MSUB SPORTS – Upon the arrival of a brisk Monday afternoon, Mariah Cleveland and the Montana State University Billings women's golf team take to the driving range at Pryor Creek Golf Club, getting off some quite literal warm-up shots before a dual match against Rocky Mountain College.
 
A thick overcast layer teases at preventing pairings from playing, peppering the course and its inhabitants with harmless, white, Styrofoam-like pellets of half-snow, half-hail.
 
Despite the uncooperative elements, it is business as usual with three men's foursomes leading the pack and two women's foursomes following suit. Cleveland is in the same group as MSUB's Haley Shackelford, a sophomore brimming with potential and playing at the team's No. 1 slot.
 
As the two make their way through the course along with their counterparts from RMC, Cleveland begins to tell her own story. It's not one that starts at Point A before being led predictably through to a picturesque ending. It's not her soft, cheerful voice bringing it to life.
 
Rather, she carves a complex narrative, best exemplified through the strokes she takes. Each club represents a different layer, the decision to use each made with expert care – and a little help from her yardage scope.
 
Winding through the front nine, the trail group finally reaches the ninth tee, taking a brief reprieve as the previous group pushes its balls beneath the earth's surface 418 yards in the distance.
 
After driving her tee shot to the right, Cleveland's approach shot curls left, skipping wide of the narrow avenue to the green and displacing several thousand grains of sand as it comes to rest in a shallow bunker. It is a fitting result for a player whose self-admitted weakness is her midrange approach shot, but who thrives in her chipping game.
 
While the club selection for her next shot is not a difficult one to make, as she draws out her 56-degree Cleveland wedge it holds somewhat of a deeper meaning.
 
"It's my name," she says with a smile, a hilariously brief yet fitting comment as she keeps the mood light before striking the ball.
 
It is with her self-titled iron that she'll calmly step into the sand, and dig herself out of a tough situation – a perfect metaphor for what she has overcome throughout her life.
 

GETTING UP TO PAR WITH COLLEGE GOLF
 
A native of Laurel, Mont., Cleveland had her sights set on attending Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont., up until the spring of her senior year at Laurel High School. A two-sport standout in basketball and golf, it was the desire to pursue the latter that drew Cleveland's attention towards MSU Billings.
 
"I think it was about two weeks until graduation when I first contacted Shawn about potentially playing here," Cleveland said regarding her first correspondence with MSUB head coach Shawn O'Brien. "The school had the education program I wanted and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play a game that I loved."
 
"At the time, I knew very little about Mariah, but people around the community said she had a strong work ethic, strong academics and a good attitude," O'Brien said. "When we look at adding a student-athlete to our program, those are three really strong traits that we desire and Mariah fit all three."
 
The transition to college was relatively simple for Cleveland, whose father Cory is an MSUB alum. The level of competition she witnessed on the course stood out most, as stories of then-senior Kalli Stanhope making it to the NCAA National Championships as an individual in 2011 illustrated just how serious the game was.
 
Cleveland herself was coming off of the best performances of her career, both in golf and basketball. After helping the Locomotives to their first state championship game appearance in four seasons in the winter basketball season, Cleveland placed third as an individual in the Class A golf state championships in the spring of 2011.
 
Standing 5-foot-5 and a natural guard on the hardwood, it wasn't until her sophomore year of high school that Cleveland picked up golf. "My dad was my biggest influence with golf and he thought it was a good opportunity for me," said Cleveland. "In high school a lot of people play golf just for fun, but here you have awesome athletes that you get to compete with. It makes the experience that much more exciting."
 
One of those athletes she had grown up competing with and against was Janiel Olson, who set out to pursue her career as a basketball player at MSUB after graduating the same year as Cleveland. The two had met through their experience together with the 4-H organization selling steers as kids, and played on traveling basketball teams together up until high school.
 
