Signings highlight next steps for area athletes
He couldn’t believe his eyes. On the field in front of Culbreth stood Adrian D’Aloisio, then a rising freshman at Farragut High School, working on drills for more than 40 minutes with no one else around — or so he thought.
“I applauded him for the work ethic,” Culbreth said almost four years later, “because when you see him working like that when nobody’s watching, it was impressive to see.”
The story of D’Aloisio’s hard work was one of several told Wednesday, April 15, as he and several other area athletes signed their Letters of Intent to continue at the college level.
At Farragut High School, specifically, six Admirals penned their next chapters.
D’Aloisio will be furthering his career at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. Lincoln Unger, his Farragut soccer teammate, will be writing his next chapter with the Maryville College soccer program while Farragut baseball standout Zain Kureshi-Smith will take the diamond at Johnson University next spring. Dancer Megan Voss will continue her career on the sidelines of Finley Stadium at UT Chattanooga, and FHS track standouts Courtney and Christie George will run on to the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky.
The same day, Hardin Valley Academy saw 15 signees across four different sports: Brody Lamb to Wingate University in football; Carys Price to Lincoln Memorial in girls soccer; in boys soccer, Dane Hammer and Asher Stimson to Maryville College and Ali Tarchane to Lincoln Memorial; in baseball, Tyler Sowards, Wyatt Fellers and Cameron Dillon to Pellissippi State, Jack Pate to Maryville and Kenny Lane to Chattanooga State; and, in cross country and track, Cooper McKaig, Will Allen and Zathan Socha to Pellissippi State with Ava Berkheimer to East Tennessee State.
At Knox Catholic, Jack Tucker and Josef Leonard signed with East Tennessee State and Maryville College, respectively, for men’s soccer while Eden Perkinson signed with Montreat College for women’s soccer. Payton Sipos signed with Carson-Newman for women’s track & field; Chloe Truss signed with Memphis for the same sport; and Anton Hamilton and Domenico D’Avella signed with the University of the Cumberlands and Mount Saint Mary’s for football and men’s lacrosse, respectively. Parker Dimmitt will play golf for Maryville College, and Colton Gardner will swim at Johnson University.
Bearden boys basketball saw a couple of Bulldogs ink their next steps on Tuesday, April 21: Sean Capshaw to Johnson University and Carson Asbaty to Carson-Newman University.
At Webb School of Knoxville, seven Spartan seniors signed their next chapters on Wednesday, April 22: Hannah Beth Bibee (Vanderbilt, dance), Bennett Carnathan (East Tennessee State, weightlifting), Emerson Clarke (Troy, women’s soccer), Marvin Hicks (Cornell, football), Baxter Johnson (United States Military Academy, men’s lacrosse), Jack Quigley (Bellarmine, men’s wrestling) and Andrew Sandberg (Berry College, men’s golf).
Christian Academy of Knoxville saw several signees on Monday, April 27: Foster Coleman, (Bryan College, basketball), Owen Fulford (Western Carolina, track and field), Jacob Haig (University of Bridgeport, lacrosse), Hannah Hankins (Lincoln Memorial, soccer) and Annie Leadbetter (Belhaven University, volleyball).
