her about the swimming program, she said, “It was definitely nice to talk to somebody who was actually in the shoes of being a student-athlete there.”

Getting to experience the team’s routine there also afforded her an important and appealing insight.

“I like how the coaches at Milligan are going to run their practices, because it’s very similar to how my club team is,” she said.

Chowan was a firm No. 2 option for Curliss, but it was only an hour away from home. Another point in favor of Milligan for her was that it provided more of an opportunity for her to be out on her own because it is farther away.

Sharon Curliss said she liked that the school was far enough away to allow her daughter to feel independent, “but close enough that we can be there in a heartbeat.”

And she added, “That it’s a Christian college is phenomenal.”

In terms of academics, Curliss is interested in becoming a dentist. At Milligan, “they have a pre-dental program that I’ll be a part of,” she said.