At a ceremony yesterday afternoon at Pella High School, several members of the class of 2018 made their college intentions official.

Landon Vander Leest is heading to Northwestern in Orange City to play baseball. He tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that his time at Pella has prepared him well to next the next step.

“Academically, all of the college credit courses that they offer here and the way that teachers talk to us about our assignments and what’s to come. They do a really good job of preparing us. And from the athletic side, they make it as college like as they can with making it mandatory to show up every morning for liftings, and practices, things like that that keep us accountable will benefit us all in the future.”

Annika Pingel will run track at Doane University in Nebraska. She was a member of the class 3A sprint medley relay team that won the state title last spring, but says she’s open to different challenges in college.

“In high school, I’ve been more about sprints. This year, I’ve moved more towards middle distance, running 200s and 400s. In college, they’ve talked to me about running 800s, and I’m excited about that because I’ve run cross country as well.”

While many of her classmates are heading out of town, Kaliegh DeWaard is staying in Pella to throw the shot for Central College. Her grandpa is former longtime Dutch defensive coordinator Don DeWaard, and her dad Shawn was an all-conference defensive lineman for the Central football team. She knows the kind of expectations that the DeWaard name carries on campus, but is excited to stick around for the next chapter of her life.

“My family and I are really close, and I have a two-year old sister, so I wanted to stay around town for her. I also know that track will take up a lot of my time, and it’s comforting knowing that I can still see my family whenever I want too being in town.”

The other signings yesterday at Pella High were Lucas Warner and Reece Schnell, who will both play football at Dordt, Kinzi Van Wyk plans to play softball at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, Ethan Poultor takes his soccer skills to Colorado Christian University, Erica Bossard will play soccer at Monmouth in Illinois, Emily Vos is running track at UNI, Paighton Malek will run track for Hawkeye Community College, and Ian Vasina plans to play football at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.