{"id":3629,"date":"2017-11-13T18:18:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T18:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/?p=3629"},"modified":"2017-11-14T14:26:33","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T14:26:33","slug":"seven-seniors-sign-to-play-college-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/2017\/11\/13\/seven-seniors-sign-to-play-college-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Seniors Sign to Play College Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Matt Liebowitz<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Years of dedication, perseverance, and gratitude led seven Williston seniors to the podium at the school\u2019s Friday, Nov. 10, signing ceremony. For the sheer numbers as well as the enthusiasm of a room packed with parents, classmates, teammates, and coaches, the event embodied the communal Wildcat spirit.<\/p>\n

First to ink his commitment to Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida, was Rob Champigny. Rob will play lacrosse for the Tars in the Division II Sunshine State Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great,\u201d said Rob, who plans to study business. With his characteristic humor, he added, \u201cI\u2019ll get a strong education, and hopefully play some lacrosse along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up was Shana Hecht, who\u2019ll head to Fairfield, Connecticut, to play lacrosse at Sacred Heart University. Shana, Williston\u2019s goalie, has been playing lacrosse since 5th<\/sup> grade, and said the \u201cwelcoming family feeling\u201d of the Division I Sacred Heart Pioneers team just \u201cfelt right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shana\u2019s father, Jeffrey, said coming to Williston helped Shana become the mature, responsible student and athlete she is. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of her,\u201d said Hecht. She put in a lot of work and dedication.\u201d Hecht said Shana plans to live in New York City after college, so going to school in Fairfield will be a good gateway to that dream.<\/p>\n

Jen Fulcher, the head coach of the lacrosse team, praised Shana\u2019s goalkeeping skills as well as her \u201ccontagious positive attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a tremendous goalkeeper and works extremely hard,\u201d said Fulcher. \u201cEven more than her talent, she\u2019s an incredible teammate. She\u2019s someone you want on any team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason Balch was the next student athlete to sign; he\u2019ll play lacrosse for the Division I Bulldogs of Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels unreal,\u201d said Mason, \u201cit finally feels good to get it on paper.\u201d Mason has been committed to play for the Bulldogs since his freshman year.<\/p>\n

Both Gabby Jones and Julia MacLean signed their letters of intent to play ice hockey for the Division I Warriors of Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Gabby has been verbally committed to Merrimack since junior year, and said signing the letter makes it all \u201cfeel real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Tancrell-Fontaine, one of the three ice hockey coaches\u2014along with Christa Talbot Syfu and Erin Davey\u2014praised both Gabby and Julia, citing their abilities as \u201cnatural leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tori Palumbo was the sixth Wildcat to sign; she will attend University of New Hampshire and play both field hockey and ice hockey at the division I level.<\/p>\n

Tori said she\u2019s \u201cnervous but excited,\u201d and “relieved it\u2019s official.\u201d<\/p>\n

(The transition should be easy, in name at least; UNH athletes are Wildcats.)<\/p>\n

The final signee, Duncan LeXander, committed to play basketball at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Mark Conroy, Williston\u2019s Athletic Director, spoke to the commitment each student has shown, as well as the support network that\u2019s allowed the athletes to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are immensely proud of the accomplishment of these seven student-athletes signing this fall to play at NCAA Division 1 and 2 schools,\u201d Conroy said. \u201cI think it speaks volumes about not only their talent and hard work but the support they received from their entire support network\u2014their families, coaches, teachers, teammates, advisor, and college counselor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very proud of the role that the Williston community plays in supporting our aspiring college athletes to fulfill their dreams of playing in college,\u201d added Conroy. \u201cI fully expect there will be many more to come this year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Liebowitz Years of dedication, perseverance, and gratitude led seven Williston seniors to the podium at the school\u2019s Friday, Nov. 10, signing ceremony. For the sheer numbers as well as the enthusiasm of a room packed with parents, classmates, teammates, and coaches, the event embodied the communal Wildcat spirit. First to ink his commitment … Continue reading Seven Seniors Sign to Play College Sports<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-signings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3629"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3632,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3629\/revisions\/3632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}