Best friends are attending Ripon
Flink, Telschow sign to compete in college sports
By Casey Krautkramer
Lifelong best friends Chase Flink and Oscar Telschow, both currently seniors at Stratford High School, signed their official letters of intent on Friday to play college sports at Division III Ripon College.
Chase is the son of Tony and Stacy Flink and he’ll be playing football for the Red Hawks in fall. Oscar is the son of Mark and Olivia Telschow and he plans to run both indoor and outdoor track for the Red Hawks next spring.
Both young men were honored to sign their college letters of intent together at the same table. “It’s pretty cool because I never thought my childhood best friend Chase and I would be attending the same college,” Oscar said before he and Chase convened at the table to sign their college letters in the Stratford High School gym lobby.
Right now they are unsure whether they’ll be able to room together at Ripon College, but regardless, Chase is happy his buddy Oscar is coming along with him.
“Oscar and I have known each other since we were children, so it’s nice he’s attending Ripon College too,” Chase said.
Aside from Ripon College, Chase also received interest from the following list of college football programs: Division 2 Winona St. and Concordia St. Paul in Minnesota and Northern St. in South Dakota, Division 3 UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Grand View University in Iowa.
Chase discovered the UW-River Falls football program was similar to Ripon College, but his heart told him to play for the Red Hawks instead of the Falcons.
“Back in June I attended the Ripon College prospect football camp, and I built a strong connection with all the coaches that day,” he said. “I also toured Ripon College that same day and I was in complete shock of their football facilities. I knew at that moment I was going to be attending college there next fall. The Ripon College football coaches were impressed with my strong leg and hands, and I’ll most likely play wide receiver or punt the football.”
Chase plans to major in either sports management or physical education at Ripon College.
Oscar, the son of Mark and Olivia Telschow, chose to run track for Ripon College over these other colleges who also showed interest in him: Division 3 Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee and Viterbo University in La Crosse, and NAIA Missouri Valley College.
“I chose Ripon College because it was a place where I felt the most at home; I liked the community and everything the school had to offer,” Oscar said. “I plan to compete in both indoor and outdoor track while at Ripon College, and its coaches believe I will be a valuable hurdler and triple jumper for them. I intend to major in education, preferably elementary, at Ripon College.”
Chase will consider joining Oscar on the college track team, in order to help him stay in physical shape for each football season.
