Print
E-mail
Comment
Myriad local athletes sign letters of intent
  
|
By MIKE TENNEY
Numerous local student-athletes made the next big step in their life official last week with National Signing Day across the country.
From nearly a dozen baseball players to four women basketball players from Bellaire alone to women’s field hockey, all the local high schools were well-represented with potential college athletes.
Bellaire will have that high school feel this year, but the Cardinals will have the look of a college team with 80 percent of their starters signing a letter-of-intent to play collegiately.
Cardinal seniors Zoe Rogers (Rice), Annette Davis (Kansas), Taylor McGilbra (Boise State), and Jade Handy (LSU-Eunice) are each headed to the next level and the main reason the Cardinals are again expecting to be very good and make a strong push for the 5A state tournament in Region III.
Not far from Bellaire, at the same time, Westbury Christian senior Waltia Rolle, was signing to play at national power North Carolina.
The team held a little party before practice and then went to work to play last weekend in Corpus Christi.
“We’re very proud of Waltia,” said Westbury head coach Reed Sutton. “She’s a great player and a great person and she has worked so hard for this. Yes, she’s blessed to be 6-foot-6, but she works very hard at her game and she plays hard and I think she’s going to be a fine college player.”
Rice University obviously has one of the country’s finest baseball programs and head coach Wayne Graham always recruits the best local talent to keep feeding the monster he has created.
It’s that way again this year with four local guys headed to the Owls to continue their careers within easy driving distance for their friends and family.
Tyler Duffey (Bellaire), Will Gray (Kinkaid), Kevin Hahn (Stratford), and Michael Ratterree (Memorial) all made their deals to call Reckling Park their home official.
Tyler Duffie of Lamar (TCU), Paul Michael Cokinos of Memorial (Houston), Neil Dennison of Lamar (Georgetown), Connor Harrell of Kinkaid (Vanderbilt), Jake Miller of Stratford (Baylor), Michael Reed of Stratford (LSU), and Cooper Smith of Second Baptist School (Cornell) are all also headed to strong college baseball programs.
Strake Jesuit had two of the four local boys who will be going on to play college basketball.
Senior guard Joey Brooks (Penn State) and forward Tim Frazier (Notre Dame) are both going north to compete at the next level.
Blake Jolivette of St. Thomas (American University) and Matt Staff of Memorial (New Mexico) are also headed to Division I schools to play college hoops.
Lamar and Stratford each had two swimmers decide where they’re going to college.
From Stratford, Hunter Bayley will be a Longhorn as she is going to the University of Texas and Sarah Mokhtari is going to the East Coast to swim at Virginia Tech.
For Lamar, Amy Ballanfant signed with Georgetown and Ali Berry will stay in the state because she is going to TCU.
In softball, Katherine Espinosa of Bellaire has signed with Oklahoma State and Sandi Moynihan of St. Agnes will be playing for George Washington University.
In volleyball, Shawn Hindman of Memorial will be in the Big 10 when she goes to play at Indiana and Kendall Burgess of Second Baptist is headed to Auburn University.
In field hockey, Hannah Clarke of St. John’s is going to William and Mary University.
From nearly a dozen baseball players to four women basketball players from Bellaire alone to women’s field hockey, all the local high schools were well-represented with potential college athletes.
Bellaire will have that high school feel this year, but the Cardinals will have the look of a college team with 80 percent of their starters signing a letter-of-intent to play collegiately.
Cardinal seniors Zoe Rogers (Rice), Annette Davis (Kansas), Taylor McGilbra (Boise State), and Jade Handy (LSU-Eunice) are each headed to the next level and the main reason the Cardinals are again expecting to be very good and make a strong push for the 5A state tournament in Region III.
Not far from Bellaire, at the same time, Westbury Christian senior Waltia Rolle, was signing to play at national power North Carolina.
The team held a little party before practice and then went to work to play last weekend in Corpus Christi.
“We’re very proud of Waltia,” said Westbury head coach Reed Sutton. “She’s a great player and a great person and she has worked so hard for this. Yes, she’s blessed to be 6-foot-6, but she works very hard at her game and she plays hard and I think she’s going to be a fine college player.”
Rice University obviously has one of the country’s finest baseball programs and head coach Wayne Graham always recruits the best local talent to keep feeding the monster he has created.
It’s that way again this year with four local guys headed to the Owls to continue their careers within easy driving distance for their friends and family.
Tyler Duffey (Bellaire), Will Gray (Kinkaid), Kevin Hahn (Stratford), and Michael Ratterree (Memorial) all made their deals to call Reckling Park their home official.
Tyler Duffie of Lamar (TCU), Paul Michael Cokinos of Memorial (Houston), Neil Dennison of Lamar (Georgetown), Connor Harrell of Kinkaid (Vanderbilt), Jake Miller of Stratford (Baylor), Michael Reed of Stratford (LSU), and Cooper Smith of Second Baptist School (Cornell) are all also headed to strong college baseball programs.
Strake Jesuit had two of the four local boys who will be going on to play college basketball.
Senior guard Joey Brooks (Penn State) and forward Tim Frazier (Notre Dame) are both going north to compete at the next level.
Blake Jolivette of St. Thomas (American University) and Matt Staff of Memorial (New Mexico) are also headed to Division I schools to play college hoops.
Lamar and Stratford each had two swimmers decide where they’re going to college.
From Stratford, Hunter Bayley will be a Longhorn as she is going to the University of Texas and Sarah Mokhtari is going to the East Coast to swim at Virginia Tech.
For Lamar, Amy Ballanfant signed with Georgetown and Ali Berry will stay in the state because she is going to TCU.
In softball, Katherine Espinosa of Bellaire has signed with Oklahoma State and Sandi Moynihan of St. Agnes will be playing for George Washington University.
In volleyball, Shawn Hindman of Memorial will be in the Big 10 when she goes to play at Indiana and Kendall Burgess of Second Baptist is headed to Auburn University.
In field hockey, Hannah Clarke of St. John’s is going to William and Mary University.
Submit a Comment
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.
|
Not yet a registered member?
Click here to become one. Comments to stories and articles on the Web site are not edited or pre-approved before appearing online. Readers posting comments are solely responsible for those comments. Comments must be germane to the story to which they apply. Online comments that are libelous, profane or personally attack another site participant can be reported as abuse using the link provided on each comment. Comments reported as abusive will be reviewed and may be removed from view, as will off-topic comments. BE CIVIL. Individuals continually posting abusive comments to the site may have their registrations revoked. |
