Student-athletes, ranging in sports from football players to equestrians and rowers, from around Broward and Palm Beach counties signed their national letters of intent on National Signing Day on Wednesday.
St. Thomas Aquinas led the way with 40 signees, which included a half-dozen football players who signed on early national signing day in December. In Palm Beach County, American Heritage-Delray recognized 23 signees Wednesday morning.
St. Thomas Aquinas senior Khadee Hession, signed with Georgetown University to play basketball. She committed on Dec. 18.
“I am very excited,” said Hession, who is averaging 19.2 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists for the 16-9 Raiders. “I’ve worked for this for years and my work finally paid off and I’m glad that I can go to such a great school to keep playing. I also enjoyed sharing the spotlight with other athletes because I know how much work everyone puts in to get to where they are.
“It felt like family immediately and that’s what I wanted,” she added. “I wanted a great environment where I know if I’m going through anything, I know I’ll have family away from home.”
The sports ran the gamut, including football, basketball, track and field, tennis, softball, baseball, equestrian, rowing, track and field, soccer, lacrosse, beach volleyball, bowling, golf, diving, swimming, tennis, and volleyball.
Despite playing football for just two years, American Heritage-Delray senior kicker Jake Weinberg, last season’s Lou Groza Award winner for the top placekicker in Palm Beach County, signed his letter of intent with FSU.
“I wanted to go to a school that believed in me the most,” said Weinberg, who connected on a season-best 57-yard field goal and excelled as a placekicker and punter. “The reason why I chose FSU is because of the culture and coaching staff. The program is on the right track and Coach (Mike) Norvell is just getting started. The whole staff believed in me and recruited me hard. Being in Tallahassee felt like home to me.
“I am super excited to sign with all of my friends and I can’t wait to go up there and play,” said Weinberg, one of five Palm Beach County athletes headed to FSU.
The other local athletes headed to Tallahassee are Jayden Parrish (Atlantic), Ricky Knight III (Cardinal Newman), Amaree Williams (Benjamin) and Luke Douglas (Jupiter).
American Heritage-Delray classmate Anthony Tralongo signed his national letter of intent to play baseball at Auburn University.
“It was a busy recruiting process, but once I went to Auburn, I knew it was home,” said Tralongo, who batted .317, with 2 home runs, 18 runs scored, and 11 RBIs for the Stallions.
Cooper City’s Natalie Villalon is headed to the University of North Florida to play beach volleyball. After giving up gymnastics at age 12, she started playing indoor volleyball and wound up landing a D1 scholarship.
“When I first started, it was just for fun,” Villalon said. “Then about a year and a half later, I started to take it more seriously. This is a very important day. It has been a goal and a dream of mine to play at a D1 school since I was 14, and I am going to do that. It’s truly amazing.”
National Signing Day is when student-athletes can officially sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to commit to an NCAA DI or DII school.
Among the athletes from around Broward County include:
American Heritage: Thomas Kirby, golf, Eckerd; Ashley Fitzgerald, cross country, Florida; Taylor Knochel, softball, Wagner; Camila Domine, soccer, Barry; Amanda Caines, soccer, Rollins; Lily Sargent Burns, soccer, FAU; Yhirian Marrero, baseball, Nova Southeastern; Lucas Ramirez, baseball, Tennessee; Ian Resler, baseball, Georgetown College; Noah Ditas, baseball, Navy; Antonio Turco Rivas, baseball, New York University; Andrew Ortiz, baseball, Indiana State; Zain Diaco, baseball, Citadel; Xavier Lucas, football, Wisconsin; Jimmy Williams, football, Louisville; Jackson Klein, football, Marshall; Cayden Trent, football, FAU; Jermaine Dalias, football, South Florida; Semaj Jackson, football, Campbell; Omar Thornton, football, Boston College. Cardinal Gibbons: Juliana Torres, soccer, Lynn; Richard Lin, tennis, St. Michael’s; Auston Francis, football, Army; Zach Thompson, football, Wagner; Casey Etienne Jr., football, Princeton; Jeremiah Chalmers, football, Navy; Mike Kass, baseball, UCF; Chris Williams, football, Concord; Ivan Pagan, football, Wittenberg; Anthony Nowell, football, Hamline; Braeden Serna, football, Assumption; Roman Reid, football, Carnegie Mellon; Pat Anderson Jr., football, Concord; Brandon Tobias, football, Western Kentucky; Guy Edmond, football, Iowa Western. Cooper City: Dani Nino, softball, Barry; Jamie Hegedus, softball, Lake Sumter State; Maya Hegedus, softball, Lake Sumter State; Lily Mitchell, softball, Lake Sumter State; Sehmaj Mentor, basketball, Florida Memorial; Natalie Villalon, beach volleyball, North