Tuesday, September 18, 2007

College pipeline

Trinity senior Natalie Abel, one of the WPIAL's premier girls volleyballers, is headed to James Madison University, where she'll continue her academic and athletic career.

It's still September and Abel is already the third member of the Trinity Class of 2008 to have a Division I scholarship. Andrew Sweat and Mike Yancich, both linebackers and running backs for the Hillers football team, are headed to Ohio State and Penn State, respectively.

Abel's decision got me to thinking about the number of student-athletes Trinity is sending to colleges for sports. Not sure the exact number in recent years but I bet it's more than any other local school.

"We do have a pretty athleic class," Abel said. 'It's nice to see other Division I players. You don't get that too often."

The football team has sent more than 30 players to colleges over the last five years. That's a staggering total and shows the dedication of the players as well as the coaching staff. Ed Dalton must lose a lot of sleep compiling tape for recruiters, but I know from speaking to him, that he's more proud of how many players he has in college football than he is the number of Division I players Trinity has produced the last five years.

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