The road from Clark County to the University of Washington for men’s soccer continues to be heavily traveled.
James Nosack of Skyview signed his letter of intent Wednesday to play for the Huskies, which seems to be a tradition nowadays.
Current Portland Timber and former Camas Papermaker Brent Richards went to the UW, as did Taylor Hoss of Mountain View. Quinton Beasley, also of Camas, is a senior at Washington.
Wednesday was Nosack’s time to sign with the Dawgs.
“It’s a little more real now. I’m just excited to get my life going and head up to Seattle. I love it up there.”
At Columbia River, Kenton McGuire will serve and compete. He is going to the Air Force Academy to play soccer.
The women can play soccer, too.
The Hockinson Hawks, coming off their best season in school history, celebrated two Division I scholarships. Best friends Kavita Battan and Aurora Bodenhamer, who have been playing together since they were 8, will now be foes in college. Battan is going to the University of Idaho while Bodenhamer signed with Portland State.
“I had a lot of choices, but it was a really great offer and I went for it,” Bodenhamer said. “It was definitely the place for me. I couldn’t pass it up. I love Portland a lot.”
Battan said she wanted to experience life a little ways from home.
“Hopefully it will be a great four years,” she said.
Both Hawks enjoyed representing the small schools on Signing Day.
“I think it’s really exciting,” Battan said. “Usually, you only hear about the kids from the big schools going.”
Another small-school standout expects to sign with a national power in the coming days.
Ellie Boon of Washougal will play for the University of Portland. Busy this week in Carson, Calif., with the United States under-18 women’s national team training camp, Boon said she would wait to sign so she could celebrate with family and friends back home.
Boon committed to Portland when she was a sophomore.
“UP makes it such a priority to include the recruits, I already feel like I’m part of the family,” she said.
Madison McNamara, a goalkeeper from Vancouver who attends Jesuit High School in Oregon, said she was signing with Washington.
“I have wanted to go there since I was a little girl and I went to soccer camps up there,” McNamara said.
Growing up, McNamara played on teams at FC Salmon Creek, FC Vancouver, and the Columbia Timbers.
Alexa Whitney of Hudson’s Bay soccer is going to be a part of history, signing with Grand Canyon University, a for-profit institution in Phoenix that is moving to the NCAA Division I ranks next school year.
Skyview held a signing ceremony at 7 in the morning, which celebrated more than the Division I athletes.
Mackenzie Zink will play women’s soccer at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. She said she has family there, and “half the team” is from the Northwest.
Madison Anthony, who was The Columbian’s All-Region softball player of the year as a sophomore, is going to go the two-year school route at first, playing for North Idaho College.
“It wasn’t too far, or too close,” she said.
At Camas, nine athletes shared the spotlight. Besides the two football players, there were athletes representing lacrosse, soccer, track and field, and softball.
Connor Dyehouse, going to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., and Jack Beall, going to Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., attend Camas but play on the King’s Way lacrosse team.
Emily Ponce and Diane Dyra will remain teammates in college, both signing with Concordia soccer in Portland.
Jamie Carter, a goalkeeper, is going to Carroll College in Helena, Mont.
Kimi Knight will run track and field at Clark, and Amee Aarhus, last year’s All-Region softball player of the year, was honored by the school. She signed with Portland State in the fall.
Note: The Columbian could not attend every ceremony Wednesday but will publish all names of athletes going to college. For a list of athletes who signed Wednesday or had not been named for earlier signing periods, see the list on this page. Coaches and athletic directors are encouraged to send signing information to sports@columbian.com.
Paul Danzer contribute to this report.
