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Craig — When Brian Ivy signed his letter of intent to triple- and long-jump with the track team at Concordia University next year, it completed an improbable run.

Cheryl Ivy, Brian’s mother, said the moment almost never happened.

“When Brian was 12, he had a drowning accident here at the high school pool,” she said. “We almost lost him that day, and every day since then he has embraced life.”

Cheryl and Preston Ivy, Brian’s dad, said they have watched every football, basketball and track game the Moffat County High School senior has participated in knowing it may have never been.

“Every time we see him jump, run, tackle — we love it,” she said. “We think back to that day, and we’re proud of him.”

“It’s a miracle,” Preston said.

Brian said the accident has fueled him to give his all.

“Not just in sports, but in everything,” he said. “You don’t do anything for yourself; you do it for God.”

After signing his letter of intent to attend Concordia University in Seward, Neb., Brian will have a chance to continue his comeback.

“I started in seventh grade,” he said. “I couldn’t see this happening when I started.”

Brian was given academic and athletic scholarships to study pre-chiropractic or sports medicine.

He said he looked at several other schools but had a good feeling about Concordia.

“This summer, when we were visiting colleges, I just had a good feeling about it,” he said. “I like that it’s a Christian school.”

Cheryl said they settled on Concordia after a lengthy search.

“We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching schools,” she said. “We wanted a school that had a good academic program for what he is going into, as well as a good track team with the right atmosphere.”

But sometimes just seeing the campus is enough, Cheryl said.

“After all that research, we went to Concordia, and I knew that it was the right choice, but I didn’t want to say that to him,” she said. “I wanted him to choose where he wanted to go.”

Cheryl added that the school’s small size made it feel more personable.

“There’s a real atmosphere of family there,” she said. “You can feel it when you walk on campus. They have brand new facilities, a new indoor track, everything is really high-tech and the dorms are the nicest dorms I have ever seen.”

The positives spread out even further than the campus, Cheryl said.

“The town is small, kind of like Craig, but he’s within 20 minutes of a city,” she said. “As a parent, I like the Christian atmosphere.”

Like blue and white, Cheryl and Preston Ivy were a constant at Moffat County varsity football games this past season.

When Brian starts his track season at Concordia, they will try to make it to as many meets as possible.

“Probably not every meet, because they are in Iowa and Nebraska and South Dakota,” Cheryl said. “But hopefully once a month.”

High school coaches Lance Scranton and Ken Olinger have watched Brian get better year-to-year in football and track.

“He’s a hardworking kid and he really dedicated himself to get better by working out,” Scranton said. “I think the reason Brian has been successful in track is because he’s a three-sport athlete.”

Future generations of Moffat County athletes could learn from Brian, Scranton said.

“You always miss the ones who are coachable — the ones who really work hard,” he said. “It’s always difficult to replace someone like that, and we hope kids coming up learn from his example. We do have kids who have learned from his example of, ‘If you want something, you go out and work at it.’”

Brian said his departure from Moffat County High School would be good and bad.

“I’m excited just to go somewhere new for a while,” he said. “But, I’m going to miss all my friends and my family. I spend almost every hour of my day with my friends.”

Luckily for Brian, one thing won’t change for the foreseeable future, as Concordia’s mascot is the Bulldogs and the uniforms are blue and white.