story by Lindsey Valdiviez and Caitlin Fletcher, photos by Caroline Fiss

Six STA seniors celebrated their commitment to college athletics Feb. 6. The students, parents, coaches and friends gathered in Verheyen in the Goppert Center to watch the girls sign their National Letters of Intent.

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One of those seniors was Courtney Coppinger, who has run cross country and track all four years of high school and committed to running cross country and track at the University of Kansas.

“I have always wanted to be a collegiate athlete, but I knew I wanted to pursue running in college these last couple years,” Coppinger said. “I had many more options, but I found myself at home with the team at KU.”

Senior Becca Leuke also signed on to play sports in college. She will be stepping off the STA basketball court soon and stepping onto the court at Benedictine College at the beginning of next year.

“[Signing my letter of intent] was really cool and special because not that many girls get to have that same experience,” Leuke said. “It really made it all sink in that I was actually making a commitment that was going to play basketball in college.”

Senior Anna Woolery was just one of the other seniors who committed to a college. She will be playing softball at the University of Chicago. According to Woolery, she always knew she wanted to play a sport at the collegiate level.

“I didn’t sign on National Signing Day, but I felt so excited to commit,” Woolery said.

Other seniors who have committed to playing college sports include Holli Hogge who will play volleyball at Rockhurst University, Lane Maguire who will run cross country and track at University of Oklahoma and Janie Thompson who play soccer at Trinity University.

Feb. 6 is a national day where students nationwide sign their NLI’s.