Class of 2014 College Signings

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http://triblive.com/sports/hssports/hig ... z2pI9elr2l

Shady Side Academy pole vaulter commits to Bucknell

By Marty Stewart

Published: Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, 9:00 p.m.
Updated 2 hours ago

Shady Side Academy track star Max Prizant recently gave a commitment to Bucknell University.

Prizant also had received interest from Emery and Washington & Lee before deciding on D-I Bucknell.

“I'm not sure of a major yet,” he said. “Possibly business management. After visiting the Bucknell campus and seeing the academics and facilities that they offer, I felt that it would be a good fit for me.”

Prizant was also on the cross country team at SSA but his specialty is the pole vault. Last year, he finished sixth in that event at the PIAA championships.

He believes he has a good chance to contribute as a freshman at Bucknell.

“I'll have a lot of work to do,” he said. “Their pole vaulters regularly get over 15 feet and I believe that 15-9 was their best vault. I've done a 14-9 so I will be working to get over 15 feet.”

To achieve that goal, Prizant is competing during the indoor track season and is looking forward to the spring outdoor season at Shady Side.

“As a team, we will have high hopes this season,” he said. “We had a few of us make it to states last year and we want to make it back there. I have hopes of standing up on the podium this year with a first-place medal.”

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http://www.cantonrep.com/article/201401 ... /140139766

Fairless pole vaulter Simmons will attend Ohio State
Reigning girls Division II state champion pole vaulter Ally Simmons of Fairless commits to Ohio State.


Mike Popovich
CantonRep.com sports writer
Posted Jan. 31, 2014 @ 9:26 pm

Ally Simmons grew up a Michigan fan.
“Fourth or fifth grade,” the Fairless High School pole vaulter recalls when she first followed the Wolverines. “My grandma is a Michigan fan and my uncle, he’s from
Michigan.”
Loyalties will shift south now. It won’t be difficult for the reigning Division II state champion and her family.
Simmons has made a verbal commitment to attend Ohio State. She will sign her national letter of intent Wednesday.
A three-time state qualifier and Stark County girls pole vault record holder, Simmons chose Ohio State ahead of Cincinnati and Louisville.
“I really, really like the track team and their coaches were all really super, super nice,” Simmons said. “The pole vault coach just came out of retirement from his job. He’s a full-time volunteer, so he’ll be traveling with the team.
“And just being at the best school in Ohio overall.”
Simmons certainly has a familiarity with the pole vault pit at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Her crowning achievement there came last June when she cleared a county-record 12 feet, 5 1/2 to become Fairless’ first OHSAA girls state champion.
With the college choice behind her, Simmons now can look forward to her senior season.
“I don’t have to be as worried and stressed out about taking visits and missing practices,” Simmons said. “Now I’m just in the full swing of practice and competing.”
Simmons also won the Division II-III pole vault title at last year’s coaches’ indoor state meet. She vaulted 12 feet in her first 2014 indoor meet. Her winning height a year ago was 11-3.
Winning the outdoor and indoor state pole vault titles again are two of Simmons’ “smaller goals.” Her hope is to aim real high.
“I have three bigger goals,” Simmons said. “The first one is to jump 13-1, and that’s the state record. To get in the top five overall nationally, I have to jump 13-6. My third goal would be the all-time high school record, which is 14-2.”
If Simmons reaches her bigger goals, the smaller goals likely will be achieved, too.

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http://www.postcrescent.com/article/201 ... ck_check=1

Prep Blitz: Wrightstown track standout Bonnie Draxler set to sign on with San Diego State
Feb. 2, 2014 5:48 PM | 0 Comments

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GPG_ES_WIAA state track_6.1.13 Purchase ImageZOOM
Wrightstown's Bonnie Draxler races towards the finish line to win the Division 2 400-meter dash during the WIAA Track and Field Championships in La Crosse on June 1, 2013. The track standout is set to sign on with San Diego State. / Evan Siegle/Press-Gazette Media
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Bonnie Draxler’s desire to attend San Diego State University on a track and field scholarship was more than just about avoiding Wisconsin’s winters for most of the year.

