Ottawa Hills Celebrates National Signing Day with two standout scholar-athletes

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (GRPS) -- Ottawa Hills High School Athletics celebrated signing day for two of their cross country and track & field athletes, Selma Anderson and Liam Walters.

Selma Anderson, who attends City High School and runs on the OHHS track team, signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Syracuse University next fall.  She says she plans to major in Biology or Biochemistry and run cross-country and track & field for the Orange.  Selma will join her brother, Benne, who signed with Syracuse last year.

With one track season remaining, Selma has established herself as one of the top female distance runners in the country. 

In November 2023, she placed second at the MHSAA D1 State finals in cross country running a time of 17:13 (5k), which is the school record. After the state meet, she went on to earn a runner-up finish at the Nike Cross Country Regionals in Terre Haute, Indiana, and then was 23rd at the Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland, Oregon.

Last spring, she broke school records in the 800m (2:12), the 1600m (4:48), and 3200m (10:28). She is also a member of the 3200m Relay team that holds the school record (9:41).  In her time competing for Ottawa Hills, she has been All-Conference four years in cross country and two years in track and field; All-Region four years in cross country and two years in track and field; and All-State three years in cross country and in the 1600m last year in track.  Selma won two individual conference titles in cross country and seven in track and field.  She is the most decorated female distance athlete in Ottawa Hills cross country and track and field history.

Liam Walters, who attends Museum School and runs as part of the OHHS team, signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Michigan Tech University next fall.  He will major in Mechanical Engineering and run cross-country and track & field for the Huskies. 

Before entering his final track season, Liam already ranks in the top five in Ottawa Hills history in the 800m (1:56), 1600m (4:26), 3200m (9:40) and 5k (15:50).  He was also a part of the record-setting 3200m relay team (7:51) that earned All-State honors placing 3rd at the state meet in 2022.  Liam has earned All-Conference honors four years in cross country and one year in track and field.  This fall he was the conference champion in cross country. 

The last two seasons he finished in the top 4 at regionals earning All-Region honors in cross country. He is a two-time state qualifier in cross country placing in the top 50 at the state finals. He is a two-time state qualifier in track and field earning All-State honors in the 3200m relay in 2022 and placing 13th in the 800m at last year’s state finals.

Selma and Liam are the sixth and seventh distance athletes to earn scholarships to run in college from Ottawa Hills in the last six years. [Jama Jama – Aquinas College (2018), Madison Ebright – GVSU (2021), Naomi Dykstra – Calvin University (2021), Juan David Hernandez – Aquinas College (2022), Adit Dau – Michigan State University (2022) and Benne Anderson – Syracuse (2023)].