Sacred Heart Prep to send 28 student-athletes to play in college

For the sixteenth consecutive year, Sacred Heart Prep will send more than 10% of its graduating class on to participate at the intercollegiate ranks. This Class of 2022 has 28 graduates who will continue to pursue their athletic dreams in college, the second-highest total in school history.

 

“We are so proud of this exceptional group of student-athletes.  It is difficult enough under normal circumstances to get to the collegiate level but when you factor in the impact Covid - 19 had both on their high school athletic experience and the log jam it has created in college athletics, it really is remarkable that so many are able to move on”  said SHP Assistant Principal for Athletics Frank Rodriguez.

Over one-quarter of the 2022 class comes from SHP’s storied water polo programs. Ella Woodhead will reunite with former teammates Bella Bachler and Eleanor Facey as members of the 2022 National Champion Stanford Cardinal. Woodhead’s teammate, Brienz Lang, will also be joining a reigning National Champion as a member of the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. Fellow All-WCAL selection Ashley Penner will travel across the country to join forces with the Brown Bears. Swimming standout Margot Gibbons will accompany Penner at Brown as a member of the Bears women’s swim program. 

On the boys side, the nation’s top goalie recruit, Griffen Price, will reunite with former Gators Walker Seymour, Andrew Churukian, and Larsen Weigle as a member of the Stanford Cardinal. Luke Johnston will also join three former Gators Isaac Rotenberg, Luke Hammarskjold, and Will Garlinghouse on the reigning NWPC Champion Princeton men’s water polo team. Jack Vort and Bear Weigle will both head south as Vort will become a USC Trojan and Weigle will play alongside Gator alums Kyle Ballack and Teddy Pasquesi as members of the Claremont McKenna Stags. John Kirincich rounds out this history-making water polo class by taking his skill set to Bucknell University.

Two members of the first-ever SHP California state champion football team will travel together to San Antonio, Texas as Mat Bucher and John Adrian Dioli will join the reigning SAA Champion Trinity University Tigers. Dioli will also be playing baseball at Trinity for the 2016 National Champions. Quarterback and co-captain Jack Herrell, who was a catalyst in the Gators' state championship run, will be throwing passes next season at Hamilton College.

Lacrosse standout Kat Showalter will be joining Herrell at Hamilton as a member of the Continental’s Women’s Lacrosse program. Showalter’s teammate and ‘22 WBAL Midfield Co-MVP Ellie Noto will play for the Fighting Irish at the University of Notre Dame. Under Armour and Adrenaline All-American Phoebe Kim will join the reigning Pac12 Champion Stanford Cardinal.

On the boy's side, reigning WCAL Player of the Year Max Sloat will team up with former Gators Beck Anderson and Brodie Taweel as members of the Duke Blue Devils, while teammate Eric Bollar, who led the Gators in assists in ‘22, will join forces with the Penn Quakers. Kai Lockton will travel across the country to play lacrosse for the Amherst College Mammoths in the ultra-competitive NESCAC conference.

Three more fellow Gators will join Lockton in the NESCAC next year as current teammates Lucy Paynter and Janie Morganroth will participate in both cross country and track for Bates College and the Middlebury College, respectively.  Lia Smith will accompany Morganroth to Middlebury as a member of the Panther's swimming and diving team.

Fresh off her historic performance at the California state championship swim meet, school record-holder and 2021 CCS champion Kaia Li will join the 2022 Ivy League Champion Harvard Crimson swim team. Less than 2 miles down the road, Alex Chappuis will compete as a member of the Boston University rowing/crew team.

Two members of the undefeated WBAL Champion, CCS Open Division/CIF NorCal Division I semifinalist boys basketball team will play Division I basketball next season.  WBAL Co-Most Valuable Player Aidan Braccia will head to bracket-buster Belmont University and his Co-MVP sidekick Emmer Nichols will compete in the ACC with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Fellow Co - WBAL Players of the Year Millie Muir (volleyball) and Hadley Twichell (soccer) will also compete at the next level, as Muir will join the Duke University women’s volleyball program as a member of the Blue Devils’ 16th ranked recruiting class, and Twichell will play soccer at Carleton College. 

Natalie Dias rounds out the group as she will play tennis for the Southern Methodist University Mustangs.

“The extraordinary work both in and out of the classroom has paid huge dividends for these terrific student-athletes.  We just can’t wait to see the impact they’ll all have at the next stop on their collegiate athletic journey” concluded Rodriguez.