The athletes there also made her feel at home during a recruiting visit, and that scored big points with the Wrightstown senior pole vaulter.

“The girls on the team were awesome and really welcoming,” Draxler said. “I loved that.”

Draxler, the state’s record holder in the pole vault, will sign a Letter of Intent on Wednesday to attend SDSU and is excited about the opportunities that brings.

She has seven Division 2 first-place finishes at the WIAA state track meet the past three seasons, including three consecutive titles in the pole vault and 400-meter dash. She also won the 100 dash last June.

She had offers from Virginia Tech, University of South Florida, Penn State, University of Cincinnati, University of New Mexico, Illinois State, University of Memphis and Eastern Illinois before deciding on SDSU.

“I wanted to go there,” she said. “I took a visit to meet the team and tour of the school. I just really loved it.

“And the school is beautiful. The weather is perfect for training.”

Draxler is also one of the top girls’ pole vaulters in the nation and she said she was impressed with the credentials of the Aztecs coaching staff.

SDSU women’s track and field coach Sheila Burrell was a two-time U.S. Olympian in the heptathlon and the Aztecs are a program on the rise. Under Burrell, SDSU has produced two NCAA individual champions, 17 All-Americans and 31 Mountain West individual champions.

Aztecs pole vault coach Richard Fox also has an impressive resume, helping the Aztecs produce 17 pole vault champions at the Mountain West indoor and outdoor championships during his 18-year career.

Draxler’s personal best was a leap of 13 feet, 7.25 inches at the USA TF outdoor meet last year at Carroll College in Waukesha.

“My goal is just do better (this season) than 13-7 and see how high I can go,” she said.

Draxler said she’s excited to improve as an athlete in the sunny San Diego weather, where 72 degrees and sunshine are the norm almost year-round.

“They actually don’t have an indoor facility there because it’s so nice during the year,” she said. “Pole vaulting is a lot different outside with the wind and the weather than indoor. So I think it’s going to help me a lot more with confidence and stuff.”

Draxler knows that her success, talent and work ethic gives her a good chance at contending for a possible berth on a future Olympics team.

“I definitely want to go to the Olympics," Draxler said. "That's every athlete's dream. Out in San Diego, they have the Olympic training center, so if I do make it and become a professional athlete, I can always train there."?

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Devin King to Southeast Louisiana.

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http://www.rgj.com/article/20140206/PRE ... ck_check=1

Wooster track star Alexis Romero is used to aiming high. Her specialty, the pole vault, demands it.

She did the same when it came time to officially choose a college, signing a national letter of intent Wednesday afternoon to continue her track career at Kansas, the defending NCAA women’s national champion.

Romero signed her letter in front of a large group of friends, family and staff at the Jump-N-Shout training center in Reno. Wednesday was the first signing day of the year for athletes competing in football, track, cross country and soccer.

“I’ve always watched (Kansas’) vaulters from afar, and they’ve always had really good results,” said Romero, who began pole vaulting as a freshman. “So I definitely considered that as a place to go for college.”

Romero, the defending Division I state champion in the pole vault, said she was both happy to be attached to Kansas and relieved that the recruiting and signing process was over.

“It feels really great; I’m not stressed at all any more,” Romero said. “Last year, they (Kansas) were actually national champions, so that definitely opened my eyes to how great their program is.”

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Glen Harold (Me) of Brookfield East High School in Wisconsin singed with the University of Minnesota.

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http://www.staceypageonline.com/2014/02 ... air-force/

Hickerson To Soar At Air Force
February 11, 2014 11:26 AM Scott Davidson avatar Contact Author

Hickerson is now set to continue mastering takeoffs and flight as the senior signed a letter of intent to attend the United States Air Force Academy and continue her pole vaulting career.

Hickerson owns the school record for pole vault with her 11’6” mark. An IHSAA State Championships qualifier as a sophomore, Hickerson has helped lead the Lady Tigers Track & Field squad to three consecutive conference team championships (2011-13), three consecutive sectional championships (2011-13), and back to back regional championships (2012-13). She was also a member of this past season’s Lady Tiger Cross Country squad that reached the state finals in Terre Haute.



