Larrimore signs with St. Andrews, becomes Antioch's first female college sports signee
May 10—LUMBERTON — A female athlete from Antioch Christian Academy has never signed to play a college sport.
Madison Larrimore will play two.
The Antioch senior signed to play basketball and volleyball at St. Andrews University in a ceremony Monday at ACA, becoming the first female athlete in school history to earn an athletic scholarship.
"I'm really excited and nervous," Larrimore said when asked what her historic achievement meant to her.
Larrimore played three sports in high school — basketball, volleyball and softball — and will continue as a multi-sport athlete at the next level playing with the Knights, who compete in the Mid-South Conference in the NAIA.
"I've always played two sports, and actually three in high school, but I've always had a passion for volleyball and basketball," Larrimore said. "It's always been a dream to play in college and I'm really excited."
"I think that she's always been playing three sports and I don't think I'm going to have to worry about her working hard on the classroom and in the court," said St. Andrews volleyball coach Holly Mandeville, who was present at the signing Monday. "Because I know she knows what it takes, because she's been doing that her whole life."
St. Andrews, located in Laurinburg, was the right choice for her, Larrimore said, because of its size and because it's close to home but still allows her to be independent.
"It was really small, but it wasn't extremely small," Larrimore said. "I like the small classrooms and the fellowship that they have together. The campus is beautiful."
"She came and she did a little tryout, and I felt like she fit in with the girls right away," Mandeville said. "I know that she was probably nervous when she came, but she's somebody that I think slipped through with other college coaches, and that's the glory of her being at a small school, I can find somebody like that."
The 5-foot-10 Larrimore is listed as a forward, guard and center for the Gators basketball team, and averaged 11.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 4.0 steals per game as a senior.
"They're getting a super athlete, good student, hard-working as I've ever had through the program out here," Antioch girls basketball coach Dennis Kinlaw said. "A hard-working student athlete. She does great; she'll give you 110% out there on the floor, for basketball and volleyball. You can't ask for no better."
While Antioch hasn't announced its valedictorian and salutatorian for the class of 2022, Larrimore is "in the running," according to Donna Hester, the school's athletic director and head volleyball coach.
"(She's) an excellent all-around athlete and good student; she is top notch," Hester said. "She's been a leader on the volleyball team for years and leader, supporter. She supports her team; she's a great asset. We're going to miss her."
Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.