Florida; Ashlyn Cohen, soccer, Valparaiso. Pine Crest: Ian Hurt, baseball, Bucknell; Jake Del Vecchio, baseball, Rochester; Danyal Ghadiali, diving, Chicago; Max Starkman, diving, Air Force; Nate Correa, football, Kenyon; Cole Caparelli, football, Hamilton; Jayden Freedman, golf, Colgate; Ashley Small, soccer, FAU; Alicia Marzouca, softball, Columbia; Sara Lin, swimming, Georgetown; Will Davila, track, Babson; Brooke Hooper, cross country and track, FSU. St. Thomas Aquinas: Anthony Ciscar, baseball, Miami; Andrew Fernandez, baseball, Palm Beach Atlantic; Aaron Groeneveld, baseball, Eastern Kentucky; Keenan Kanenbley, baseball, Tampa; Quinn O’Keefe, baseball, Babson; Khadee Hession, basketball, Georgetown; Mya Johnson, basketball, Bethune-Cookman; Matthaios Andreopoulos, basketball, Oberlin; Zoe Taylor, beach volleyball, LSU; Zsa Zsa Ferguson, beach volleyball, Louisiana-Monroe; Kristi Talocka, beach volleyball, Mercer; James Dobson, lacrosse, United States Merchant Marine Academy; Izaiah Ortiz, lacrosse, Swarthmore College; Blayze Rodriguez, lacrosse, Wingate University; Gianna Ward, rowing, High Point University; Thomas Tedesco, soccer, Ursinus; Regan Riddle, soccer, Daytona State; Julianne McCranie, swimming, Navy; Matthew Tan, swimming, Ottawa-Surprise; Blake Edwards, tennis, Loyola (Maryland); Alayna Herring, track and field, FIU; Halley Tang, volleyball, Western Carolina; Sydney Van Cott, volleyball, Mercer; Justin Bodford, football, Missouri; Allen Bryant, football, Pittsburgh; Kedrick Burley, football, Middle Tennessee State; Bowen Drewes, football, South Florida; Romanas Frederique, football, Miami; Stacy Gage, football, UCF; Michael Kern, football, Texas; Earl Kulp, football, Purdue; Eduardo Lorenzo, football, St. Thomas; Jordan Lyle, football, Miami; Ryan Mack, football, Miami; James Madison II, football, Missouri; William Roberts, football, Bethune-Cookman; Chance Robinson, football, Miami; Nicholas Rodriguez, football, Missouri; Bryan Wallace, football, Southern University and A&M; Cameron Williams, football, FAMU. Westminster Academy: Anthony Barbar, football, Wheaton; Evan Tempro, football, St. Thomas; Kayla Troutman, volleyball, Jackson State; Dakota Arnette, volleyball, Lehigh; Alex Fuentes, baseball, St. Thomas; Harrison Kraft, baseball, Minot State.
Among the athletes from around Palm Beach County include:
American Heritage-Delray: Anthony Tralongo, baseball, Auburn; Jack Quinn, baseball, Eastern Florida State; Zavier Hatfield, baseball, Barry; Dane (Joshua) Rossi, baseball, Indian River; Elias Raptis, baseball, Babson; Joseph Abbazia, baseball, FAU; Olivia Torres, Salem (NC); Jake Weinberg, football, FSU; Ryan Vanscoy, football, United States Military Academy; Victoria Tomonto, lacrosse, Penn State; Brooke Goldstein, lacrosse, Clemson, Caroline Byrd, lacrosse, Michigan; Chiara Scichilone, lacrosse, Florida; Harper Throop, lacrosse, Bucknell; Olivia Scroggie, lacrosse, Louisville; Emma Hechtman, equestrian, Oklahoma State; Aubrey Wurst, softball, Maryland; Jason Shwartz, golf, Wisconsin; Isabella Mazza, soccer, South Carolina State; Isabella Larriu, soccer, Nova Southeastern. Ciara Alarcon, soccer, Miami; Mikayla Rubin, soccer, Brevard; Jacklyn Daynovsky, tennis, Washington and Lee; Atlantic: Jadarius Patterson, football, Edward Waters; Oneil Shearer, football, St. Thomas; Norris Brinkley, football, St. Thomas; Cedric Rolle, football, Lincoln. Benjamin: Harrison Ashley, baseball, Allegheny; Luca Balzano, soccer, Bates; Cannon Baughman, baseball, Tampa; Nick Cecchini, golf, St. Bonaventure; Matthew Mckenzie, football, Bethune-Cookman; Logan Smith, rowing, Northeastern; Amaree Williams, football, FSU. Boynton Beach: Bobby T. Smith, football, Johnson C. Smith. Jupiter: Luke Douglas, football, FSU. Palm Beach Gardens: Sedrick Clarke, football, Fayetteville State; Keyon Stephens, football, Fayetteville State; Aiden Malcolm, football, Keiser; Christian Lopez, football, Wabash; Caleb Chamberlin, football, Air Force; Michael Wright, football, FAU; Jomari Philostin, baseball, Indian River; Cam Carpenter, baseball, Appalachian State; Gavin McSweeney, baseball, Keiser; Tori Scott, softball, FIU; Madison Quinn, softball, Stetson; Sydney Shaffer, softball, South Florida; Henry Kuehne, golf, Creighton; Jacob Kutner, golf, Creighton. Spanish River: Edinco Stephens, football, Keiser; Sofia Camacho, softball, FAU; Anthony Diaz, baseball, Pensacola State, Alessia Saia, soccer, Notre Dame; Ayla Hemle, bowling, Weber; Justin Ibrahim, soccer, Colorado Mesa; Katelyn Sadorf, cross country, Cal Tech; Reed Greyserman, golf, Princeton. Suncoast: Mckayla Theleus, volleyball, Barry; Brady King, baseball, Barry; Ian Smikle, basketball, Tulsa; Sebastian Valencia, soccer, Concord. Wellington: Ava Matrascia, softball, South Florida State; Kelsey Riggan, softball, Rutgers; Keelin Coleman, flag football, Thomas University; Hannah Pahl, soccer, Stetson.
