Palm Desert celebrates 11 athletes who will continue athletics at college
The Palm Desert High School athletic department made the decision to move their signing days from the gym foyer to inside the gym this year and days like Wednesday showed exactly why that was a good idea.
A whopping 11 athletes signed their letters of intent to continue playing sports in college, each one flanked by proud family members and with cheering friends watching from the stands.
Let's hear from the 11 future college athletes, find out where they are going to go and why.
Cash Anderholt
Sport: Soccer
School: Westmont College in Santa Barbara
Cash says: I looked at a few schools up north, but I got some good advice. Someone told me, "Of the schools you’re interested in. If you weren’t playing a sport there which school would you go to?" And that made it easy, it’s in Santa Barbara it’s really nice. I really hoped that playing college soccer was possible, but I didn’t know for sure. I had a lot of good coaches that really pushed me to get to this point."
Jordan Baker
Sport: Water polo
School: University of LaVerne
Jordan says: "I was at a tourney with my club team and my coach reached out to their coach, but at the time I was focused on another college and then I switched my major and they have a great film program at LaVerne. Oh, and also my friend is going there (points to teammate Nico Buono). Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about college water polo as a freshman, but after junior year summer into senior year, I really started thinking about college.
Nico Buono
Sport: Water polo
School: University of LaVerne
Nico says: "They showed interest in me right a way and I knew they had a really good program going, coaches are great, players are great, really fun group of guys. It's also a good program for what I want to major in. It was a dream come true today, signing day. It’s an amazing feeling."
Lane Forti
Sport: Football
School: Chapman University (Orange, Calif.)
Lane says: "Definitely a long process to come to the decision that I wanted to come to, but Chapman is the right place for me. The right fit and that’s all that really matters. It fits everything for me: My family is going to be close, it's D3 but very competitive, and academically it's a great fit for me, too. I was on a visit to a school in Pennsylvania just this past weekend, it was my last visit and on Monday morning I woke up and I just knew, it was Chapman."
Ben Hecht
Sport: Water polo
School: Cal Baptist
Ben says: "From the get-go with recruiting they were the first school to reach out and be interested and I’ve been talking with them ever since. I had two club teammates go to Cal Baptist in the last couple of years so I’ve heard a lot of good things about them. It’s always been a dream of mine. Ever since I was little I played all kinds of sports and I always wanted to play at a big level. Collegiate level athletics is such a huge accomplishment. I’m grateful for the opportunity."
Lexie King
Sport: Stunt cheer
School: Concordia University (Irvine)
Lexie says: "Went on a visit there just to visit the campus in general, and I met the cheer coaches and they were very persistent on recruiting me. I’m kind of glad that it panned out like that. I kind of just wanted to focus on academics, but when stunt cheerleading came around, I thought it was really cool and I got more into it and they idea of doing cheer in college."
Parker LaMont
Sport: Soccer
School: Utah Tech University
Parker says: "My club coach introduced me to Utah Tech and they were interested and they came and watched me play. Then I went on an official visit there and I committed. I’ve been keeping up with them ever since and it’s a great school and a great opportunity. It’s been great to focus on training and relax on the whole recruitment process which is obviously very stressful, but now I’m feeling great and just ready to play college soccer."
Mary Jane Limon
Sport: Softball
School: Farleigh Dickinson (Teaneck, N.J.)
Mary Jane says: "I kind of had a dream to go to New Jersey and to go East and I have some connections around there. It’s always been a dream to go to a place with a lot of people a new pace new faces, I’m excited."
Tyrese McKneely
Sport: Football
School: Southern Utah University
Tyrese says: "When I visited, their coaches and players were really showing me that hospitality and I just really liked the environment. I already felt at home. Very blessed. The recruiting process was hard every single day, I wouldn’t get a reply back from a coach or whatever, but this coach and I were locked in. I just want to thank God, thank my family and all my coaches."
Drew Sickenberger
Sport: Stunt cheer
School: Missouri Baptist
Drew says: "I went to a combine for cheerleading and talked tonew schools and started visiting all these schools and that’s how I learned about them, and they learned about me. I thought it was impossible to go to college for cheerleading. I saw the "Cheer" documentary and I could never do some of that stuff, but then recently it became clear that there are opportunities for cheerleaders at every level to get a college opportunity."
Delaney Tingle
Sport: Tennis
School: West Chester University (Pennsylvania)
Delaney says: "My sister lives in Pennsylvania, and a different school in the same conference reached out to me and I visited them and I also visited West Chester and I ended up loving West Chester. Once I visited, I was set on it. I’m so excited it will be a new experience for me and it’s going to be great."
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Signing day: Palm Desert celebrates 11 athletes who will continue athletics at college
