The decisions were made, for the most part, months ago, but that doesn’t make the official celebration any less sweet. For sports like basketball, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and rowing, fall signing day is the official end of the sometimes stressful, always exciting recruiting process for a slew of local athletes.
Another STAB boys lacrosse group steps forward
Last year at this time, four St. Anne’s-Belfield lacrosse players — Chapin Speidel, Owen Van Arsdale, Austin Geisler and Mark Hargrove — inked letters to play lacrosse at the next level.
There wasn’t much drop off in 2010’s signing ceremony. Attackman Andrew Crockett, longstick midfielder Charles Schreck and midfielder Connor McCullough signed letters of intent Wednesday to take their game to the college ranks.
Crockett, a terrific finisher around the cage for STAB, will take his game to Georgetown, a top-10 program that finished second in the Big East last season. But Crockett pointed first to academics as the basis for his decision.
“People ask me a lot why I chose Georgetown,” Crockett said. “How can you pass up an opportunity to go to a school like that? I could’ve gone to a lot of other schools, but none of those schools would have compared to the academics offered at Georgetown.”
Schreck is headed north too, to Delaware, where he’ll join a Blue Hens squad that won the Colonial Athletic Association title and was only ousted from the NCAA tournament when they fell 14-13 to North Carolina. For Schreck, Delaware and coach long-time coach Bob Shillinglaw were a no-brainer.
“The tradition is deeply rooted in the school,” Schreck said. “They gave me the best options academically, athletically and financially, so it was an easy decision.”
Schreck also weighed Maryland, the Naval Academy and Loyola, all also lacrosse powers.
McCullough heads to one of the nation’s hottest programs at Notre Dame, who made a surprise run to the NCAA championship game on the strength of red-hot goalie Scott Rodgers. McCullough, a rangy, versatile midfielder, should fit in easily with an athletic Notre Dame squad, especially if his visit is any indication.
“I felt it right away — the vibe on campus is great,” McCullough said. “It just drew me in.”
McCullough will join another Central Virginia standout, Max Pfeifer, when he suits up for the Irish.
Bolin heads to George Washington
Addi Bolin poured in goals last year for St. Anne’s-Belfield’s girls lacrosse team and took a big step on the field to lead the way to back-to-back VISAA Division 2 titles for her team. Now she’ll get a chance to do the same at George Washington, where her scoring punch could help a team that barely missed out on an Atlantic 10 tournament bid and appears to be a program on the way up.
Bolin sorted through interest from Villanova, Vanderbilt and a number of smaller schools, but George Washington’s Washington, D.C. location was a clear fit for the potential political science major.
“Once I went up there I just fell in love with the city,” Bolin said. “I’m really close to my brothers and my parents, so I’m happy to be close to home.”
Spinosa, Shifflett to extend baseball careers
St. Anne’s-Belfield’s stellar baseball season was cut short last year in the early stages of the state tournament, but it didn’t slow down David Spinosa and Sheldon Shifflett’s college recruiting processes.
Spinosa and Shifflett sorted through a number of impressive offers and committed to Columbia and Virginia Military Institute respectively. Spinosa picked the Ivy League school, jumping at the chance to live in New York City.
“I love the campus,” Spinosa said. “You step outside and you’re in the city. Plus the baseball team, I really like what they’re doing, they’ve got a lot of specific goals.”
The pitcher/outfielder combo earned all-Prep League honors and has reportedly hit in the mid to high 80s on the radar gun.
Shifflett will head to a program at VMI who’s star is rising. The Keydets managed to knock off UVa last season and earned the team’s highest-ever national ranking at No. 26.
The tandem will hit the field next spring along with a number of other key players to improve on last year’s high standard.
Shaffrey to suit up for the Tribe
Bolin isn’t the only Central Virginia women’s lacrosse player heading to the college ranks. Ellen Shaffrey will add to a distinguished list of recent local standouts that have gone to Williamsburg to play for William and Mary, choosing the Tribe over Notre Dame and Boston College.
“Academics was a really big thing,” Shaffrey said. “If I was going to play sports somewhere I wanted it to be somewhere that I wanted to go anyway, and that’s one of the biggest reasons I chose William and Mary.”
The Tribe’s football program is home to STAB’s Quincey September and Bryan Stinnie while baseball and women’s basketball also boast local products.
Shaffrey, who helped lead the Warriors to the first public school women’s lacrosse state championship in Central Virginia history, is a tall, athletic scoring threat, making her an ideal candidate to play in the attack or midfield at the college level. There aren’t many defenders who match up well with Shaffrey’s combination of quickness and height.
Western duo signs on to row
If Western Albemarle can produce a pair of big-time rowers out of the school’s club, imagine if the Rowing Club became a full-fledged varsity sport.
Both Carolyn Schneller and Jenn Bisgair inked letters of intent to row for Ohio State and Georgetown. Schneller, a highly-regarded rowing prospect after a second place finish at the indoor rowing championship in 2009, heads to the Buckeye State to join one of the nation’s top rowing programs. Ohio State finished 14th overall at the NCAA Championships in 2010 and eighth in 2009.
“I feel like my parents have given me a lot of opportunities,” Schneller said. “For me to take the opportunities that they’ve given me and turn it back to something that benefits the whole family, that makes me happy and I’m sure it makes them happy.”
Schneller started rowing as a sophomore and has quickly parlayed it into a scholarship in a program she fell in love with because of the balance it afforded. The well-rounded, active high schooler joins a team that extends itself beyond academics and sports, on into community service and other activities.
“Their team does a lot of community service which I’m really involved in and I think is important,” Schneller said. “And it’s more of a relaxed atmosphere so that I can have the college experience that I want.”
Bisgair will take her rowing abilities to Georgetown, where she’ll practice on the Potomac with the Hoyas’ squad. Bisgair is a cerebral rower who’s become a master of technique, a trend that should only continue when she heads to Georgetown. Bisgair has seen a great deal of development in the Western crew club in her time as the self-reliant program has expanded over the years to help make it possible for this senior tandem to compete at the level they’re capable of.
“It’s definitely come a long way—when we first started we were just keeping our boats in someone’s backyard,” Bisgair said. “Now we have a boathouse, we have a dock and we were able to go to nationals last year. It means a lot.”
Before they head to college though, Bisgair and Schneller have a chance to make some noise this spring, particularly as part of a dual boat.
“We were able to row together this weekend for the first time and it felt pretty good,” Bisgair said. “So, hopefully in the spring we’ll be able to go far.”
Stallings to head to VMI
STAB’s Shifflett will join another local product, Miller’s Thomas Stallings, at VMI. The Mavericks’ senior standout signed to play for the Keydets Wednesday,
This afternoon, Thomas McBride Stallings of Charlottesville, Virginia, signed a letter of intent to play Division I baseball for the Virginia Military Institute Keydets.
Stallings earned second-team all-State honors last season and was a major bat for Albemarle Post 74 over the summer as he helped the team repeat as district champions.
Kone headed to Rutgers
Malick Kone made his decision back in August, but Central Virginia’s most high-profile returning boys basketball player couldn’t make it official until Wednesday.
The Blue Ridge senior inked his letter of intent to head north to Rutgers. He’ll join a huge freshman class that jumped to seven members back in October with verbal commitments. The 6-foot-6 wing has been a quick study at Blue Ridge and is a high-end athlete. Kone also drew interest from East Carolina and Virginia Tech before committing to the Scarlet Knights.
