By Weston Allenback, GoThunderWolves.com Insider

WIDEFIELD, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com - March 15, 2013) - Ask some of the top collegiate athletics recruiters around the country what ranks highest on their list of goals in any given year and near the top of that list you will find a common task. 

"Get the best players in my state."

The past few years, the CSU-Pueblo athletic programs have excelled in doing this, and it has done so by cornering the market on top athletes coming out of one high school with close geographical ties: Widefield High School, located just south of Colorado Springs in the community of Security/Widefield.

Though Widefield High has produced its fair share of talented athletes as its athletic programs are no stranger to Colorado state high school championship runs, many of them have eluded the CSU-Pueblo's attempt to get them in the red and blue Pack uniforms. 

Located just 35 miles north of Pueblo, Widefield not only shares a close proximity with Pueblo, but in recent years, it has also shared some of its best athletes. Five graduates from Widefield currently call CSU-Pueblo home, and just three years ago, these student-athletes might never have chosen CSU-Pueblo.   

"The athletic program here has been getting a lot better these past couple of years," said Evan Kenebrew (Jr. Colorado Springs, Colo.), one of the five Widefield graduates and a first-year member of the Pack baseball team. "Kids are looking at Pueblo as an up-and-coming school. We have great facilities, great trainers, and kids love playing here." 

Kenebrew along with Lonny Schoon (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) have made their presence known early on for the Pack baseball squad. However, Pueblo wasn't always somewhere they pictured themselves straight out of high school. 

"For me personally, Pueblo was a place I never wanted to be," said Schoon. "Coming out of high school I wanted to get away, but sometimes that isn't always the best thing to do. Here, you have good separation from home. It's a good school and has a good athletic program." 

The two transfer students are early in their CSU-Pueblo careers but haven't disappointed thus far. Schoon, a starting pitcher for the Pack, has started three games in the early part of the 2013 season, one of which he threw a complete game shutout. 

"It nice to play so close to home now," said Schoon. "You get to have your parents at the game, you can go home every now and then and get a home cooked meal."

Kenebrew is also having early success, currently third on the team in at-bats and boasting a .346 batting average.  He has regularly batted third or fourth in the order as an everyday starter this season for the ThunderWolves.  In the opening series of the RMAC season, he hit a game-winning double in the bottom of the eighth inning to close out a sweep of Metro State.  Earlier this week, he went 2-for-4 in a non-conference win over Colorado School of Mines, notching the game-winning run.

But perhaps the biggest reason the CSU-Pueblo athletic program has grown a great deal over the past few years has to do with the football program. With the success the ThunderWolf football program, which has won the past two RMAC Championships and gone 22-0 in regular season play, is attracting some of the state's best football players, two of which come from Widefield. 

Paul Browning (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) was the first impact player on the football squad to come out of Widefield. The key wide receiver has caught has caught 52 balls for 716 yards including seven touchdowns for the Pack in his two years of action. 

"I think at first I was a little skeptical that Pueblo is only an NCAA Division II program," said Browning. "But if I were to speak with anyone interested in coming down here, I would tell them not to worry about that kind of thing. If you work hard and do what you are supposed to do, you are going to get the opportunities you are looking for."

Browning was an All-State second-team selection as a member of the Gladiator football team at Widefield and had more than 1,100 all-purpose yards in his high school career. 

"It's nice coming from a place like Widefield where you don't necessarily win like we do here," Browning said. "You get here and they already have winning in their tradition. It isn't out of the norm to have an undefeated season."

Once Browning broke the ice, the following year the Pack signed another Gladiator, only this time it was a running back. 

Coming off a red-shirt season, Chris Ashe (So., Colorado Springs, Colo.) had one of the more impressive freshman season for the ThunderWolves in 2012. 

The 2011 Widefield graduate was a big-time recruit for the Pack. In his high school career, Ashe was considered one of the top backs in the state. Rushing for 2,143 yards in a single season while adding 29 touchdowns landed him All-State honors.  

"After I came here, I think Chris saw that this was a good opportunity," said Browning about his former high school and now ThunderWolf teammate. "I thought he would be one of those players that went to a much bigger school but he didn't and was able to see that what we have here is a winning tradition."

In his first season with the ThunderWolves, Ashe more than lived up to his reputation as a physical back with an act for finding the end zone. He scored six touchdowns and rushed for 420 yards despite missing time with injuries. 

Both Ashe and Browning have played key roles in the football team rise to legitimate national championship contenders over the past two seasons.

Another Widefield alum also hoists Pack colors, though he, like Ashe, has struggled with injuries and is now in limbo on the CSU-Pueblo baseball team.

Before coming down with a serious arm injury requiring Tommy John surgery, Kyle Clemens (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) was a serious asset to the ThunderWolves' pitching rotation a season ago. Clemens won eight games for the Pack in 2012, highlighted by a complete game shutout of New Mexico Highlandsm, allowing just four hits in seven innings of work. He would later earn All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors.  

The close proximity and emerging athletic department has opened the possibilities for the CSU-Pueblo athletic department to snatch a few of these talented athletes coming from not only Widefield, but Fountain, and other Colorado Springs schools as well.  As the years go on and the Pack's athletic success becomes more widespread, the population of Colorado Springs-native student-athletes should only grow.