On Wednesday, November 11, seven Ridgewood High School seniors convened in the campus center after school to sign their National Letter of Intent to play as Division 1 athletes next year. Every year, this day signifies the continuance of students’ hard work in sports and academics during the past four years. Signing the NLI is a binding agreement between the student and the school that they will be attending to play a particular sport. Each athlete signed their NLI and posed for photos with their families, then enjoyed cake as they were congratulated for their achievements.
Three Ridgewood High School students will continue their athletic careers at Dartmouth University next year, including Katie Bourque, Michael Thurston, and Brendan Caltavuturo (not pictured). Katie, a four-year varsity lacrosse player, will join the girls lacrosse team at Dartmouth. The men’s track and field team will add Michael, a North Jersey H.S. Athlete of the Week last year, to their roster as a long distance runner. Brendan, who is a United States Junior Olympic Rower, will join Dartmouth’s crew team.
It is no surprise that four of the seven athletes pictured will be playing lacrosse next year, as Ridgewood’s lacrosse program continues to gain national recognition. Brett Kennedy will be playing lacrosse at Syracuse University, the first-ranked NCAA Division 1 men’s lacrosse team in the nation last year. Cooper Telesco will be playing lacrosse at Cornell University. Lindsay Haas will join the lacrosse team at Wagner College.
Cate Shippee will be running for Lehigh University’s track and field team. It was not until junior year that Cate joined the track and field team at Ridgewood, but she quickly discovered her talents in both sprints and hurdles. Mikayla Waddell will join the gymnastics team at Penn State University. Mikayla has been a dedicated gymnast since she was an infant, practicing for hours on end at ENA Gymnastics in Paramus. Kyle Inlander, who is not pictured, will be attending Bucknell University next year to join the wrestling team.
Ridgewood High School has more than prepared these students to thrive as they venture to the next stage of their athletic careers. Lindsay Haas remarked, “After everyone’s hard work, it was a fun experience to see it pay off. We are all really excited about signing and continuing our careers next year.” There will be another signing date for Division 1 athletes in April.
Megan Collier
sports editor