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Six Monticello players celebrate college commitments

Getting a chance to play with your brother or sister during high school is a relatively rare treat. You’ve got to match up age wise, and if you aren’t twins, that window of potential years on varsity is even smaller.

 

But playing in college together is particularly tough. For one, you’ve both got to be good enough and you’ve also got to fit into a single program’s plan.

 

Monticello wrestling’s Logan Zimmerman is about to make that happen while another Monticello athlete, Katie Devine will square off against her sister at the next level.

 

Devine and Zimmerman celebrated their college commitments Tuesday alongside several other classmates Tuesday at MHS as the Mustangs celebrated a pack of Division III pledges across a number of different sports as Gena Lewis, Kiana Scott, Emily Witzke and Daniel Hummel each celebrated their college plans.

 

Zimmerman is headed to Ferrum, where he’ll be united with his brother Justin Zimmerman, a Fluvanna County product who became Ferrum’s first all-state wrestler in 2014 via the VASID program. Logan wrapped a strong career with a fifth-place finish at the Group 3A state meet in Salem. He finished 34-5 as a senior and amassed a 132-28 record for his career.

 

“I’m pretty excited, I go up there a couple of times per year just to practice with my brother a little bit,” Zimmerman said. “I’ll have good coaches up there and all his friends so they’re going to be pushing me really hard.”

 

Devine is headed to Colby College in Maine, where she’ll get a chance to face-off against her sister Charlotte Devine’s Middlebury College volleyball squad at some point next year. The younger Devine finished in the school’s all-time top eight in a slew of different career statistical service categories including aces and serving percentage. She’ll join a Colby squad that went 14-12 last season.

 

“I saw how much fun (my sister) had up there and how much a team helps you grow as a person,” Devine said. “It helps you make friends and get settled in college.”

 

Monticello’s Daniel Hummel is bound for Lynchburg College boys lacrosse, where he’ll join a team that played for a national title last season, falling in the title game to Tufts. Hummel, who has played quarterback and wideout for the Mustangs’ football team, is a long pole for the Mustangs who prefers to play close defense but has been wedged into a long-stick midfielder role with Monticello trying to find someone who can given them a spark in that phase of the game. Hummel has been that spark, helping out on extra man offense and in transition where he’s been a leader in ground balls the last couple of years.

 

“I wanted to be part of a tradition-rich program and I think Lynchburg is that,” Hummel said. “I just want to be part of something great and Lynchburg is doing something good.”

 

Monticello girls basketball’s Kiana Scott is headed to Randolph College. Scott was the bridge between two eras of Mustang basketball this season as one of the lone holdovers from Josh McElheney’s last teams there that featured Molly Shephard and Meghan Comer among others. Scott had to step up her role as a senior, and earned first team All-Jefferson District honors in the process while notched a triple double and averaging 11.8 points and 6.5 rebounds. Playing with a number of terrific players who’ve gone on to the next level has helped keep Scott driving toward this goal.

 

“I knew even when I was a little girl that I wanted to play on the next level but (it has been good) just seeing them go on to the next level,” Scott said. “I’ll actually be playing against some of them.”

 

Emily Witzke has been a fixture in the cage for Monticello’s field hockey team the past four years, and her efforts seemed to always give the Mustangs a chance to win as she totaled more than 280 saves in her career. Witzke will head to Bridgewater, successfully navigating the difficult waters of being a keeper in the recruiting process when schools don’t carry many goalies.

 

“I knew that Bridgewater was looking for a goalie, the past year or two their goalies got hurt and I knew they wanted to bring in a couple of goalies,” Witzke said. “You really just have to put it all out on the field and show them that I’m ready to play and ready to be here.”

 

Gena Lewis will continue her distance running career at Christopher Newport University, where she’ll run cross country and compete on the track for CNU. She was the Mustangs’ top runner on the squad’s Group 3A state runner-up cross country squad earlier this year and has earned all-region honors in the 800 meters during outdoor track.

 

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