TROY, N.Y. — They all may have gotten there in different ways, following different paths, and battling different adversities. Still, for the eight Lansingburgh High School senior student-athletes who recently inked their college futures at a National Letter of Intent signing ceremony, they saw the hard work truly pay off.
“This is a surreal experience,” said Lansingburgh senior Colin Trolio, who is committed to Sacred Heart University. “I’m really happy that I get to continue running, especially a Divison-1 (school). This was just a really good time; I enjoyed it.”
Trolio was one of six athletes from the track and field team to sign on Friday, and it wasn’t the first time head coach Dallas Foard could recall having that many student-athletes participating in the ceremony. However, the moment, like for many coaches, never gets old.
“Honestly, this is like the third year we’ve been able to send this many kids and we have one going D-1, which is absolutely awesome,” said Foard, who has been coaching the group since seventh grade when they were on modified.
“The hard work is the biggest piece. They show up, no matter what. I’ll do practice all summer and I’ve got 40 kids here, all summer, working.”
Israel Baker (Morrisville), Nijaana Deloatch (Morrisville), Felix Espada (Genesee Community College), Ty’ejiah Jones Williams (New Haven), Julianna Kilhullen (New Haven), and Trolio all earned a spot at the next level through work on the track, but that doesn’t mean that’ll be the only sport they continue to compete in.
Baker committed to Morrisville to play football, while Espada was headed to Genesee for volleyball. Both will be competing in two sports at the college level.
“There’s a good amount of fear, but I’m ready for it. I’ve been preparing myself this season for both aspects. Even during track season, I’ve tried to go to the gym at least five days a week, try to get my work in, and try to still go to the field to work on football. So, I’m looking forward to it,” Baker said on Friday.
“The atmosphere and especially the football culture at Morrisville is what I’m really looking forward to. The way they look at their student-athletes in both sports, like even during track season in Morrisville, they still have you doing football workouts and the coaches are really close to each other, everything is so tight-knit at Morrisville,” he added. “I’m really excited to be a part of it.”
Baker is no stranger to multi-tasking, as just this past football season alone for the Knights, the senior played both linebacker and started at quarterback for the first time in his career.
“They loved it. They said I have a lot of diversity as an athlete and they loved the fact that I ran track too,” Baker said. “They put me under, ‘athlete,’ on their roster, so I don’t know what side of the ball I’m going to be playing – both sides or any side – but I’m really excited for it.”
Along with track and field, the Knights’ girls’ volleyball team was also well-represented at last Friday’s ceremony, as Espada was joined by teammates Mackenzie O’Brien (Utica) and Lea McIntyre (Manhattanville), all inking their respective, collegiate commitments.
“They’re all hard-working kids that have done a lot of sacrificing to get to this point,” Lansingburgh Athletic Director Mike Robbins said.
No matter the sport, more examples have been left behind for the next generation of Knights looking towards the next level. Although, the journeys aren’t identical for each student-athlete, such as Jonew-Williams, for example, who only started running two years ago, but now is committed to an NCAA Divison-II University.
“I actually kinda got recruited for it, in a way. Everybody was saying, like, ‘oh, you should do track,’ and I was like, ‘eh, I don’t know. I tried it out and I really liked it and now I’m here,” Jones-Williams said on Friday.
“It started out as for fun, but then, during my junior year, something clicked and I was like, ‘I really want to go further with this,’ and that’s what kind of led me to: ‘I’m gonna go to college for track,” she added.
“It took a lot of work. I had to discipline myself. Even when I wanted to give up, I was like, ‘No, I need to work on this. This is what I want to do,’ and I’m just proud that my coach never gave up on me, that also helped. Just him and the team pushed me along.”
Famously good pizza isn’t what Jones-Williams is most excited for about moving on to New Haven, but rather meeting and growing with her new teammates and class members.
“Just building another family, like how I had here. I mean, I feel like it’s not gonna be the exact same, but I just really want to be with a team that’s really gonna build me up and make me feel better,” she said.
NLI signing ceremonies will always have an undertone of bittersweetness, with the integral Knights’ student-athletes leaving the castle for a new conquest. The soon-to-be former Knights aren’t planning to forget where they came from and the lessons they learned along the way, however, anytime soon.
“Just keep working; it always gets back. There’s always improvement as long as you keep working at what you do,” Baker said, proudly. “The more you go to the gym, the more you go to the track, the more you’re going to the field, the better you’re gonna get and it’s in the results, you know. The proof is in the pudding.”
