Enshrined: Freeman Finds Way to Keep Competitive Flow Going
She’s thrown herself into everything from handball to hockey
Mike Brohard
Releasing the competitive nature is rather difficult for some athletes retiring from their main endeavor. Some will channel it into original pursuits. Others find a new activity.
Or, in the case of Kiah (Hicks) Freeman, multiple activities. Truth be told, she was pretty much built in such a manner from the start.
“You can’t tell (Colorado State head track and field coach Brian) Bedard, because he would be so mad when athletes played other sports,” she said. “That first day of orientation at the Ram Welcome, a bunch of people were playing volleyball on the sand courts. You’re trying to meet people and hang out and I started playing on the sand courts that first day and thought it was fun. My dorm in Newsom overlooked the sand courts. I would literally be doing my homework and counting to see if people had an odd number, and I’d run out and be, ‘I was walking by and it looks like you might be short, do you need a player?’ So, I played sand for a couple of years for fun while I was at CSU.”
To this day, she still plays volleyball. And ice hockey. Even handball. But her prowess as a two-time All-American thrower who was a four-time Mountain West individual champion – once as part of a conference-title team – is behind her.
And yes, Bedard would have been mad.
“I’m not excited to hear that,” he admitted. “She’d come to practice … ‘Why are you limping Kiah?’ I don’t know, I tweaked my ankle somehow. Now I know.”
She will be part of a nine-person class recognized during the annual All-Sports Reunion weekend, with the Hall of Fame Induction set for Friday, Oct. 27. The following day, the entered class will be recognized on the field during the State Pride football game with Air Force.
While playing sports helps keep her mind in a good place, so does her career as a pharmacist. Initially, it was hard for her to move from being a standout student-athlete to a fulltime student in graduate school, but she found an outlet.
She went to North Carolina for pharmacy school, a career path which had been in the back of her mind while in high school. While there, she started playing handball, then a bit of volleyball, too.
She now lives in Grand Junction with her husband, Ryan, working for the Intermountain Health System affiliated with St. Mary’s Medical Center.
“It’s been a blast. I love my career,” she said. “It was an inkling in my mind when I was going into college. In high school I was that kid who took four AP classes my senior year and had a 4.0 GPA and was in a million clubs. Getting to college was my big goal. When I got to college, I thought I had to figure out what I wanted to do eventually, and my mom had put pharmacy school on my radar in high school. She helped me shadow a couple of pharmacists. It seemed like something chill to do for the next 30-40 years.
I wasn’t passionate about it when I went to school, and then I got really luck my third year of pharmacy school because my friends said I would be really good in ambulatory care, which are pharmacist who work in an outpatient setting, working with patients one-on-one to get diabetes or blood pressure under control. I gave it a try and fell in love with it.”
She finished her pharmacy degree at the time when covid hit, entering a job market which became a bit wonky. The opportunity in Grand Junction has turned into a perfect life fit for the young couple.
The Western Slope is riddled with outdoor activities, which she said she and Ryan take full advantage of, from hiking Mount Garfield to mountain biking and rock climbing. Whatever presents itself, she signs up eagerly. And for fun, she’s participated in local plays, this year taking on Romeo and Juliet.
I think, is this fun or is this just the best way my body has found to get dopamine? I’m still searching for that answer.Kiah Freeman
But team sports are a major draw. Even those completely foreign to her.
“Here in Grand Junction, there’s a volleyball bar and they have league every night,” she said. “I met someone who knew somebody who was looking for players, and that’s how I got into it here.
“When we moved to Grand Junction the rink reopened with new ownership. My husband started playing and I went to watch his games as a good wife does. There are three leagues, and he was in the C league and his team was so bad, it was so painful to watch. I said, ‘babe, even I could play as well as your team.’ He said, ‘OK, then do it.’
“They started a program called Chicks with Sticks to increase women’s participation. I literally had not skated since I was a child. So, I didn’t know how to skate anymore, started from ground zero and now we play together. I’m pretty good in C league. I play in B league, and I skate as hard as I can, we’ll say.”
This does not surprise Bedard either.
Despite competing very much as an individual as a thrower, he said her best meets were always when something was on the line for the team.
“She’s very much into team sports and likes that dynamic. We saw it,” he said. “She was at her best when it was a conference championship meet as versus the NCAA Championships. She was a good basketball player, so I think it’s important to have that dynamic in her life. It doesn’t surprise me she plays hockey. She was the type of person ‘-- sure, let’s try it. She’s the kind of person who will jump in and give it a go.”
Bottom line for her, remaining active is paramount. At this point, it’s rather enjoyable to do something where fun is more of a goal that accolades. Not that she doesn’t still like that, too.
It’s the best way she’s found to remain in shape, though at times she longs for those days when she was a rather structured college athlete. She did try a master’s competition in track and immediately recalled why Bedard held her back so long in throwing the hammer. Some frustrations never leave a person.
“There are days I look back and I’m like man, I was so fit in college, I want to be fit again. Then I think, remember how hard you had to work?” she said with a laugh. “In the last couple of years, I’ve been able to slowly become less competitive and keep things in perspective. You’re playing volleyball and it’s like, this isn’t the NCAA Championships, there’s no scholarship on the line, no one is recruiting you, you’re not going to the NHL after this game. It’s OK. This is what it’s like to just play for fun. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to experience that.
“I think what I like about sports the most is being able to compete and the intensity which comes with it. I think, is this fun or is this just the best way my body has found to get dopamine? I’m still searching for that answer.”
As well as others. She thought the call informing her of her induction from Director of Athletics Joe Parker was a gag on somebody’s part. She had to double check.
When she saw his name on her phone her initial though was not about her.
“When I first got his voice mail, I thought they must be trying to build something really big if they’re having Joe Parker calling to ask for donations,” she said. “I was like, is it time to redo Moby? It was nice to hear his voice.
“When I called back and he said you’re in the Hall of Fame, I didn’t tell anybody for a month because I thought it was just a dream. I did tell my husband, because I was smiling so big there was no way to hide it, but I said don’t tell my family or friends, keep it on the DL until I find out it’s real. Then Matt Klein (CSU’s senior Associate AD for Business Operations/CFO) called me, and I said, so this is real, and he said yeah.”
Now, it’s a secret she can no longer bury in the sand.