This is part one of a two part series featuring area athletes in fall 2022 sports.

The start of fall sports is upon us, so we took the opportunity catch up with the athletes of those teams to see what they are doing to prepare for the upcoming rivalries and to offer some perspective on the season ahead and their plans for the future. [VIEW PART 2 – RIVERSIDE Q&A]

Ellwood City Athletes

Golf

Maddy McCommons

Grade? Senior

How many years have you been played golf?  6 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in golf? I feel that my drives are my biggest strength in golf. I love getting up to the tee box and hitting my favorite club.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of golf is analyzing every shot. Golf is not just picking up a club and swinging at the ball; you have to determine how a green breaks, and what speed to hit the ball and consider any obstacles that could prevent a good shot. There are numerous factors that golfers need to consider with every swing to have a successful round.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? Our team has been out on the golf course every day. We’ve been practicing and playing as much as possible to prepare for the season.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I think our biggest rivalry is Neshannock.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? I have two favorite memories. The 1st one is getting to play on the Girls’ Golf Team with my sister, Molly, for two years. The 2nd memory is driving the ball 40 yards from the green on hole #18 at the first match of the season this year.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? After graduation, I will attend a four-year college and plan to advance into law school to become a child advocacy lawyer. Yes, I will-I want to play golf and tennis for the rest of my life because I enjoy them both so much.

Colten Crizer

How many years have you been played golf?  2 years and counting lol.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in golf? I feel my biggest strength in Golf is my perseverance. I have the ability to not get flustered after bad holes.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of golf is the people. The team is amazing and especially the member of Delmar. They are the reason I fell in love with golf.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have High hopes for the season, so everybody has played every day.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Neshanock. Coach Barry has yet to beat them in a very long time, so we are hoping to change that this year.

What is one skill you have learned from golf that you will utilize in your future and how? One lesson I learned is to never give up.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? The first match is my favorite memory because I was able to get the low score.

What are your plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan to still play golf in college while majoring in finance.

Jordan Keller

Grade? 9th Grade

How many years have you been played golf?  I just started playing golf last summer after getting into it with my friends. I slowly started to love it and then Coach Barry signed me up without asking me. The rest was history.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in golf? The biggest part in my game right now is my shots off the tee. My driver goes pretty far and has been very accurate. Gives me a lot of wedges in which I can put close and give me good looks at birdie.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of golfing is having fun with my teammates every day and creating memories with them. We share a lot of laughs on the course day in and day out.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been playing two times a day with mixtures of range work and short game work. Short game is the biggest factor for us as a team so that has been a big focus for us.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I feel that it’s going to be Neshannock. They have always been a good golf team and Coach Barry refuses to let us go down without a fighting chance. We have a lot of young talent stepping up so it should be close.

What is one skill you have learned from golf that you will utilize in your future and how? A skill I learned is perseverance and discipline. Discipline is something that I have to have as an athlete to become better at my sports that I want to become better at. I can start off a round bad but finish strong always. I’m going to use that in my future to be able to come over any obstacle or adversity that comes my way in the adult world.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory over the years has been all those sunsets at Delmar that my friends and I play through while sharing laughs. Most of the guys I play with during sunsets are also the older members who previously went to Ellwood supporting me through my journey.

What are your future plans after graduation? I would like to major in business and continue to golf with all the people I know.

Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan to go play golf or baseball after high school ends. Just the two sports I love and will never stop loving.

Volleyball

Morgan Hooker

Grade? 12

How many years have you been played volleyball?  I have been playing volleyball for 6 years since I was in 7th grade.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in volleyball? I feel like my biggest strength is either my communication on the court or my hitting.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is bonding with my teammates and making fun memories.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been practicing all summer to prepare for our season this year. We are a young team, so we focused on teamwork along with our volleyball skills.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Our section this year is very competitive. I think we will have close games with Laurel, Shenango, Neshannock, and Beaver.

What is one skill you have learned from volleyball that you will utilize in your future and how? One of the most important skills I have learned from volleyball is communication. I will be able to be vocal in the future and step out of my comfort zone because of volleyball.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory over the years would be beating Neshannock at Neshannock in five sets last year.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan to attend a 4-year school and major in mathematics. I’m not sure if I will play volleyball.

Alyssa Donley

Grade? 12th

How many years have you been played volleyball?  6 years.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in volleyball? I think my greatest strength would be my court awareness and how to pick apart the other team’s defense.

What is your favorite part of it? Definitely the bonds I’ve made with the girls and of course winning.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? It’s been constant, put your nose down and work until you don’t think you can anymore and then keep going. We started off the summer as a young team with a young mindset and now I’m excited to show everyone what we have in the upcoming weeks.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I think over all we have a tough section. Beaver moved in, Shenango and Laurel have always been power houses, but it always warms the heart to beat Neshannock…so probably them.

What is one skill you have learned from volleyball that you will utilize in your future and how? I think the biggest skill I’ve gotten from volleyball is my mental toughness. Volleyball can be rough, it’s easy to get down on yourself quickly but recovery is important. If someone notices your down, they pick on you, in volleyball and in life, you have to be mentally tough to not let it show.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? There’s been way too many…but to choose one I think it would be my first game starting varsity. We didn’t win but the support I had gotten from the upper classmen, their families, and my coaches made me realize that sometimes it’s bigger than the game.

What are your future plans after graduation? I hope to further my education and become an occupational therapist.

Will you continue to play sports after high school? I don’t plan on it.

Cross Country

Kaden Schlichtkrull

Grade? 12th

How many years have you been in cross country?  I’ve been in cross country for 6 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in cross country? Being able to push my teammates and hyping everyone up before a meet.

What is your favorite part of it? Winning! Also watching my teammates grow and succeed together.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? A lot of hills and just trying to get a head start on the season.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Shennango is always a top competitor or Neshannock due to their young team which has some strong runners.

What is one skill you have learned from cross country that you will utilize in your future and how? Lots of discipline and just waking up those early mornings where I want to sleep in but knowing I have to run those long miles. Thankfully it pays off in the end.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? When our old cross country coach yelled at me he said, “you wanna be a champion” . We laugh about it now, but I really think that helped me push harder through the years and become a disciplined runner. I would also like to add a thank you to two people that really helped me along the way, they would be Mark Hall, my past cross-country coach and Herb Cratty, my personal trainer. Those two really helped me along my journey of running and life in general.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? My future plans are to go into college and of course want to play sports! So, if there’s any athletic scholarships I’m here!