After countless practices, offseason workouts, club events and high school competitions, four Durango High School student-athletes were honored on Dec. 3 with a ceremonial college signing inside the Impact Center at Durango High School.
Ryne Neiman, Hadyn Neiman, Owen Cheatham and Cameron Hoffman were recognized for their college commitments. Ryne is heading to Fort Lewis College to play on the women’s soccer team; Hadyn is going to Division II Oklahoma Baptist University to play volleyball; Cheatham will play football at Division I Florida Atlantic University; Hoffman will join the FLC cycling team.
In October of 2024, the NCAA eliminated the National Letter of Intent, and athletes now sign written offers of athletic aid. This changed traditional signing day procedures. Division I’s early signing period started on Dec. 3 and ended on Dec. 5. All other Division I and Division II sports besides football and basketball’s signing date started on Nov. 12.
Even though the initial signing date for most sports had passed, Durango High School still wanted to honor its athletes with a ceremonial signing event.
With girls high school soccer in the spring, Ryne is the only student-athlete of the four who still has to play the final season of their respective sport. She has been the starting goalkeeper for Durango since her freshman year. During that time, the Demons have won at least nine games in each season and have advanced to the state playoffs every year. Ryne has 180 career saves and 11 shutouts through three seasons.
Ryne was accompanied by her sister, Adde (who’s a defender on the FLC women’s soccer team), her dad, Dusty, and her mom, Steffi, and plenty of friends and teammates.
“It was really cool that we were being recognized not only for excelling in our athletics, but in the classroom as well,” Ryne said. “That's not possible without the instruction we get here from our teachers and coaches. They make it really easy to succeed.”
Ryne was considering playing soccer at FLC, MSU Denver and Northern Colorado. She was drawn to FLC because of its recent success, the chance to play with her sister, and when she was there, it felt like the right place to go.
FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke has been very transparent with Ryne, which she appreciates. Ryne said Clarke believes in her potential with her height and athleticism. Clarke and the coaching staff want her to continue to improve on her decision making and agility.
Ryne is excited to train with FLC’s rising sophomore goalkeeper, Trinity Lujan, who was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in women’s soccer.
Before that, Ryne has her final high school season to play in. The Demons have a solid returning core from last year’s team that made the 4A state quarterfinals.
“We all want to go far in the playoffs,” Ryne said. “We were all really heartbroken after our loss to Lutheran because we didn’t have our best showing. We all want revenge and want to go as far, if not further.”
Ryne’s cousin, Hadyn, recently capped off a fantastic volleyball career for the Demons, leading Durango in kills this fall. Hadyn has been on varsity since her freshman year and finished her career with three regional playoff appearances and a state playoff appearance.
Hadyn thought it was super special for her and her family to be next to her cousin at the signing ceremony.
“It felt super good,” Hadyn said. “We were all talking as athletes up there about how many people were there. We just felt so loved. We're just so lucky to live in this community that values our sports and cares to like follow along with each kid's sports journey.”
Hadyn had been focusing on her college recruitment since the beginning of her junior year. She reached out to Oklahoma Baptist and a lot of other schools; she didn’t hear anything back from Oklahoma Baptist.
It wasn’t until Durango High School volleyball head coach Kelley Rifilato ran into the Oklahoma Baptist head coach. Rifilato told the coach to take a look at Hadyn’s film, and the next weekend, the coach invited Hadyn out on a visit.
At first, Hadyn was concerned with how far away Oklahoma Baptist is, located in Shawnee, Oklahoma. But after visiting other programs, she knew it was the place for her with the team’s competitive drive and how they play to serve the Lord. Hadyn committed in May and is going to study education to become a teacher.
The Bison went 22-10 overall this season and went to the NCAA tournament.
Oklahoma Baptist will be a change for Hadyn. She’s played outside hitter in high school, but will be going to Oklahoma Baptist as a defensive specialist/libero. She’s played six rotations in club, but she’s never just played defensive specialist/libero.
Although the Demons didn’t have the best record and didn’t make the playoffs during Hadyn’s senior year, she had the greatest time with them and said those friendships will last forever. Although Hadyn had many memorable moments in her high school career, one stuck out.
“Beating Green Mountain my freshman year, and then going on to state, that was just something that's unforgettable,” Hadyn said. “As a freshman, being in there at that moment was so big.”
Cheatham was one of Durango football’s most important players this fall, playing on the offensive and defensive line. Cheatham was one of the big reasons why Durango had such a successful rushing attack and why quarterback Grady Feeney had a lot of time to throw.
He was committed to the University of Wyoming before flipping to Florida Atlantic University, where he will play on the offensive line. Cheatham becomes the first Durango High School football player to commit to a Division I school with a scholarship out of high school since Joshua Bates committed to the University of Oklahoma in 2021.
It’s been quite the journey recently for Cheatham. Now at 6-foot-6-inches and 265 pounds, he only started playing on the offensive line last season. Back in January, Cheatham only weighed 205 pounds.
But, with the help of Durango’s renowned offensive line coach Mike Sutter, Cheatham learned the techniques and Sutter made Cheatham feels at home on the offensive line. Durango head coach Hunter Holmes helped Cheatham get connected with college coaches.
Florida Atlantic University went 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the American Conference this fall.
Hoffman is somewhat new to Durango after moving here in July. He competed for Durango in the Colorado High School Mountain Bike League in the fall, and he’s excited to compete for FLC in mountain biking.
“I really appreciated getting recognized,” Hoffman said. “Having that opportunity to feel seen, and I really appreciated that I was being recognized for cycling. A big issue that I've noticed with the sport of cycling is a lot of people outside of the sport don't tend to recognize it as an actual sport.”
Hoffman considered some other schools, but the choice to go to FLC was fairly easy, since he’s known he’s wanted to come to FLC since he was a sophomore. He loves the vibes and community Durango has.
His favorite memory from the Colorado High School Mountain Bike League was his race at Eagle. He crashed early, but fought his way to his best finish of his season.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
