IN SPORTS: FIVE SIGNED TO PLAY IN COLLEGE
What do a Beaver, a Ragin’ Cajun, a Lancer, a Ute and a Jimmie have in common?
Those are the mascot names at the colleges that Lodi High student-athletes Paige Sefried, Rachel Sutter, Madison Liu and Madeline Woznick, plus Galt High’s Bella Minatre, will be attending starting late next summer. On Wednesday, the five girls took part in Signing Day, putting their names on an NCAA National Letter of Intent to attend and participate in their sport at the fouryear college.
Sefried, who has shined for the Lodi varsity girls track and field team for the last three years, will move up north to attend and compete at Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore. Oregon State’s mascot is the Beavers. Sutter, who enters her fourth season on the Lodi varsity girls soccer team, reached an agreement with the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, La. The Ragin’ Cajun is the college’s mascot.
Liu, a Lodi diver, will stay in California and attend California Baptist University in Riverside, home of the Lancers. Another Lodi swimmer in Woznick will head one time zone to the east of California to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The college’s mascot is the Ute.
Minatre, who helped the 2017-18 Galt High girls soccer team to its first Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoff berth, will be attending the University of Jamestown in North Dakota. Jimmie is the University of Jamestown’s mascot.
Inside the Lodi High library in front of their invited family, classmates, teachers, coaches and school administrators, the Lodi quartet each signed their agreements. Sefried, Sutter, Liu and Woznick each donned their college’s attire in the form of caps, sweatshirts and T-shirts.
After each girl signed on the dotted line of their National Letter of Intent, and posed for photos with those each girl invited, the quartet talked about their experiences of visiting colleges.
“The Pac-12 conference and just the team in general,” said Sefried abotu what swayed her during her journey to Oregon State.
Sutter added, “It was the coaching staff that really got me, and just the whole community at Lafayette I really enjoyed.”
Woznick was taken by how the University of Utah’s
coaching staff and swimmers welcomed her into their family.
“The team, the coaches, the facilities — everything around it,” Woznick said. “It just felt like the perfect fit for me.”
Each girl — except Liu — visited five colleges each. Liu already had California Baptist University on her radar.
“Before I even started diving, I knew that California Baptist was the school for me,” Liu said. “I have a lot of friends who went there, and just heard a lot of great things. I knew that was the place that I wanted to be. When diving came along, it just worked out perfectly.”
Sefried enjoyed the camaraderie among the Oregon State women’s track and field team during her visit earlier this year.
“As I got to know them, they have the same ideas and same goals,” said Sefried in terms of the Beavers’ success.
Each Lodi student-athlete admitted that the college recruiting process was “stressful.” But each are thankful for the support from their many family, friends, teachers and coaches.
“I knew once Louisiana contacted me, I kind of had this feeling of ‘oh, that could be the place for me,’” Sutter said. “When I visited, I was like ‘yeah, this is it.’”
Woznick visited her five colleges in consecutive weeks. The trips, alone, were tough but manageable.
“My friends, family, my coaches and especially my (past) teammates who had gone through this experience in the last couple of years,” Woznick said. “It was very nice to have their advice and support.”
Liu added, “My family definitely helped out a lot. I know the shift was hard for them. But at the end of the day, my family was always very supportive.”
Sefried plans to major in communications or kinesiology. Sutter is also going to major in kinesiology. Woznick is looking into pre-med, considering a career in emergency medicine or first responder. Liu has eyes set on health science.
Bella Minatre
The Galt High senior is looking forward to getting her kicks in college.
“The campus is beautiful,” Minatre said. “Education-wise they are great. The offer, I just could not pass it up.”
Minatre doesn’t mind the fact that practices will be held indoors. But home games will be played on the school’s all-turf field — that includes playing in the snow.
But first, the Warrior, who scored 17 goals out of 35 attempts last winter, would like for this winter’s squad to build on their success from last season. Galt finished with an 11-10-1 record. Galt was the No. 10 seed in the section’s Division IV playoffs last year, playing at No. 7 Livingston, which won the game on penalty kicks 4-2. The game was tied at 3-3.
“I’m just looking for super, happy positive fun with all my teammates,” Minatre said. “Make some good memories.”
Minatre also plans to major in kinesiology or science.