HAYFIELD — A Hayfield girls basketball player is headed to a familiar place to play college basketball next season after she finishes her senior season for the Vikings.

Jordyn Krekling, a 5-foot, 10-inch senior guard, recently signed a letter-of-intent to play basketball at Minnesota State University next season and she also received a partial athletic scholarship.

The Mavericks, who went 32-2 and won the Division II national title last season, are hoping to utilize Krekling’s defense and her jump shooting ability to boost their team.

“They just run up the court and shoot threes all day and that’s kind of what I like to do,” Krekling said. “I’m really excited about it and hopefully this year (with Hayfield) gets me ready for it.”

Hayfield head coach Fred Kindschy said that Krekling, who was recruited by a few Division II and III schools, was glad to get the decision over with before the start of the season, which begins Monday, Nov. 30 in Southland for the Vikings.

“When the coaches call it’s kind of fun (for an athlete) to be wooed by them but after awhile it’s kind of a daunting problem and players can get sick of it and just want to be done with it,” he said.

The wait to sign was especially agonizing for Krekling, who has been hampered by a wrist injury for much of the last year. She missed all of volleyball season this past fall while recovering from surgery and she was slowed down over the summer with her AAU team, the Minnesota Fury.

“It was frustrating during AAU because I couldn’t play my best. It would get so sore,” she said. “Then I had surgery and people saw me with a cast on and said ‘what’s going on with that.’ I’m doing a lot better now and I’m doing strengthening workouts.”

Krekling is very familiar with MSU’s home arena, the Taylor Center in Mankato. She’s played there in the Section 2AA tournament in years past and next year she’ll play on it on a nightly basis.

“The first time I ever played there it was kind of intimidating, but now I’ve got a feel for it so that’s kind of nice to know (that’s where I’ll be playing),” Krekling said.

After making a recent official visit to MSU, Krekling is now familiar with the team. She said the squad was nice and she felt welcome right away.

“When I was there I kind of knew I would fit in with them,” she said.

Krekling’s already familiar with one of her future Maverick teammates, Lizzie Stenhaug, a senior at Rochester Century. Stenhaug was a teammate with Krekling on the Fury. She also signed with MSU and the two will likely room together next year.

As far as playing time goes, Krekling, who averaged 13.4 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals last season, isn’t sure whether she’ll red-shirt or not her freshman year. But two things are for sure — she definitely has the ability to eventually play at the Division II level and she’ll help make Hayfield a contender to get back to state this winter.

“Jordyn brings a lot of athleticism,” Kindschy said. “She’s long and she’s tall and she causes a lot of problems in the high school game because of her defensive skills. You put her ability to shoot the basketball on top of that and it makes us a very solid team.”

The Vikings took fourth at the Class ‘AA’ state tournament two years ago and Krekling was selected to the all-tournament team that season. She currently has 868 points 389 career rebounds and is a two-time All-Hiawatha Valley League selection.