The University of Alabama in Huntsville was not on Margot Haring’s radar.
Until, that is, last summer when the UAH lacrosse coach reached out to the Central Bucks West senior.
“They reached out to me totally out of the blue,” Haring said. “They asked me to come down and visit the school and meet the coaching staff and the team.
“I went down in August, and when I got there, I just immediately loved it. I loved the school, I loved the atmosphere. The coaching staff is absolutely wonderful. It kind of felt like home.”
Haring, who will major in industrial engineering, also considered West Chester, Montclair State and the College of William & Mary.
“I never really thought I was going to (play lacrosse in college), but I had a really successful season in high school and in club, and that’s when I decided I wanted to play,” Haring said.
Haring was one of seven West seniors recognized Wednesday, Nov. 9, for committing to compete in collegiate sports.
Kendall Siegle was an important piece of the West field hockey program’s turnaround from a struggling program to one of the Suburban One League’s elite teams that finished sixth in District One 3A and advanced to the state tournament. She has committed to continue her field hockey career at Lock Haven University.
“Halfway through my junior year is when I decided I wanted to play in college, and I started the process,” Siegle said. “I did a camp (at Lock Haven), and I played with some of the upcoming class and really liked them. I also got to meet the team and the coaches. It was a good experience.”
Five members of the baseball team – Luke Birkhead, Kevin Bukowski, Matt Carr, Julio Ermigiotti and Max McGlone – were also recognized, a testament to the growth of a program that won 12 games last season after winning just three four years ago.
“Generally, I think the rising tide lifts all boats,” said West coach Brian Weaver, who took over the helm four years ago. “High school ball in District One, and especially in our side of Suburban One is incredibly competitive, and my guys have worked hard to match the level of the other teams.
“Since they were freshmen, they’ve had a belief like ‘we belong.’ The program was struggling for the five or 10 years before, but that had no bearing on their belief in themselves or in their ability to change that narrative. They’re a pretty special bunch, and a day like signing day shows that that’s an opinion held beyond just our locker room.”
Birkhead always knew he wanted to play collegiate sports, whether it was basketball or baseball.
“My whole family played college sports, and I knew baseball was the way,” the West senior said.
Birkhead, who plans to major in business, chose PennWest Clarion University from a final list that included Goldey-Beacom and The College of New Jersey.
“Clarion was the right choice because it just felt like home,” Birkhead said. “I feel like I’m really going to improve there, and it seems like a good team environment. The coach is really cool, and it seems like there’s a lot of exciting things in the future for Clarion.”
Bukowski will continue his career at Widener University where he will major in finance.
“I decided on Widener pretty early,” said Bukowski, who also considered Arcadia. “I took a visit there with the coach – he was a great guy. I really enjoyed the environment and what I saw from the campus.”
It wasn’t until his junior year that Bukowski decided he wanted to continue his career at the collegiate level.
“I just progressed, I saw it as a possibility,” the senior infielder said. “Early on, I met the Widener coach at a tournament and we kind of hit it off from there.”
Carr, who will major in business, chose Gettysburg College from a final list that included Ursinus, Swarthmore, Millersville, Dickinson and St. Joseph’s.
“I toured all the schools, and I found Gettysburg to be the one,” Carr said. “Just the feel when I walked on campus, it was something that was unmatched, and it felt like I could call it home for the next four years.
“I started playing baseball when I was 5 years old, just T-ball in the backyard with my dad. From there it progressed to Little League, then travel ball through high school up to this point. College was the end goal.”
Ermigiotti – according to Weaver – was pressed into emergency duty as a pitcher his sophomore year and then exploded over that summer into a Division I pitching prospect. He has committed to play baseball at Lehigh University where he will major in computer science. He also considered New Jersey Institute of Technology and Wagner.
“A friend who played for West went to Lehigh, and I went up there for a couple of visits and saw them at a couple camps,” Ermigiotti said. “I thought it was really interesting when I went to see it. My friends said they loved it, so it was one of my first choices.
“Ever since I was young, I always wanted to play as far as I could, and that’s still my goal.”
McGlone has always been interested in the military, so, when it came time for the senior to choose a college, the first team All-SOL Continental Conference catcher chose the United States Military Academy at West Point from a final list that also included the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
“Obviously, the education is top tier,” said McGlone, who plans to major in engineering. “And being able to play baseball was great.”
Weaver calls McGlone “one of the best defensive catchers in the state.”
“Around the time I was a sophomore in high school is when I decided I wanted to play baseball,” said McGlone. “It was just a lot of hard work but having fun with it, doing what I had to do, trusting my coaches to help me get better and talking to coaches.”
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