Class of 2010 College Signings

[AVC Coach]

Sam Ewing to University of Arkansas.

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From Milesplit.us:

Micaehl Addison (AL) to St Benedictine's

Paul Malquist (GA) to UGA

Dillon Risser (OH) to Cincinnati
Autumn Shellenberger (OH) to Bucknell

Kelsey Davis (PA) to Bloomsburg
Michaela Whitelaw (PA) to Chicago

Lizzie Powell (VA) to Virginia Tech

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http://www.mcall.com/sports/highschool/ ... 3877.story

Whitehall athletes sign letters of intent

Four Whitehall High School senior athletes are heading to Philadelphia to continue their athletic careers after signing their letters of intent this morning at the school's Large Group Instruction center.

Baseball player Pat Bet and pole vaulter Brooke Hamscher will attend Penn, while all-state football defensive lineman Taray Carey and field hockey goalie Elizabeth Millen will enroll at Temple.

Bet, a pitcher/infielder, was a second-team Morning Call all-area selection last spring. Hamscher finished seventh in the PIAA Class 3A pole vault two years ago and had the top vault in the area last spring, clearing 12 feet.

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Merritt Van Meter to North Carolina

[IndyCoach]

Ellie McCardwell signed with Stanford

http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/sports ... 00402.html

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... a9691.html

On Wednesday she signed a national letter of intent to run track and cross country for Texas A&M alongside teammate Sam Retzloff, who inked a letter of intent to pole vault for Indiana.

“I am really excited about this day,” Harris said. “This is just another step in my life. No longer am I in the high school bubble. It is just me moving into another chapter. It is exciting.”

It was hard for Retzloff to stop smiling on Wednesday.

“I’ve always wanted to know where I was going to college,” he said. “I have had lots of sleepless nights over it. So to finally get it done is just awesome.”

Retzloff and Harris are two of the most decorated athletes in Argyle’s track history.

Harris is the defending Class 3A state champion in the 3,200 and Retzloff won the gold medal in pole vault last season.

Harris is also a starting guard for the Argyle basketball team. Her dream growing up was to play basketball at the college level. But she slowly realized that she would benefit more from running track as her high school career moved along.

“It was hard for me to decide if I wanted to play basketball or if I wanted to run track,” Harris said. “But once A&M started calling I knew that is what I wanted to do. It was game over at that point.”

Retzloff also had a difficult time deciding what school would fit his liking. But when Indiana, which boasts one of the best pole vault programs in the country, came calling, he was quick to commit.

“It was a really tough choice at first,” he said. “I looked on the Internet to see what schools were good and I compiled a list of all their athletes and found out what they jumped in high school. And IU had a great success rate. So it made my decision easier.”

Retzloff is ranked the No. 1 pole vaulter in Class 3A and No. 3 in the state of Texas at the high school level.

“I want to make a career out of this and become a world class athlete,” he said. “I want to go to the Olympics, and Indiana is the place I can get that done.”

Harris said she is looking forward to putting all of her attention on her track career instead of trying to balance the sport with basketball.

“I have never been real serious about it,” she said. “So I am excited to call off everything and put everything into track.”

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http://www.santamariatimes.com/sports/a ... 002e0.html

Knights, Titans pen National Letters
By Kenny Cress / Sports Writer / kcress@santamariatimes.com | Posted: Thursday, February 4, 2010 12:40 am | (0) Comments

St. Joseph football players, from left to right, Zach Perron, Keith Bendixen and KJ Cusack sign National Letters of Intent inside Hofschulte Gym on Wednesday. Perron will head to UC Davis, Bendixen to San Jose St. and Cusack to Cal Poly. // Bryan Walton/Staff
“There’s no turning back now,” St. Joseph High School Athletic Director Tom Mott reminded five St. Joseph senior student athletes Wednesday.
Seconds later, each of the quintet put a John Hancock on a National Letter of Intent at a signing ceremony inside St. Joseph’s Hofschulte Gym.
Keith Bendixen will play football at San Jose State. K.J. Cusack will do the same for Cal Poly. Natasha Kolbo will pole vault and long jump at UCLA. Teresa Loya will put the shot at the Air Force Academy. Zach Perron will play football for UC Davis.

Kolbo said she was ecstatic about going to UCLA. She’s the best girls long jumper in the Los Padres League, with a best of 18-11. Kolbo is also the reigning league champion in the 200 and the high jump.
Kolbo has broken school records in the 100, long jump and high jump. Now she’s looking forward to another event — pole vaulting.
“I pole vaulted once in a high school meet, and I cleared 11-6,” said Kolbo. “I train with Jan Johnson, and Chelsea Johnson, his daughter, is my idol. She’s a pole vaulter and a world class athlete. I want to be just like her.
“My goal in the pole vault is 13-0. I want to jump 19-plus in the long jump.” She pledged, “You’re going to see big numbers from me.”
Kolbo has had “straight ‘A’s’ since my freshman year. I’m very proud of that,” she said. Kolbo said she talked to Columbia, Cal Poly, Stanford and USC, among others, but went with the Bruins.

