State College signing day honors more than 40 student-athletes. Here’s where they’re going
State College Area High School honored 42 student-athletes on Wednesday for their commitments to various colleges and universities across the nation, thus continuing their athletic careers.
The entire right side of State College’s North Gym was filled. Parents, teachers, student-athletes, coaches and other family members waited patiently as each name was called.
Among the Division I commitments was Lizzie Paterno, who is headed to Robert Morris to play lacrosse. Prior to heading to the Moon Township campus, she was able to take in one last experience with her teammates and a number of other student-athletes inside State College’s North Campus gym.
“I’m super excited for every single one of these student-athletes here,” Paterno said. “The support that we have is insane. I’m excited for all of them and can’t wait to see what we do. It is super welcoming here. I went to boarding school for a year and then I came back. Everyone opened their arms to me and it’s just amazing to see how tight-knit we are.”
Paterno played lacrosse under the tutelage of Tara Hohenshelt and field hockey for Sharon Herlocher. Paterno picked up the game of lacrosse from Hohenshelt, who previously coached at Penn State. While at the Penn State camps, Paterno began to excel at the sport through her love of it.
Paterno’s teammate in both sports Bayla Furmanek was named as a Snyder Award winner on Tuesday, and on Wednesday night, she was honored for her commitment to Babson College to play field hockey. Furmanek echoed the same sentiment as her teammate.
“With the year that we had with COVID and everything, the athletic department and everyone around us have been able to create opportunities to play,” Furmanek said. “To see these student-athletes work hard on the field and in the classroom — to see their hard work every day pay off and their next destination and see where they’re going to play next is very awesome.”
State College’s list of college commitments is as diverse as it it long, with student-athletes continuing careers in baseball, football, lacrosse, volleyball, track and field/cross country, field hockey, softball, gymnastics, soccer, basketball, swimming, cheerleading and wrestling.
Some athletes are headed out of state, such as distance runners Jordan Reed and Karysn Kane, who are both headed to North Carolina, where they’ll attend Davidson and Appalachian State, respectively, while others, such as Maddie Tambroni (field hockey) and Jake Cooper (baseball) will be staying close to home and attending Penn State.
Kacy Sekunda is one who will be going out of state, heading to Loyola (Md.) to continue her volleyball career. She cited the coaching staff and the ability to explore the city of Baltimore as prominent reasons why she chose the campus located on Charles Street.
“It’s nice to be close to home and just competing at a DI level really drew me in,” she said. Honestly, I’m just so excited to get into the city and it’s close to the beach, too, but there’s just a different lifestyle down in the city, too. It’s different than State College, so I’m interested to see what it’s like.”
With Sekunda’s at the helm, State College won four consecutive District 6 championships. She recorded more than 1,000 assists and 700 kills over her tenure. Sekunda was a two-time all-state honoree in 2018 and 2019 and was named to the Mid-Penn All-Star team.
Emerson Martin, a standout on the defensive line for the Little Lions’ football team last season, will playing for Howard in the fall. Martin’s father, also named Emerson, was a standout athlete, as well. The 51-year old former NFL offensive guard played seven years of professional football after attending Hampton University. For his son, attending a historically Black university was of the utmost importance and something that he’s been looking forward to for a long time.
“All of the coaches have played a big part and the coaches had been at the SEC level previously,” Martin Jr. said. “I think they did a good job in the recruiting process. They stayed on it and talked to my parents a lot. I think (attending Howard) just teaches me more about my culture. I feel like it’s a good and positive experience to be around other African-Americans and other Black people. I just wanted to put myself in the best position that I could.”
COVID-19, as it did with everything else, threw a wrench into recruiting. Track and field runner Casie Eifrig was recruited as a sophomore, having missed her junior season due to the pandemic. She’ll be attending Amherst College in the fall. She chose the school because of the athletics and academics.
After so many ups and downs, Eifrig was just grateful to have one last season to compete with the Little Lions.
“It was definitely crazy now having a senior season after two years off of competing because of the winter and spring seasons that we lost,” Eifrig said. “It was so nerve-wracking coming back in that season after break, but it was honestly a confidence boost being with people who were training as hard as I was, putting in the work and succeeding the way that they were supposed to be. While they’re were many, many changes that we had to confront and tackle, we all did it with much grace and I’m very, very proud of us.”
