After four years of high school athletics and countless years of hard work and sacrifice, five high school student-athletes from Durango High School and Animas High School were recognized in a ceremonial college signing inside Durango High School on Wednesday afternoon.

Friends, family and teammates gathered in the bleachers inside the Durango High School gym as seniors Dewa IIg, AJ Bonanno, Sofia Voss, Ellie White and Amelia Scott showed off their college choices

The NCAA changed the dates high school student-athletes sign their National Letter of Intent for non-football and basketball sports. Therefore, the initial signing date passed but Durango High School still wanted to honor its athletes with a ceremonial signing event.

Durango High School Athletic Director Ryan Knorr started the event by congratulating the student-athletes on their accomplishments. He shared the statistic that only 7% of high school athletes go on to play college sports. Knorr was proud to see this class grow from freshmen in the post-COVID-19 space to seniors

After Knorr, Durango High School Principal Jonathan Hoerl spoke about how he’s enjoyed seeing these athletes compete in so many different fun places. He joked about how parents can drive to Phoenix, Denver and Albuquerque in their sleep.

A few coaches spoke about their players’ growth and perseverance before the student-athletes put pen to paper for the ceremonial signing.

Ilg, a runner for the Demons’ cross country and track and field teams, will continue her running career at Luther College, a Division III school in Decorah, Iowa.

She fell in love with the program, team, coaches and school when she visited Luther.

“I’m super excited to take this sport, which I love, to the next level,” Ilg said. “It’s bittersweet leaving this place in the next year.”

Ilg found out she was anemic about a year ago and has been taking iron supplements, which has helped her performance bounce back after she began struggling with the effects of anemia.

Heading into her final Durango track and field season, Ilg hopes to be on the 4x800 meter state team again and she wants to drop her 800 time into the low 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

Ilg plans on going into pre-med at Luther and hopes to help educate other female athletes on the importance of taking care of themselves.

Bonanno, an Animas High School student, is staying home to run for Fort Lewis College in the fall. He plans to major in journalism at FLC after he finishes his Demon athletic career on the track in the spring.

“It felt great and was an awesome experience to be recognized alongside the other athletes who are going to compete at the next level,” Bonanno said. “I’ve come such a long way from where I was as a freshman in high school and this felt like a super cool way to both cap that off and start my journey toward college athletics.”

Voss has had multiple calf surgeries over the last year, she’s had to overcome. She’s heading to Grand Junction to run for Colorado Mesa in the fall.

“I’m feeling emotional,” Voss said. “I didn’t decide I wanted to commit to a college until the last minute, last year. With everything I’ve been through last year and this year, I feel really overwhelmed. If you asked me last summer if I was going to sign with a college, I would have told you no. I’m really happy and super excited.”

Voss toured colleges all around Colorado, but Colorado Mesa was the only university she went to where she never had to open a door. She felt the love from the team on her official visit and the positive team culture.

She feels strong coming back after her surgeries and said she’s turned a corner. Voss is super excited for her final track season. She hopes everything comes together, but she knows her story doesn’t end after her senior year of high school.

Voss plans on studying social work and political science at Colorado Mesa.

White, like Bonanno, is staying home to go to FLC in the fall. She will compete on the Skyhawks women’s golf team and will major in business.

“I’m super excited to be working with the Fort and the coach there, Shea (Sena), he’s awesome,” White said. “He runs Elevated Golf at Dalton Ranch and I work with him all the time.”

White decided to stay home over winter break. She liked the girls she met on the team and loved that she could stay in Durango.

She’ll have her final high school golf season in the spring; White hopes she and the team can do well at regionals, qualify for state and finish the season ranked high.

Scott is heading to Division III University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to play soccer as a center back. She will study physics and astronomy.

“I knew I wanted to go somewhere in the Midwest,” Scott said. “I love it out there; I grew up in Michigan so it’s nice to go back to my roots. I found this school through their really nice soccer program and their good academics for their physics program.”

Scott hopes her senior season as a Demon ends after a great run in the state playoffs.

bkelly@durangoherald.com