National Signing Day: sporty seniors commit

Natalie Horne, Staff Writer|February 4, 2015

courtesy of Virginia Pilot
CAPTURING COMMITTED STUDENTS, the school is featured in the local newspaper.

Excited smiles filled the gymnasium as student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent with their future colleges on National Signing Day this past Wednesday.

Seventeen student athletes from the school committed to continue their athletic and academic achievements at the colleges of their choice next fall.

Senior Blake Camper recently committed to the University of South Carolina.

“It’s a great feeling. I’m going to enjoy it and we’ll see how it goes from there,” Camper said. “I loved it, I loved the school, and the academics are great.”

This year, a whopping seven players from the football team committed, compared to merely two last year. Head Football Coach Bill Stachelski was pleased to have so many recruits.

“It’s a great feeling. As a coach in high school, the main goal is to get kids onto the next level whether it’s playing sports or not; just the fact that they’re going for their academics. So to have so many guys signing today means a lot for the program, a lot for the school, and means a lot for the coaching staff so we’re proud of them and we hope we can have more next year,” Stachelski said.

Furthermore, there was also only one commit last year for field hockey and three this year. Senior Emma Haupt was one of those three, recently committing to the University of Virginia (UVA).

“It’s really exciting and it was just awesome because UVA has been my dream school ever since I was little and so the fact that I get to play at the one school I wanted to go to is just really exciting,” Haupt said.

The following students-athletes will sign:

Football

Blake Camper (South Carolina)

Bradley Jones (Lenoir Rhyne)

Perry Schrader (Rhode Island)

Sam Brooks (Hampden Sydney)

D’ontrell Harrington (Shenandoah)

Deshon Bell (Shenandoah)

Collin Sherman (Washington and Lee)

Field Hockey

Emma Haupt (UVA)

Courtney Daniels (Ohio State)