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Teresa Wallace

Alysha Wallace commits to Cedarville University for Soccer.

Six Granville High School Girls committed to colleges as student-athletes. This is the first time in Granville that there have only been girls on a signing day. On Nov. 9. these young women announced their future schools and what sport they are going for. Athletic director, Josh Devoll, is in charge of all the athletic events, which includes signing day. He checks in with each athlete and asks if they are wanting to participate in signing day, which is an optional event for athletes committing to a college. This was only Granville’s first signing day and there are more to come.  

Amelia Sarap is committed to Central Michigan for Lacrosse. She found out about this school after playing in a tournament and they reached out to her. Once they came into contact Sarap decided she wanted to go there because of the coaches and her fellow players. She also said that the campus is very nice and so are the dorms. The recruitment process for her was stressful but Sarap said “to take it one day at a time”. She prepared for the Granville fall signing day by applying to the university and printing out her signing day letter. Overall, Sarap said that she had a great experience with signing day and it made her even more excited for next year. 

Ella Hoover is committed to Appalachian State University for soccer. Hoover has always wanted to go to a school in North Carolina and her club soccer coach told her that she believed that App state would be a good fit, so she went and checked it out for herself. She fell in love with the campus and the coaches, which is why she decided to go there. For her, the recruitment process was one of the most stressful things ever, but Hoover said “once you find the place that feels like home, everything comes together”. She prepared for signing day by talking to all of her coaches and got the paper for it. Josh Devoll made the process “very easy and fun”,  Hoover said. Overall signing day went very well for Hoover and it was done smoothly. 

Alysha Wallace committed to Cedarville University for soccer. She found out about this college through her reciting coach, because he thought the school would be a good fit for her and brought it up in a conversation. She decided that she wanted to go there because of “The amazing atmosphere and the amazing team. I truly liked the coaches, but overall everyone’s love for Christ and being at a Christ-centered school was something that I was looking for”, Wallace said. For the recruitment process, Wallace’s coach was able to help by sending out emails and talking to other coaches when she wasn’t able to. She sent out schedules and invited coaches to her games. Wallace set up a visit and had lunch with the coach and expressed her desire to play at the school. Wallace reached out on communication day, and after all that, they stayed in contact, and then he offered and she accepted. She prepared for the signing day by “inviting all of my friends and family. My dad and grandma from Maryland came into town to be there for it”, Wallace said. A lot of my soccer teammates came along with my coaches. Wallace had to complete questionnaires about where she was going for Granville high school and college. Wallace said that Josh Devoll made the process fairly easy, and he asked for 2 pictures, of where she was going and had her write a small speech. Signing day “was a lot of fun and I was really excited about it. It was really cool to see all of the other girls signing as well. It was super special to me because my friends and family were able to be there and I couldn’t have asked for a better day”, Wallace said.

Zoee Lehman is committed to Ohio State University for Cross country and track. She found out about OSU because her cross country coach, Tanner Ernest, gave her the head coaches information. They began communicating with each other from then on. She decided to go there because it was close to home and she doesn’t want to be far away from her family and friends. Lehman feels that OSU would provide her with a good athletic and academic future. The recruitment process was “really exciting thinking about where I want to go because it will be a new experience in my life, but it was also stressful at times having to decide what college will be the best fit for myself personally”, Lehman said. She prepared for signing day by asking the OSU coach to send her the paperwork she needed, and she wrote a speech to announce the news to everyone. Josh Devoll made this process easy because he only asked her to provide him with a running picture for signing day. Signing day “was a really cool experience and an honor to give a speech and announce where I will be going to college. Signing day was always something I wanted to do so I’m glad I got the chance to do it”, Lehman said.

Lilly Eckels is committed to Ohio State University for Cross country and track. She found out about OSU just from living in Ohio and growing up knowing about it. Lily’s mother also went to OSU for college which is another reason why she knew the area. Eckels’s cross-country coach had given her the contact information of the coach at OSU and they began communicating. From then on Eckels decided she wanted to go to OSU because “It is close to home which was the most important thing to me because I am really close with my sisters”, Eckels said. She felt that the recruitment process was stressful and overwhelming at some points, but overall it was fun to see all the different campuses. Eckels prepared for signing day by writing a speech and she “tried to rehearse it as much as I could before I had to give it to an audience”, Eckels said. Josh Devoll made this process fun because he created banners for each of the girls and he was very supportive of us. Overall Eckels thought that signing day was a little nerve-racking but she is glad that she was able to do it, and it was a special experience for her.