Several Centre County student-athletes have announced their commitments to continue their careers at the collegiate level. Here’s who signed so far and where they’re going (Are we missing someone? If so, please contact cdtscores@centredaily.com so we can update the list.):
Bald Eagle Area
Kyler Cunningham — Lock Haven football
Trey Foster — Grove City College football
Gage Watson — Lock Haven football
Cooper Gilham — Lycoming wrestling
Bellefonte
Lexi Rogers — James Madison University softball
Bobby Marsh — Florida Atlantic University baseball
Ethan Reichner — South Dakota State wrestling
Ethan Rossman — Lock Haven wrestling
Zach Swanger — Garrett College baseball
Seth Shuey — University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown baseball
J.D. Besch — Shippensburg football
Mykayla Cole - Edinboro track and field/cross country
Sara DeHaas — Penn State DuBois basketball
Mia Elmore — IUP track and field/cross country
Mia Johnson — Edinboro soccer
Hanna Lauck — Penn State Altoona softball
Addyson Manning — University of Pittsburgh at Bradford soccer
Austin Melius — Lock Haven track and field
Makenna Port — Penn State Altoona volleyball
Maxwell Rogers — Pittsburgh Bradford baseball
Leigha Schrader — Gannon University soccer
Samantha Shaw — Bloomsburg golf
Maddie Tice — Neumann University soccer
Brynn Miller — Grove City College lacrosse
Penns Valley
Kendra Bumgardner — Millersville softball
Kelsey Hull — Shippensburg track and field/cross country
Colton Sands — University of North Carolina track and field/cross country
Brendan Colwell — Penn State track and field/cross country
Malachi DuVall — George Mason wrestling
John Aston — Bloomsburg football
Kylie Auman — Lock Haven soccer
Jadyn Butler — IUP volleyball
Collin Emel — Penn State DuBois basketball
Dani Fetterolf — Lebanon Valley College track and field/cross country
Daniel Kelly — St. Francis track and field/cross country
Mason Lieb — Penn State DuBois baseball
Connor Martz — Penn State DuBois baseball
Allie O’Brien — Penn State Harrisburg softball
Stephen Ripka — Penn State football
Ben Sharer — Lebanon Valley College football
Philipsburg-Osceola
Parker Moore — Notre Dame College wrestling
Hannah Minarchick — Mount Aloysius softball
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Zack Witmer — Columbia University wrestling
Clare Marsh — Catholic University of America track & field
Amonn Ohl — Edinboro wrestling
Morgan Wolf — Thiel College softball
Noah Straub — Saint Vincent College basketball
Camryn Eby — Duquense University XC/TF
Kathleen Simander — United States Naval Academy XC/TF
State College
Ariana Angus — Hobart and William Smith Colleges lacrosse
Nate Polo — Penn baseball
Emerson Martin — Howard University football
Lizzie Paterno — Robert Morris University lacrosse
Maddie Tambroni — Penn State field hockey
Kacy Sekunda — Loyola volleyball
Jake Cooper — Penn State baseball
Rebecca Bonness — American field hockey
Bayla Furmanek — Babson College field hockey
Cassie Eifrig — Amherst College track and field
Olivia Herncane —Penn State-Harrisburg softball
Ryan Terrizzi —Lock Haven baseball
Garrett Holzapfel — University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown baseball
Matthew Lingenfelter — Lock Haven baseball
Erica Beyer — Southern Connecticut State gymnastics
Johannah Lee — Hofstra field hockey
Holly Feese — Wilkes University soccer
Dresyn Green — Colgate football
Trey Oyler — Pitt-Bradford basketball
Alex Hlivia — Penn State-Altoona baseball
Carson Franks — Dartmouth College football
Conrad Moore — Penn track and field
Maddy Koehle — West Chester swimming
Colleen Adams – UMBC swimming
Jordan Reed – Davidson track and field/cross county
Karsyn Kane – Appalachian State track and field/cross country
Jarod Leynes – Hiram College volleyball
Megan Lieb – Kenyon College basketball
Aiden Spitler — IUP football
Vanessa McGhee — Penn State Behrend volleyball
Megan Doucette — Lafayette swimming
Sasha Mohoruk — Penn State Behrend soccer
Lance Urbas — Penn wrestling
Colleen Adams — UMBC swimming
Will Kerber — Lake Forest College lacrosse
Grady Ballard — Penn State Altoona soccer
Emma Limegrover — St. Thomas University cheerleading
Lilly Johnson — Ithaca College cross country/track
Harrison Schoen — Thaddeus Stevens football and wrestling
Anna Collins — Lock Haven lacrosse
Lizzie Curtin — St. Mary’s track & field
Lucca Capparelli — Lock Haven track & field
Mack Meengs — Penn State Altoona baseball
