Four senior athletes will be pursuing collegiate sports careers after publicly committing to various universities on Feb. 7, 2020.

The signees were Grady Liddel, committed to UCLA for football; Leighton Bateman, committed to Azusa Pacific University (APU) for football; Ginger Fontenot, now committed to the University of Pennsylvania for soccer; and Lyndsay King, who committed to Marymount California University to play soccer.

Liddel said, “It’s been a long ride, but I am happy it’s over and I’m happy I’m committed. It took lots of hard work, although I feel really relieved. No tears, but it was emotional. My family and I were both very happy.”

He credits his family for his success. “I would for sure say my mom has helped me the most. She has been super strong and a great influence. Working well with others has helped me get to this point because I used to keep to myself, so working with others is tough for me, but I am getting better at it.”

Grady will be studying for a double major at UCLA. One in communication/radio because he currently does a podcast and is very interested in it. He also plans to major as a pre-med student.

Fontenot will also be double majoring at UPenn. She plans to study film and either communications or engineering.

“Mentally, it has been a challenge because I struggled through that phase where you don’t know really where you fit in so you really have to know yourself. That time was really hard because it’s difficult knowing where the best place for you is. Going through that self-doubt was a big deal for me, and I am still going through it, and that will always be a big challenge” Fontenot said.

Committing early has helped Fontenot relax. “It’s definitely a weight off my shoulders. A lot of my friends are scrambling to get their apps in and I only had to do one. I feel very secure because everything is finally in place now. It just felt like everything in the universe was lined up for once. Everything was okay and I had no worries, I was super excited.”