BILLINGS — Just a couple months ago, Krista Kvilhaug and Macy Wegner were targeted for separate colleges. But a sport that strengthened their friendship changed that.
"She convinced me to play high school flag football," Wegner said of Kvilhaug.
That eventually led Wegner to sign with Hasting College (Neb.) while her best friend watched.
"I was just standing there thinking, 'This is so cool that she has an opportunity to get a scholarship and go on and play at the next level,'" Kvilhaug recalled to MTN Sports.
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College scholarships for women's flag football are new but rapidly gaining traction, though the idea wasn’t one Kvilhaug had really considered.
"I was going to go to Bozeman, do nursing,” she said.
But Wegner, after signing, encouraged her "bestie" to take a closer look at Hastings.
"I was like, 'You've got to just try the college. You've got to go out there and look at it.' And she just loved it," Wegner said.
Within a couple weeks, Kvilhaug had also signed with the Broncos. Q2's Athletes of the Week will help launch the college's first women's flag football program.
"I love the game, really liking being with her, playing with her, so that's really what kind of motivated it," Kvilhaug said.
Recently helping coach a flag football camp at West, the besties are set to become roomies at Hastings in a twist neither saw coming.
West flag football head coach Steve Nieto — rarely seen without sporting a visor — now has Hastings College added to his overwhelming collection.
"When Macy signed, I could just see Krista … she was happy and proud for her friend. But I could tell she was like, 'I want to play,'" Nieto said.
For Kvilhaug, it’s an ambition that also reflects something bigger: what women's flag football can offer athletes who might not fit the typical blueprint of other sports.
"It's hard in basketball; you have to be 6 feet (tall). Same in volleyball. Flag football just gives that opportunity, and here we are," she said with a smile.
