By Keith Brake
Montezuma Magazine Editor
College athletes who enter the still mysterious transfer portal:
A – Enter the spirit world and are never heard from again;
B – Play inter-galactic ball from that alien base inside earth’s moon;
C – Land softly not far from home and live happily ever-after.
Montezuma’s Shateah Wetering hopes the answer is “C”.
Wetering, who this year was a red shirt sophomore at Iowa, announced earlier this spring she was entering the portal.
Last week, the University of Northern Iowa annouced that it has signed her.
So, the first part of ‘C’ has already happened.
“We are so excited to welcome Shateah to our Panther family!” said UNI Head Coach Tanya Warren. “We had the chance to watch her through her high school and AAU career, and she is a perfect fit for us and this team.”
Warren called Wetering “extremely versatile and her ability to run the floor allows her to score in a variety of ways,” the coach said. “Shateah can score in the paint, she can shoot the three-ball, and score off the bounce. She gives us some immediate depth on the inside by joining our post rotation.”
Another thing Wetering picked up at Iowa – possibly from famed teammate Caitlin Clark – the ability to hit open teammates with hard, accurate passes.
During three seasons at Iowa, Wetering saw limited action because of an ACL tear during her sophomore season. As a freshman, she played in 7 games, while making 15 appearance this past season for the Hawkeyes.
She also had some critical experience of playing every day in practice against the Division 1 national runnerup Iowa team.
While at Montezuma High, Wetering was a decorated athlete in volleyball, basketball and track and field. She was a basketball all-stater.
She also played club basketball with the All-Iowa Attack under coaches Dickson Jensen and Randy Mauro. While there, she was a teammte of current Panthers Kayba Laube and Maya McDermott.
Shateah helped the Attack win the 2017 United States Junior National Championships and the 2018 Nike National Championships.
Wetering has three years of college eligibility left.
Shateah is the daughter of Justin and Shiloh Wetering and is one of six siblings. They include two brothers, Jevohn Miller, a former Iowa State football player, and Jusiah Wetering, a high school distance runner for the Braves.
Shateah has three sisters, Shealynn Miller, a track and field athlete at Mount Mercy; Shanae Wetering, a basketball player at NAIA national champion Clarke University, and Shiressa Wetering, who will be a junior basketball player at Montezuma.
UNI Athletics, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and Montezuma ‘Looking Good’ managing editor Ron Hensel contributed to this stoy.