Harrison to play for Dartmouth

Senior Eli Harrison will soon fulfill his childhood dream of playing college basketball. In the fall Harrison will head back east to play basketball for Dartmouth College, a prestigious Division 1 university in the Ivy League.

Dartmouth is a private Ivy League university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was founded in 1769, is one of the nine colleges founded before the American Revolution, and is the smallest school in the Ivy League.

Schools in the Ivy League are not allowed to give athletic scholarships, but Harrison's 3.9 GPA and SAT score of 1,980 was more than enough to earn him the coveted Dartmouth scholarship, which will cover a very large portion of his tuition and room and board. The remainder will be covered through financial aid.

"The scholarship offered to me is just awesome, and I think my parents are pretty stoked about it, too," said Harrison.

For the past four years Harrison has played at the wing position for the Outlaws and over that time has piled up some impressive stats. Eli broke the single-game record with 38 points and holds the single-season scoring record with 519 points. Harrison has scored a total of 1,108 career points.

Sisters High School Coach Rand Runco told The Nugget that it has been exciting for him to watch Eli grow as a player and as a person.

"Eli has always been a very good shooter, but really learned to score and is so versatile as a player," Runco said. "He can score at the rim, from the three-point line and his mid-range is incredible. His mid-range jumper is what really separates Eli offensively from other players. That is what college coaches were the most impressed with in his play."

Harrison helped his teammates make it to the playoffs and state his freshman and sophomore years. Last season Eli helped lead the Outlaws to a 24-5 record. They reached the final four at Gill Coliseum and battled against what Runco calls the best field of teams in state history.

Harrison wrapped up his junior year with several awards. Eli was selected Player of the Year in the Sky-Em Conference, was a first-team all-state tournament pick and earned first-team all-state recognition. His sophomore year he was selected first-team all-league.

At the start of the 2012-2013 season, Harrison was averaging 19.5 points, eight rebounds and four assists per game in pre-season play. Unfortunately after just one league game Harrison was unable to play due to a serious lower back strain. The injury was a huge disappointment, both to Eli and to the Outlaws squad.

Runco said, "Having an injury is one of the most difficult things for an athlete to overcome, and Eli had such great goals for his senior year. Eli has been amazing. Instead of being down he has turned his energy into encouragement for our younger players. Even though he hasn't been on the court he has been an incredible leader and steady inspiration for his teammates. This year has been such a difficult one for Eli, and watching his maturity and how he has handled it has been amazing. He is an unselfish person and a great teammate. Dartmouth will be getting a great person and a great player."

Harrison has worked toward his goal of playing basketball at the Division 1 level since he was in first grade. Eli started traveling competitively in middle school. The summer before his freshman year in high school, Eli joined the Oregon D1 Ambassadors based out of Portland, and traveled extensively in the off-season. Harrison made the trek to Portland twice a week for practices in the spring and during the summer months played in tournaments all over the country, including Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and several tournaments in Seattle.

This past summer while Harrison was playing in a tournament in Dallas, a recruiter from Dartmouth took notice and the recruiting process began. Eli was invited for an official visit in October of 2012. Harrison told The Nugget he loved everything about the campus, the coaches and the team. Eli was able to stay with a player in the dorm, watch scrimmages, and take in a couple of basketball games.

"I loved it!" said Harrison. "It was really a cool campus. Everyone was so nice, and I liked the coach a lot. That kind of did it for me."

Harrison told The Nugget that he wouldn't have been given such a great opportunity without the help of many people, especially his parents.

"My parents sacrificed a lot and drove me to all those practices and my dad made it to almost every tournament. I can't express how thankful I am they were willing to do that for me."

Eli also expressed thanks to his coaches.

"Rand Runco, Randy Burdick and Rob Jensen have coached me all four years here at SHS," said Harrison. "They put a lot of time and effort into the program and they've done a great job helping me with my game. They encouraged me to never be satisfied and always pushed me to be better."

Harrison added, "I'm also thankful to my travel coaches, Nabor Pina and Dane Walker who gave me the chance to try out for the D1 Ambassadors. They taught me tools to use at the next level, and without them I don't know if I would have gotten this opportunity."

Harrison mentioned that his teachers at SHS were also instrumental in his success.

"Dartmouth is a very rigorous academically, and I appreciate everything the teachers at SHS have done to help get me to this point," said Eli. "They care so much about their subject and their students and genuinely want us to be successful."

Eli will head back east in early August to get settled in and will begin practice in September.