Years and years of chasing balls down fields and courts, setting school records and devoting immense amounts of time and energy finally came to a culmination for 11 senior athletes at McLean, who officially signed letters of intent on April 26.

The 11 seniors, who play sports as varied as soccer, softball, swimming, football, track and field and tennis are now looking to begin their college careers in earnest. The athletes include Elizabeth Zhou, Wellesley College; Kimberly Zhou, Amherst College; Rachel Remer, University of Mary Washington; Ben Mennitt, DePauw University; Sam Gollob, Williams College; Ammar Abdelghany, Bridgewater College; Carter Govan, Washington & Lee University; Adam Taylor, Salisbury University; Olivia Kloster, Bridgewater College; Maya Donkor, Texas A&M—Kingsville; and James Bradley, College of William and Mary.

Director of Student Activities Greg Miller reflected upon the sacrifices that both student-athletes and parents have to make in order to reach the college level, noting that only three percent of high school athletes make it that far.

“It’s a lot of time. It’s a lot of energy. I know when I was playing in high school, I can tell you I certainly didn’t appreciate all the stuff my parents did for me until you get older and see the way, the effort, the money and all the stuff they put into my career,” Miller said.

Seniors Kimberly and Elizabeth Zhou, twin sisters on the varsity girls’ soccer team, who are attending Amherst College and Wellesley College respectively, are planning on using the skills they learned in high school to translate to the collegiate level.

“[High school allowed for] learning how to adapt to different teams, different people and different playing styles. I’ve learned how to really connect with people and be like a family,” Elizabeth said.

The 11 seniors who signed letters of intent earlier this week join nine seniors who signed in the fall, bringing McLean’s grand total to 20 student-athletes who are going on to play at the college level.

“You guys are all very, very lucky,” Miller said.