Editor’s note:

The following is part three in a five-part series about student-athletes’ lives after their careers as Cyclones.

Part one looked at how life changes after their final season.

Part two highlighted the balance struck between athletic and academic work, preparing them for the rest of their lives.

Part three profiles athletes with hopes of professional or Olympic careers.

Part four examines the differences for those headed into the workplace, and takes a look at former athletes who have already made the jump.

Finally, part five will reveal our student-athletes’ feelings about their lives after Iowa State.

Only some student-athletes are lucky enough to see their dreams of continuing athletics after college come true.

At some point in their careers, they all hit a fork in the road and must decide whether to continue to play competitively  or move into the real world.

These are the stories of three athletes who get the opportunity to chase the dream.

Kaylee Manns doesn’t see herself working a real job anytime soon.

She’s been playing volleyball almost as long as she can remember and doesn’t see herself stopping in the near future.

“I still feel like a kid and the thought of me having a 9-to-5 job right now … what a joke,” Manns said.

So, instead of pursuing a career related to either of her majors, advertising and Spanish, the four-year mainstay of the ISU volleyball program is seeking a career playing volleyball in Europe.

The opportunity to continue playing, she said, gives her a chance to travel and let her keep the competitive juices flowing.

“It just means that people think I could play, even at a higher level,” Manns said. “My dad said, ‘A lot of people don’t get that opportunity. You should do it, just try it out.’ And I’m the kind of person — I feel like I need to try everything once so why not?”

Her coach at Iowa State, though, hasn’t been able to help Manns much in her search for a European home — simply because the search is as new for her as it is for her star setter..

“It’s exciting because, for one, we haven’t ever really had a volleyball player that’s gone on and played professionally,” said ISU volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

“It’s just so different from just applying for a job in the U.S. There’s things you have to watch out for, so you have to be careful. She’s treading new waters a little bit for us.”

Johnson-Lynch said her advice to Manns will be as simple as talking about good places to go and good people to work with.

Manns will be faced with challenges unique to players going to Europe like hiring an agent, coping with a new culture or finding a place to live.

“I want to make sure our players go have a good experience when they go play overseas and that can be a little dicey if you’re not working with good people,” Johnson-Lynch said.

But Manns just wants to continue competing.

Right now, she’s in the early stages of the process and only hired her agent late last month.

She’s really not worried about it.

Wherever she goes and whatever comes of it, she’s sure the experience will be worth it — and it sure will beat a 9-to-5.

“It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing,” Manns said.

“I feel like it’s something that I just need to do, I need to try it out for at least a year, and if I don’t like it then I come back and start my life.”

Lisa Koll has no idea what lies ahead of her.

In 2008, she was 86 seconds away from making a lifelong dream come true. Now, she’s two years away from a shot at qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.

“It’s the same thing that’s been going through my head for the last five years,” Koll said.

“It’s continually getting better each year, continually getting better in the big scheme of things, then in 2012 really trying to be fit and ready to go.”

And improve she has.

On March 27, she shattered the collegiate record in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 31:18.07 — 16 seconds faster than the time that won the U.S. Olympic Trial in 2008.

“There’s a lot of things in running that you can’t control,” she said, “so from now until [2012] it’s just taking small steps and hoping that those small steps will keep adding up, and by the time I’m to 2012 I can be ready to go and really vying for a spot on the team.”

Koll, an NCAA champion in the event in 2008 before finishing eighth at the trials, said her performance in Eugene, Ore., put her in a place she had never expected.

But, she said, with another four years of training and development, she believes she can be ready to leave her mark on the U.S. track and field team, just as she has at Iowa State.

“Everyone grows up, watches the Olympics and things ‘Someday I’ll be in them,’ and only a very few people actually get the chance to do it,” Koll said.

“So, I’m very thankful for what I’ve been given, the talents I’ve had.

“Feeling what it’s meant to represent Iowa State has meant a lot to me, so to feel like I’d be able to represent the entire country is huge.”

While it would be a dream come true, she makes a good point — not shocking for someone who has breezed through the ISU biology program and is now an honors student in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

You still have to finish in the top three at the trials in 2012.

“There are world championships years so making those teams is another standard that I’m looking for,” Koll said.

“And after 2012 I think I’ll probably focus more on marathon stuff and maybe looking towards the marathon in 2016.”

Fred Garrin grew up in Texas and has dreamed of the NFL for as long as he can remember.

But for Garrin it hasn’t even been about being one of the greatest.

As draft day draws near — April 22-24 — it’s just about getting a chance.

“It’s a dream,” Garrin said. “Even if I don’t play a year in the league, just to put on a team logo or wear the helmet or come out to a practice, or just to even say that they even thought to consider me, would be a great feeling for me.”

Garrin is one of the 11 Cyclones that worked out for NFL scouts at Iowa State’s pro day to try and improve their chances at a draft-day phone call.

He said he did his best. And when he is working out seven days a week and changed his eating and sleeping patterns, who can argue?

The 6-foot-1-inch linebacker may have played small at Iowa State, but in his workouts for pro day he added 20 pounds, just part of the commitment he made to his future, if it works out or not.

“I gave it my best effort, so whatever happens, it’s in God’s hands and what he wants from my life,” Garrin said.

“So, hopefully I did everything I could to produce a good outcome.”

Now, though, the outcome is out of his control.

At this point, two weeks shy of draft day, all he can do is sit back and continue preparing for his graduation in May and the uncertainty that may lie ahead of him.

“As I get closer to it, it’s not even so much about a dream of playing in the NFL, but even just getting a shot of it because of knowing how realistic it is and knowing it’s so hard to do,” Garrin said.

The odds are against them, yes, but the odds are against most of the hundreds of players eligible for selection.

After all, only 255 get picked each April.

However, Garrin — if he is like many of the undrafted or unsigned players that leave their college careers behind and get left behind by the NFL — realizes how important it is to have a backup plan if things don’t go his way.

“I’m just going down different roads now, I see different avenues or different areas I want to explore besides football,” Garrin said.

He’s lucky. Many student-athletes hit their fork much sooner.