High school notebook: John Carroll Catholic, Jensen Beach celebrate signing seniors
John Carroll Catholic celebrated signing ceremonies for the Class of 2023 on Monday with several standouts in their sports making their college plans known.
"Happiest part of my job is to see our student-athletes sign their LOIs and continue their education," John Carroll Catholic athletic director and football coach Mickey Groody said. "The culture we have created here at John Carroll is truly the best on the Treasure Coast. It truly takes a village for our student-athletes to get where they gotten to today.
Their families, their teachers, our administration and their coaches all are a huge part of their success. Athletics will end one day for all of our student-athletes but I truly believe because they and their families chose to be part of the John Carroll community, they are beyond prepared for life after athletics."
Grace Reed, one of the area's top runners for both cross country and track and field in her high school career, made it official to head west and run at Florida Southern next fall.
Reed, who overcame a scary accident in February of 2022 in which she broke her left femur and shattered her right pelvis, came back as a state qualifier in cross-country as a senior and will look for more success on the track in the next month.
In her career, Reed finished 15th as a junior at the FHSAA 1A Cross Country Championships, was 29th as a sophomore and was a state qualifier in the 1,600-meter run as a sophomore at the FHSAA 1A Track and Field Championships.
More: Road to recovery: John Carroll Catholic runner Grace Reed bounces back from scary injuries
10 members of the Ram football team will play college football and six John Carroll players who all helped the program reach a 1A final four this fall announced their declarations.
Wide receiver Freddie Pittman will head to Daytona Beach to play at Bethune Cookman after catching a team-high 25 passes that went for 292 yards and a touchdown and he added two rushing touchdowns in his senior season.
Fellow wideout Marion Frederick will head to Lakeland to play at Southeastern University after totaling 13 catches for 298 yards and three touchdowns in his senior season.
Another wide receiver Trevin VanName will also stay in state, heading to Southwest Florida to play at Ave Maria. He caught two touchdowns in his senior year along with handling long-snapping duties on special teams.
Two-year starting quarterback Dawson Maehl will head to Indiana to play at Wabash College after throwing for 1,653 yards and 15 touchdowns in his senior season.
Defensive lineman Josh Meltzer, a TCPalm First Team All-Area selection as a senior, will head to the Volunteer State and play at East Tennessee State after an outstanding final season for the Rams totaling 64 tackles, 32 tackles that went for a loss and added four sacks and four forced fumbles.
Offensive lineman Jordan Capraro joins teammates Will Thogersen (Stetson) and Austin Shevak (Ave Maria) as college signees staying in Florida as Capraro will play next season at Division II power West Florida.
Four members of the Ram baseball team currently is 12-9 on the season will play college baseball headlined by closer Tracen Cameron heading to Miami to play at FIU.
Cameron has a 1-2 record with a 1.80 ERA and five saves on the season with 40 strikeouts against just eight walks in 23⅓ innings and also is batting .379 with 13 RBI at the plate so far in his senior year.
Jake Rychter is also staying in state and will play at St. Leo University and currently is batting .339 with seven doubles, one home run and 16 RBIs on the season.
Ryan Chapman and Matt Correa will remain teammates in Georgia next season at Thomas University.
Chapman has a 3.11 ERA and has struck out 12 batters in nine innings while batting .300 with three doubles at the plate.
Correa is batting .227 but also leads the team with a .575 on-base percentage, leads the team with 24 stolen bases and is tied in the team lead with 20 runs scored.
Four Jensen Beach wrestlers to compete in college
Jensen Beach wrestling celebrated four seniors from its memorable double state championship season on April 14 continuing their careers at the next level.
Two-time state champion Jewell Williams will head to Kentucky and wrestle at the Division I level for Bellarmine University.
Williams won the 145-pound state championship in a senior season in which he went 61-5 after winning the state title at 138 pounds as a junior.
Charlie Armstrong will head to Illinois to compete at Millikin University after finishing his high school career with the Falcons after three years at Okeechobee.
Armstrong finished his season with an eighth-place finish at 132 pounds at the state tournament.
Malachi Harriel will head to South Carolina to compete at Coker University after a strong senior season.
Harriel went 43-14 on the season and finished eighth at the state tournament at 182 pounds.
Colten Byrd like Armstrong also will go north to Illinois but wrestle at North Central College after finishing his senior year as a district runner-up at 170 pounds and was a key piece to the Falcons winning the 1A state duals in the lineup.
Head coach Tom McMath, who was recently named the Florida Dairy Farmers 1A Coach of the Year, lauded the efforts of the four seniors as team leaders and invaluable members of the room to the success of the team and with their rewards being a chance to compete at the next level.
"I'm just super excited that they get the opportunity to wrestle and continue their schooling, the word proud just comes up every time I talk about this group," McMath said. "I'm so proud of this group of kids and these seniors. For them to do what they did, to win four state titles and close this chapter with another chapter in their journeys, I couldn't be more excited for them."
John Carroll softball takes third at Bill Longshore
John Carroll Catholic’s softball team went 3-1 and finished third at the Bill Longshore Memorial Tournament in Naples over the weekend in the Gold Bracket.
The Rams (15-6) took wins over Academy for Innovative Education 13-3, Naples 7-0, Bonita Springs 5-3 and dropped their lone game 9-7 to Riverdale.
Notable performers included freshman Sammi Rychter, who batted .571 with three doubles and two RBIs, senior Cam Haughton, who batted .429 with four doubles and eight RBIs and freshman Makayla Ortiz, who threw a six-hit shutout with seven strikeouts against Naples and struck out 11 in a complete game against Bonita Springs.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Notebook: John Carroll Catholic, Jensen Beach celebrate signees