Setting the bar high after school, it was only natural that Hickerson set the bar high in the classroom as well. Enrolled in numerous Academic Honors, Dual Credit and Advanced Placement courses, she compiled a 12.19 grade-point-average on a 12-point scale, and ranks in the top 6% of her graduating class.

A member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Tiger Student Athletic Board, and National Honor Society, the senior has made a positive impact on those around her and with others in the community.

Hickerson is set to earn Academic Honors Diploma when she graduates this coming June, and she intends to study engineering at Air Force.

Trained by area coaches John Bazzoni and Bob Shank along with the Lady Tiger staff, Hickerson is the third of four children of Jo and Bryan Hickerson to stand out in athletics at WCHS. Sister Emily (’10, Grace College Soccer), and brother Joey (11’, Grace College Baseball) were multiple-sport athletes for the Tigers, and younger brother Tommy (’16) plays football and baseball.

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Woah! I know Max, he is a good friend, and a great vaulter. It's going to be weird seeing him not in a Shadyside Academy uniform.

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http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/ ... nowle.html

North Hunterdon High School pole vaulter Trevor Knowles picks Lehigh University
Bruce Buratti | The Express-Times By Bruce Buratti | The Express-Times

on March 04, 2014 at 4:44 PM, updated March 04, 2014 at 4:45 PM



North Hunterdon High School's Trevor Knowles, who finished fifth in the boys pole vault at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on Saturday, has committed to attend Lehigh University next fall.

Knowles was one of five vaulters to clear 15 feet in the meet, but had to settle for fifth place on misses. His height ties him for sixth place on The Express-Times region list and Knowles has an excellent shot this spring of challenging the Hunterdon County record of 15-3 established by North Hunterdon's Bruce Wodder in 1974, as well as the all-time region record of 15-5 shared by Parkland's Jay Tomsic (1992) and Northampton's Eric Hunter (2012).

Knowles and North Hunterdon's Morgan Harvey, a two-time Express-Times Girls Track Athlete of the Year, will both be competing at the New Balance Indoor Nationals March 15 at the Armory in New York.

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http://www.kearneycourier.com/sports/ar ... aa779.html

Vaulter takes talents to Park University

Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2014 12:00 am
By Corey Edwards | 0 comments

Kearney senior pole vaulter Laini Brown signed a letter of intent in February to attend Park University, Parkville, Mo., in the fall.
Brown, who is coached by her father, Kearney pole vault coach Kenny Brown, said that the deiscion to attend Park came at the conclusion of her junior season last spring.

“I was recruited by their pole vault coach at dstricts last year,” she said. “The campus is just really pretty and the distance from home was really great. It was fantastic, because it is the perfect ditance away and I can always come back when I want to.”

While she prepares to compete for the Bulldogs this spring, Brown has already began practicing with her new college team.
Brown added that she will compete only in the vault.

Brown wants to major in Elementary Education and become a teacher, a field she says she has been interested in since she was five years old.

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http://onlineathens.com/sports/prep/201 ... orgia-tech

Jefferson pole vaulter Mason Hamrick signs with Georgia Tech
By NICOLE SAAVEDRAupdated Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - 10:49pm
JEFFERSON | Mason Hamrick wasn’t sure a day like Wednesday would arrive.

The Jefferson senior signed with Georgia Tech’s track and field team at a ceremony in Jefferson on Wednesday, two years after foot surgery gave him doubts about his collegiate chances.

“I’ve had a lot of things happen that made me think, ‘maybe this isn’t for me, maybe this isn’t going to happen,’” said Hamrick, who won state pole vault titles in 2011 and 2013. “But I pushed through it and I used that to learn and get stronger. Now that it’s finally happened, to see my hard work pay off, it’s awesome.”

Hamrick broke his foot in middle school and had surgery on it as a sophomore.

He also had interest from Troy State, Appalachian State, Clemson, Arkansas and Kennesaw State, but his top choice had always been Georgia Tech.

“Mainly, I like Georgia Tech because they have what I want and they have the best of what I want,” Hamrick said. “I want to be an engineer and
when you think Georgia Tech, you think engineer.”

Jefferson will compete in the Class AA sectionals on Saturday and will host the state tournament in May.