By Alex Nicoll

Staff Writer

With their high school careers in the books, 10 Coppell seniors participated in the last round of collegiate signings on Thursday, May 22.  These athletes were afforded the chance to sign their letters of intent in front of their coaches, parents and teammates.

Tables were set up for each individual athlete with the name of their school and balloons in the color of their school’s colors donned each one. In some cases, as with seniors Kellen Reid and Roger Moe, their uniforms hung from the side as well.

Most of these athletes relished the chance to sign in front of an audience, while others breathed out a sigh of relief as this long and arduous journey has come to end.

“It has been great process, but it is kind of overwhelming at first,” senior signee Troy Parker said. “I’m just glad it’s over.”

Parker, a defensive back, will attend Southeastern Oklahoma State.

“I went down to visit and the campus was really nice,” Parker said. “I liked the whole coaching staff. We are really close with each other and have been talking for a while.”

George Fairchild signed at Trinity University in San Antonio for track and cross country, while Anna Novosadova signed at SMU for track as well.

Wrestling had two athletes sign with Moe going to Williams Baptist University Walnut Ridge, Ark. and Cara Romeike attending Oklahoma City University.

Sarah Peterson, a Newman University in Wichita, Kans. signee, and Texas State signee, Alex Silver, account for volleyball’s seniors.

Senior Justin Todd will be going to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla. for soccer. Chris Madden and Kellen Reid will join Fairchild at Trinity for soccer as well.

“It’s great,” CHS boys soccer coach Chad Rakestraw said for three of his players signing. “It’s an accumulation of their hard work over the years and it says a lot about the [CHS soccer] program as a whole to go on and represent us at the next level. It is an honor.”

These 10 athletes join the ranks of many seniors this year who have signed their letters of intent to play at the collegiate level, bringing pride to the high school and Coppell community.

“We are just so excited for them,” CISD Athletics Director John Crawford said. “We are so appreciative of everything they did for us and the hard work they put in and the way they represented our school and community. We know they are going to do great things at the next level as they move forward.”