ABERDEEN — Aberdeen High School track and field standout Bryan Sidor has decided where he will compete at the collegiate level.

Sidor signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Central Washington University in Ellensburg at a signing ceremony on Thursday at Aberdeen High School.

“I picked Central because it’s fairly close to home. It’s in state and I really liked the atmosphere there,” said Sidor, who placed second in the 2A State Championships last season in his flagship event, the 400 meters. “Some of the runners I met (at Central) were very nice and the coach is a really nice guy.”

Sidor has come a long way in a few short years, becoming a sought-after athlete after a mediocre beginning to his prep career.

“My sophomore year, I was kind of in the middle of the pack. I was an average runner and I never even really considered college,” said the Bobcats senior who currently holds the best mark in the 400 and No. 2 time in the 200 in the 2A section this season. “I thought about it. I said to myself that if I really worked hard enough maybe I can get some sort of offer from some really small school, which I’m OK with. But then I worked hard last year and thought, ‘OK, I can actually compete at a level in college instead of just walking on.’”

Competing is putting it lightly, as most of Sidor’s competitors have seen little else but the back of his spikes this season.

Sidor has dominated the track this season, winning 10 of 11 400-meter events this season and all nine 200-meter races he’s competed in. And Sidor is running his best at the right time, posting a personal-best 22.06 to win the 2A District IV championship on Saturday and a smoking-fast PR time of 49.27 in the 400 at the same meet.

With the all-important decision of which college to attend looming, Sidor admitted the stress of it all had an effect on his performances earlier in the season, he added that he has overcome those mental hurdles.

“Earlier in the year, I was a little more stressed and serious along the lines of college scholarships because if I got my times down the coaches would offer me more,” he said. “It was a little stressful because I was always shooting for better marks and I wasn’t really running. … But I like to take it one step at a time, so I’m really focused on the state meet and after that I’ll be preparing for college.”

Sidor, who stated his choices came down to Central Washington and George Fox University in Oregon, plans on studying kinesiology and physiology in college.

“My initial thought was I wanted to keep athletics in my life after high school and college,” he said. “I want to get into athletic training so I wanted to study the right subjects I needed for that. Central has exactly what I want.”

But Sidor is not done with his prep career just yet, as he is one of a select few favorites to win a 2A state title in both the 200- and 400-meter races.

Not too shabby for a young man that just a few short years ago was considered an “average runner.”

“If you do put your mind to something you can do it,” Sidor said. “You don’t have to limit yourself to what you say you are.”