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http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/f ... s_-_track/

Wylie’s Emily Grant and Abilene High’s Jourdan Ellis already have established themselves among the elite track and field athletes in the Big Country.

Now, they’ll get their chance to prove themselves at the national level.

Both signed national letters of intent Wednesday to continue their careers in college, Grant at Texas A&M and Ellis at Texas.

Grant became just the fourth Lady Bulldog in the past 20 years to earn a track and field scholarship from a Division I school. The school-record holder in the girls pole vault at 11 feet, 6 inches, Grant chose the Aggies over Stephen F. Austin and the University of Houston.

“It’s very exciting. This is what I’ve worked for for a long time and it’s always been my dream to pole vault at a D-I school,” Grant said. “And now that I’ve worked hard and it’s paid off, I just think it’s really cool and I’m just really excited to get to experience that.”

Grant, who said she’s been pole vaulting since the eighth grade but didn’t get serious about the sport until high school, finished third at the state meet in Austin as a sophomore. But a hamstring injury cost her a chance at her second state meet appearance last spring.

“Last year, right before the regional meet, she had a pretty severe hamstring injury that kind of hampered her efforts, and she still finished fourth in the region at probably 70 percent,” Wylie girls track coach Kerry Hibbits said.

Grant is looking for her best season yet in 2010.

“It does take a little bit of pressure off,” Grant said of knowing her college destination, “But it also gives me determination to work harder, jump higher and be able to compete with some of the top Big 12 pole vaulters.

“This year, I’m ready to pick it back up and hopefully be at the state meet again.”

The A&M coaching staff is thankful she made the decision to go to College Station.

“We are glad to welcome Emily to the Texas A&M track and field team,” A&M track coach Pat Henry said in an e-mailed message. “Emily gets after it and that’s what we’re going to ask her to do here.

“We have had some good success with our women’s vaulters at the Big 12 meet and we expect Emily will be a contributor as well.”

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http://www.seguingazette.com/story.lass ... cc28481896

One of the other members of that squad — senior pole vaulting prodigy and 2009 state silver medalist Sarah Korn — recalls taking a different route to finding her favorite event.

“I did competitive gymnastics for a long time and then I quit due to the pounding on my body,” Korn said. “(Navarro) Coach (Steve) Zaleski had been hounding me since seventh grade to become a pole vaulter, so I got connections and a phone number for Chris Allison, my pole vault coach.

“I started going my freshman year right before track season and just fell in love with it and have been doing it ever since.”

But despite the different paths that the two ladies took to becoming standout student-athletes, they have more in common than just the same purple track uniform.

On Wednesday morning, both officially signed letters of intent to compete at the collegiate level, with Haass choosing the University of Texas-San Antonio and Korn deciding on the University of North Texas.

Coincidentally, both said that when they visited their respective campuses, it was love at first sight.

“As soon as I got to Denton, I went on my official visit and I just felt at home,” Korn said of UNT. “Everyone was really nice and all the girls felt really friendly and Coach (Laurie McElroy), the jumps coach, is really nice and she knows a lot of what she’s talking about and she just tries to make everyone feel like a family.”

Haass had the same sentiment about the coaching staff in San Antonio.

“The first thing I was looking for in a college was a coach I really meshed with and I definitely found that at UTSA,” she said. “And the girls are all great. The campus is really moving in the right direction as far as athletics and academics

“It’s the right place for me.”

And the two girls really are just as focused on academics as they are athletics.

Haas plans to major in Political Science and minor in Religious Studies, with a long-term goal of attending law school to become an attorney.

Korn, on the other hand, will study Biology and hopes to one day become a doctor.

“In a long time,” Korn added.

But before each begins their college experience, they have a chance to do something very special in their final year at Navarro.

Haass has taken home the silver medal in the 3,200-meter event for two consecutive years at state and is looking for her first gold medal in 2010.

Meanwhile, Korn, who set a new school record and personal best with her jump of 11-6 at state, has her sights set on breaking the 12-foot mark this season.

And with Coach Zaleski having previously raved about the work ethic of both athletes, there’s a very good chance that both of those things will happen in 2010.

[xjoeyx]

Sandi Morris (Greenville, SC) has now apparently signed with UNC? I haven't heard from her so i'm not sure on this but here's where it was reported:
http://sc.milesplit.us/articles/34546


And, David Melton (Wando, Mt. Pleasant, SC) PB:14-6" is signing with the citadel
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010 ... y-signees/

[LHSVaulterJJR]

sandi originally committed to wake forest, she recently just decomitted and is now with unc

[powerplant42]

powerplant42 to Mount St. Mary's.