St. Thomas Aquinas honors top athletes in 10 sports at signing day ceremony
With its 132 state championship banners hanging proudly, the gymnasium at St. Thomas Aquinas high school in Fort Lauderdale was packed to the hilt on Wednesday afternoon.
It was National Signing Day, Part II and “Raider Nation” did it up in style as nearly 1,000 people, students, parents, friends and coaches, were on hand to honor a total of 40 St. Thomas athletes who will be taking their athletic and academic talents on to the next level.
Football may have led the way as 17 of the 40 played for the Raiders football team, including University of Miami-bound players Jordan Lyle, Ryan Mack, Romanus Frederique and Chance Robinson, made their way up to the signing table. But 23 other athletes from 10 different sports were also honored and recognized.
“At St. Thomas, all of our athletes are very important to us,” Aquinas athletic director Twan Russell said. “You look at our school and we have 2,100 students and 1,100 of them are athletes all of them, no matter what sport they’re playing, support each other. Football supports basketball, basketball supports baseball and so on. So this is the one day of the school year where the entire school gets to come out and collaborate and enjoy the accomplishments of these kids.
“A lot of them have been talking about this since last year saying they couldn’t wait to walk up on one of those stages today and get their moment. We’re excited about we’ve accomplished, what our athletes have accomplished and excited about this event every single year.”
Two separate stages were set up and decked out with Navy and Gold school colors as one by one, each athlete came up to the stage with parents, family members and coaches to be recognized.
“The way we look at it around here is that all the sports kind of compliment each other,” Aquinas baseball coach Joey Wardlowe said. “It’s just kind of contagious the way the kids here train. The weight room, the fields, the track, the things that we do. It’s about developing great work habits both in athletics and on the field and when the rest of them see what the football team is doing and the success they enjoy with that work ethic, that kind of filters down and rubs off on everybody else. Wins, losses and championships take care of themselves buy the drive in the athletes at St. Thomas is there with all of them and the payoff for that is a day like today.”
Wardlowe made it up to the stage five times as five of his players, who will embark on their final season next week when the Raiders kick off their season, inked scholarships. Leading the way was right handed pitcher Anthony Ciscar who signed to play for the University of Miami.
“St. Thomas is just a great place to go to school because of all the success we have in all sports,” Ciscar said. “We see how successful everybody is in other sports and that helps push us to be great on the baseball field. It’s all about pushing each other across different sports.”
Aquinas signees - Baseball: Anthony Ciscar (Miami), Andrew Fernandez (Palm Beach Atlantic), Aaron Groeneveld (Eastern Kentucky), Keenan Kanenbley (Tampa), Quinn O’Keefe (Babson); Basketball: Khadee Hession (Georgetown), Mya Johnson (Bethune-Cookman), Matthaios Andreopoulos (Oberlin); Beach volleyball: Zoe Taylor (LSU), Zsa Zsa Ferguson (Louisiana Monroe), Kristi Talocka (Mercer); Lacrosse: James Dobson (US Merchant Marine Academy), Izaiah Ortiz (Swarthmore), Blayze Rodriguez (Wingate); Rowing: Gianna Ward (High Point); Soccer: Thomas Tedesco (Ursinus), Regan Riddle (Daytona State) Swimming: Julianne McCranie (Navy), Matthew Tan (Ottawa); Tennis: Blake Edwards (Loyola, Md.); Track and field: Alayna Herring (FIU); Volleyball: Halley Tang (Western Carolina), Sydney VanCott (Mercer); Football: Justin Bodford (Missouri), Allen Bryant (Pitt), Kedrick Burley (Middle Tennessee), Bowen Drewes (USF), Romanas Frederique (UM), Stacy Gage (UCF), Michael Kern (Texas), Earl Kulp (Purdue), Eduardo Lorenzo (St. Thomas), Jordan Lyle (UM), Ryan Mack (UM), James Madison (Missouri), William Roberts (Bethune Cookman), Chance Robinson (UM), Nicholas Rodriguez (Missouri), Bryan Wallace (Southern and A&M College), Cameron Williams (FAMU).
MORE SIGNEES
American Heritage: Thomas Kirby (Golf - Eckerd), Ashley Fitzgerald (Cross Country - Florida), Taylor Knochel (Softball - Wagner), Camila Domine (Girls Soccer - Barry), Amanda Caines (Girls Soccer - Rollins), Lily Sargent Burns (Girls Soccer - FAU), Yhirian Marrero (Baseball - Nova Southeastern), Lucas Ramirez (Baseball - Tennessee), Ian Resler (Baseball - Georgetown College), Noah DItas (Baseball - Navy), Antonio Turco Rivas (Baseball - New York University), Andrew Ortiz (Baseball - Indiana State), Zain Diaco (Baseball - Citadel), Xavier Lucas (Football - Wisconsin), Jimmy Williams (Football - Louisville), Jackson Klein (Football - Marshall), Cayden Trent (Football - FAU), Jermaine Dalias (Football - USF), Semaj Jackson (Football - Campbell), Omar Thornton (Football - Boston College).
Cardinal Gibbons: Julianna Torres (Soccer - Lynn), Richard Lin (Tennis - St. Michael’s), Auston Francis (Football - Army), Zach Thompson (Football - Wagner), Casey Etienne Jr. (Football - Princeton), Jeremiah Chalmers (Football - Navy), Mike Kass (Baseball - UCF), Chris Williams (Football - Concord), Ivan Pagan (Football - Wittenberg), Anthony Nowell (Football - Hamline), Braeden Serna (Football - Assumption), Roman Reid (Football - Carnegie Mellon), Pat Anderson Jr. (Football - Concord), Brandon Tobias (Football - Western Kentucky), Guy Edmond (Football - Iowa Western).
Miami Central: Teko Shoats (Bethune Cookman), AJ Smith (Edward Waters), Luke Moise (Wofford), Berlin Campfort (The Citadel).
Miami Norland: Isaiah Scott (Wofford), Dimitry Nichols (Maryland), Verron Clark (Bethune Cookman), Anthony Mattison (St. Thomas), Gabriel Cash (Bethune).