November 20, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

College signings at local schools
by TOM UTESCHER

Front row (from left): Gail Redpath and son Steel Russell, Brandon Sady and mother, Risa Sady Back row (from left): John McArdle (assistant baseball coach); Bruce Redpath, Steel Russell’s father; Stan Parker, (varsity baseball coach); Dennis Primavera (assistant baseball coach); and Brandon’s father, Bennett Sady.

The early signing period for NCAA letters of intent began last Wednesday for current high school seniors who want to play sports at the Division I level in college. A number of athletes at area schools made their marks on these documents while others already had plans in place.

On Wednesday afternoon at Springside School, 5’8” shooting guard Katie Rutan signed with two-time Atlantic 10 Conference champion Xavier University, the No. 22 team in pre-season national rankings. Wrist surgery had Rutan sidelined last winter during her junior year at Springside, but she returned to action in the summer with the Philadelphia Belles club team, which finished third at the AAU national championships.

One of her AAU coaches is Joe Westerfer, who played ball locally at Spring Garden College and who has known Xavier head coach Kevin McGuff for many years. Noting that Xavier has two All-American post players who will still be active when Rutan joins the Musketeers, Westerfer said, “Opposing defenses will always collapse on those two, so Katie will be a perfect complement to them, opening things up with her outside shot.”

In a Friday morning ceremony at Chestnut Hill Academy, baseball standouts Steel Russell and Brandon Sady inked scholarship agreements. Russell, a catcher, will play for Ohio State, which made an early exit from the Big Ten tournament last spring after winning the conference championship in 2007. Sady, a second baseman for the Blue Devils, will be moving on to Lehigh University, whose ballclub is rebuilding after a sixth-place finish in the Patriot League in 2008.

Both players started as sophomores for CHA’s 2007 Inter-Ac championship team. All-league picks who have played in the Carpenter Cup tournament, they will be co-captains for the Blue Devils in the spring.

“Both of them are good-hitting players,” noted Chestnut Hill coach Stan Parker. “Steel has some pop in his bat, and Brandon is a good two-strike hitter who makes a lot of contact. They’ve both played extensively outside of school, and college coaches got to see them perform with high-level competition.”

At Mount St. Joseph Academy, three athletes are set to sign with Division I teams, and four others have solid commitments from Ivy League schools. Nicole Weinrich, who is the crew coxswain for the Mount varsity eight and who has piloted top-notch men’s club crews for Penn A.C. in the summer season, will come to terms with Stanford University during the Cardinals’ December admissions period.

Norwood-Fontbonne Academy grad Laura Thistle, a two-year starter on defense for the Magic’s field hockey team, has made a verbal commitment to Georgetown University, and will make it official during the signing period for her sport, which begins on Feb. 4.

Katie Mischler has been No. 1 on the Mount’s tennis team ladder for the past two seasons, but she plans on playing lacrosse in college. The midfielder has verbally committed to wield her stick for Lafayette College. She will finalize the arrangement during the spring signing period.

Ivy League schools do not offer dedicated athletic scholarships, but during the fall they customarily send “likely letters” to top prospects who are well along in the admissions process.

Three Mounties have received missives from Harvard University, and two of them are Nicole Weinrich’s crewmates in the MSJ varsity eight. Mary Maginnis, who competed for the U.S. junior national team in Austria last summer, is going into her third season in the Mount’s top boat. Erika McCormick, a versatile rower who has raced in everything from an eight to a single, has moved into the V-8 this fall after spending two years in the Magic’s successful lightweight eight.

Also Harvard-bound is basketballer Elle Hagedorn, a 5’10” swing player known for her great quickness and leaping ability. She was a starter for the MSJ hoops team that won the Class AAA state championship last winter, and for the team that reached the semifinals of the state tourney the year before.

In the foregone conclusion department, field hockey midfielder Julie Reinprecht is heading to Princeton, where her older sisters Sarah and Katie are both starting for the Tigers this season. The youngest Reinprecht was a four-year starter for the Magic, and is currently a member of the United States Under-21 Field Hockey Team.