In a game between Olson's Billings West Broncs and Cleveland's Locomotives their senior season, a particular play remains fresh in their memories four years later.
 
"I was on a full-blown fast-break towards the basket, and there was Mariah getting set to take a charge," Olson remembered with a laugh. "It was too late for me to change my path so I plowed her into the bleachers. She ended up getting called for a block, and I have to admit it was the most terrible call I have ever experienced but it went my way."
 
Cleveland responded to her good friend's tough-love gesture on the ensuing possession, burying a 3-pointer despite Olson's determined hand in her face. "We just looked at each other and started laughing," Olson said.
 
Continuing their friendship as house mates at MSUB, Olson has drawn inspiration from Cleveland as an athlete and within her daily life as well. As the 2013-14 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year fights to recover from a torn ACL, Cleveland has been there by her side every step of the way offering support.
 
"Mariah was one of the first people to get in touch with me and offered me help with anything she could do," Olson said regarding her injury. "She has been such a good friend and she has truly helped me get back on the court and get my mind right."
 
Cleveland's role as a friend and inspiration to Olson is one that was drawn from her own experiences through tough times. While there were times during her injury that Olson felt helpless and down, Cleveland was one who could relate directly.
 
LIVING UNDER A VAIL
 
Showing rapid improvement on the course, it wasn't long before Cleveland became a major contributor for the Yellowjackets. "Mariah went from averaging around 90 to averaging around 80 in less than 12 months," O'Brien commented. "One of the biggest things that she will leave behind is that if you work hard and buy into a system, you will be rewarded for your effort."
 
One would be hard-pressed to recognize Cleveland's stroke as being just four-years in the making by her sophomore season, but while her scores were dropping, she began to struggle on and off the course mentally.
 
What had grown into being much more than a game, golf slowly became a task, something Cleveland was required to go to regularly. Her passion began to slip, not just on the course, but within school in general. Homework assignments became incompletable, the routine of going to class seemed pointless.
 
"I wasn't happy, and I just felt stuck," she said. "I became distant, and I didn't know what to do."
 
Cleveland found herself trapped in a way, unsure of herself and the experience she was having on a daily basis.
 
By the summer after her sophomore year, one of her close friends at the time recognized the struggle Cleveland was going through and offered a refreshing opportunity that ended up helping to change her perspective.
 
"Krista Norris and her family welcomed me to spend the summer with them in Vail, Colorado, and it was the perfect escape and something completely different than I had ever experienced," Cleveland recalled. "I was so fortunate to be welcomed by them."
 
The chance to get away from her home town for a few months and forget about the stress and uncertainty she faced gave Cleveland somewhat of a fresh start. When she returned in the fall for school however, she began to feel herself slip back into the same negative routine and she lost confidence.
 
Taking Cleveland under her wing was MSUB assistant athletic trainer Lindsay Sullivan, who slowly talked her through her struggles and helped Cleveland realign herself. "I just told her that I know it gets hard sometimes, and little-by-little she started making progress," Sullivan said.
 
Cleveland also sought condolence from her coach, as she felt that through her personal struggles she had let her team down. "I met with Shawn and he reassured me that I was still important to the team and that I had his support," Cleveland said. "That spring during my junior year was one of the best of my career."
 
REMOVING THE TRAINING WHEELS
 
Bouncing back in a big way as a junior, Cleveland once again found the passion for golf that she always had deep within herself. Taking to the greens continued to be her escape from everyday life, but practicing and competing was no longer a chore or something Cleveland felt she had to do.
 
Her desire to learn and grow as a student came back in full force, as she went from being uncertain of whether or not she would complete a bachelor's degree to recently being accepted into MSUB's athletic training master's program.
 
In the fall of 2014 Cleveland completed an internship in the athletic training room under the supervision of Sullivan, as she uncovered the career she intends to pursue after college. "This fall Mariah really found her niche and where she belonged the most," Sullivan said. "She was given a lot more responsibility than some people would have during her internship, and I can tell she has the same passion for athletic training that I did when I was her age."
 
