ARGYLE — Colbea Harris has a confession.

“At first I hated running,” the two-sport Argyle star said. “I always told myself I can’t do it. I really did hate it.”

Not anymore.

After a successful junior campaign and with a promising senior season still ahead, Harris is in love with track, and her skills earned her a scholarship to compete at one of the best college track programs in the country for the next four years.

On Wednesday she signed a national letter of intent to run track and cross country for Texas A&M alongside teammate Sam Retzloff, who inked a letter of intent to pole vault for Indiana.

“I am really excited about this day,” Harris said. “This is just another step in my life. No longer am I in the high school bubble. It is just me moving into another chapter. It is exciting.”

It was hard for Retzloff to stop smiling on Wednesday.

“I’ve always wanted to know where I was going to college,” he said. “I have had lots of sleepless nights over it. So to finally get it done is just awesome.”

Retzloff and Harris are two of the most decorated athletes in Argyle’s track history.

Harris is the defending Class 3A state champion in the 3,200 and Retzloff won the gold medal in pole vault last season.

Harris is also a starting guard for the Argyle basketball team. Her dream growing up was to play basketball at the college level. But she slowly realized that she would benefit more from running track as her high school career moved along.

“It was hard for me to decide if I wanted to play basketball or if I wanted to run track,” Harris said. “But once A&M started calling I knew that is what I wanted to do. It was game over at that point.”

Retzloff also had a difficult time deciding what school would fit his liking. But when Indiana, which boasts one of the best pole vault programs in the country, came calling, he was quick to commit.

“It was a really tough choice at first,” he said. “I looked on the Internet to see what schools were good and I compiled a list of all their athletes and found out what they jumped in high school. And IU had a great success rate. So it made my decision easier.”

Retzloff is ranked the No. 1 pole vaulter in Class 3A and No. 3 in the state of Texas at the high school level.

 “I want to make a career out of this and become a world class athlete,” he said. “I want to go to the Olympics, and Indiana is the place I can get that done.”

Harris said she is looking forward to putting all of her attention on her track career instead of trying to balance the sport with basketball.

“I have never been real serious about it,” she said. “So I am excited to call off everything and put everything into track.”

MATTHEW MUENCH can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is mmuench@dentonrc.com .