Carly Pendleton is joining her two older sisters at the collegiate level, but it's not where you might think.

Pendleton, a Woodmore senior who finished second in the discus at last year's Division III state track and field meet, was scheduled to sign a national letter of intent to compete for Ohio State next fall. Pendleton's father, Woodmore assistant track coach Mike Pendleton, confirmed his daughter's intentions on Monday.

“We're proud of her,” Mike said. “We had to do some heavy negotiating, but it all worked out for the good. Ohio State has been reluctant to recruit real heavy in Ohio in women's track. We went down for a visit – we had two unofficial visits and one official – and it worked out great.”

Carly, 18, was to sign a letter of intent on Friday afternoon in the Woodmore High School library.

Carly and Erin Pendleton

Her sisters, Emily and Erin, both compete in the throwing events at the University of Michigan.

“The Ohio State head coach (Karen Dennis), we're sitting at the table and she said to Carly, 'So what are Emily and Erin going to think when you become a Buckeye?' ” Mike said. “I said, 'You don't have to worry about that.' I told her I would support that.”

Carly will be the favorite to add to her sisters' discus legacy at this year's D-III state meet. She finished second at last year's state meet behind senior Joh'Vonnie Mosley from McDonald.

Emily, a four-time state discus champion, holds the all-time D-III state record; Erin, a two-time state champion, holds the D-III state meet record and the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium record.

Emily, a senior at Michigan, redshirted this season because she wants to try out for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. She placed 10th at the NCAA Championships last June. Erin, a sophomore at Michigan, placed 12th at last year's NCAA Championships.

Mike Pendleton said Carly also had a solid financial aid offer from Miami (Ohio) University.

“The next day Ohio State came through, and I'm real happy about it,” Mike said. “Carly will graduate with no college debt and that's the big cheese. I told Carly she needed to come up with about a dozen reasons why she wants to be a Buckeye. In my opinion, Miami's new throws coach (Ross Richardson) was one of the best coaches in the Big Ten last year at Purdue.

“The nice thing for us is, as a family, now I can go to all my girls' meets and watch all three of my kids. I had to buy my first scarlet and gray stuff the other day, but it's all well and good.”

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