"Lindsay has been an awesome mentor through everything and has really taught me the ropes," Cleveland said. "Through the last six months I have truly found my passion lies with helping athletes through their careers."
 
In addition to the work she has done assisting MSUB's athletic trainers, Cleveland has spent the past year as an assistant coach at Laurel High with the girls basketball team as she further broadens her early career opportunities.
 

 

CHASE OF A LIFETIME
 
From the days Cleveland struggled finding a reason to attend classes and practices, to her recent acceptance into MSUB's post-graduate program, golf has been one of the constants throughout the path she has led.
 
What has shone through brighter than anything else, however, have been those in her family who she is closest to. "My mom is my rock for everything," Cleveland said regarding her mother Holly Adams. "We haven't always had the closest relationship but in the past couple of years we have grown much tighter."
 
Cleveland spent her early years as an only child, but had always desired to have siblings and especially a brother. As an 11-year-old, Cleveland got her wish in the form of twin sisters, Hannah and Haylee. Incredibly, three years later she became the big sister to another set of twins, this time a brother and a sister, Lacey.
 
Not only did Cleveland now have a little brother, but a phone call she received from her father made the siblings' connection closer than ever. "My brother and I have a super special bond," Cleveland said. "When he was born, my dad surprised me and asked me what I wanted to name him."
 
Chase James Cleveland was the verdict, and since Day 1 Cleveland has made sure she has been influential in all of her siblings' lives. "They are all my life, they keep me going and they're my best buds," Cleveland said regarding her sisters and brother. "They definitely inspire me to be a good influence and role model, and I love teaching them sports. They are my world, and as they get older I want them to know that they can make it through anything, no matter what life throws at you."
 

 
SIGHTS, SOUNDS, LIFE LESSONS FROM THE COURSE
 
"The most admirable thing about Mariah's success here at MSUB is her step-by-step performance bettering herself and her teammates. A coach could not ask for a better student-athlete to come into his or her program and have such a strong contribution." – MSUB head coach Shawn O'Brien on senior Mariah Cleveland.
 
The 14th hole at the Coeur d'Alene Resort, featuring the world-famous floating green, has cost many a golfer more than a couple of Titleists. It is the scene of the GNAC Championships, and the hole is the toughest – and most unique – ever attempted in the eyes of Cleveland.
 
The cover protecting Cleveland's putter bears the emblem of the Pebble Beach Golf Club, a souvenir collected during her career providing a daily reminder of her tour of one of the most famous golf courses in the United States.
 
These are just two highlights from Cleveland's college experience, moments she won't soon forget, but also that she will have the chance to take in again. The Yellowjackets are headed to Seaside, Calif., this weekend to prepare for next week's Cal State Monterey Bay Invitational, and will again have the chance to view the historic course at Pebble Beach.
 
Come April, Cleveland will return with her team to Coeur d'Alene, Idhao, as MSUB seeks to build upon last season's strong second-place finish at the conference championships. Awaiting her will be the ever-deceptive floating green.
 
"I get out to practice and play as often as I can because I love the sport, and I want to help my team be as successful as we can this last spring of my senior year," Cleveland said. "Our goal is to be one of, if not the top team at the conference tournament, and we always have great competition especially with Western Washington. With the team we have this spring, we are competitors and we aren't going to give up. I will encourage them to keep striving, because you never know what can happen on a golf course."
 
As Cleveland plays in the final tournaments of her collegiate career this spring, each time she finds herself in a bunker or mishits an approach shot she'll be reminded that it is very easy to get buried and feel stuck or trapped.
 
With her 56-degree Cleveland wedge by her side, the golfer Mariah Cleveland has grown into will line up her next shot with the simple, honest mindset that, "it will be okay."
 
The person she has become lives by those words, breaking free and carrying on stronger than ever.