Although signing a National Letter of Intent isn’t required anymore for high school student-athletes making the step to college athletics, don’t tell Durango High School student-athletes that.
Some of the top Durango Demons senior student-athletes sat in front of friends, family and coaches inside Durango High School’s gymnasium to participate in a ceremonial college signing on Wednesday afternoon.
Ainsley Simpson, Xavier Sutherlin, Riley Huston, Ryan Dugan, Olivia Becher, Otto Aaland, Jeanne Campbell and Eva Stewart proudly showed off their next chapters with their college hoodies and T-shirts.
Simpson will be heading to Fort Lewis College to run for the Skyhawks. Sutherlin is committed to Western Colorado University and will compete in track and field. Huston is going to Colorado Mesa University for mountain biking and Dugan to Colorado School of Mines for wrestling. Becher is heading to Whittier College to swim and Aaland is committed to Buena Vista College for basketball. Campbell and Stewart are committed to Colorado Mesa; Stewart plans on playing beach volleyball there while Campbell plans on cheering there.
Each student-athlete had a coach come up and speak about their journey. Durango High School Athletic Director Ryan Knorr said a few words as well as Durango High School Principal Jonathan Hoerl.
Demons track and field head coach Johnny Bertrand came up and spoke multiple times with multiple athletes continuing on to college athletics.
He acknowledged the amount of work Sutherlin put in since his freshman year. Bertrand joked that Sutherlin was a slow freshman, but he put in the work over the summers. Coach Ron Keller took so many videos of Sutherlin training that his phone slowed down
Knorr remembered Sutherlin setting an appointment with him as a freshman to talk about getting to the next level and said it was the only time a freshman has done that since he’s been at DHS.
Swimming coach Tom Joyner remembered Becher being mentored as a freshman and now as a senior, mentoring freshmen before she goes to the next level.
It was a family affair in front of the crowd with wrestling coach Jeremy Dugan speaking about his son, Ryan.
Jeremy spoke about his son and how he’s a champion on and off the mat. Everybody stops what they’re doing when he wrestles. Jeremy said his son served as a good role model for the younger generation. Ryan told him he hopes to be a national champion
Volleyball head coach Kelley Rifilato spoke about how, as a freshman, Stewart moved around a lot and did everything Rifilato asked of her. Rifilato said Stewart won’t be the loudest person on the court but makes sure everyone is in the right place. She’s excited to see Stewart play for former national champion Colorado Mesa.
Boys basketball head coach Alan Batiste spoke about how Aaland started on the C team and worked hard to make it to varsity. Batiste acknowledged that since Durango doesn’t have a feeder program, a lot of the progress kids make is by getting in the gym on their own and Aaland did that.
After the coaches got up, Hoerl thanked the coaches and parents for all the time they put into the kids. Hoerl said he’s put 7,000 miles on his car since January, watching his kids compete.
Each of the student-athletes then addressed the audience and said why they went to their school, thanked their supporters and said where they wanted to be in 10 years.
Sutherlin committed to Western Colorado when he visited the school in October. He didn’t have his eye on Western until Keller told him it would be a good fit. Sutherlin talked with two different head coaches at Western after a coaching change. He felt comfortable with assistant coach Naron Rollins, whose brother is a professional hurdler.
“Right now, it’s 110-meter hurdles; that’s kind of my specialty with what I’ve been doing with my technique and really getting that down,” Sutherlin said about the college event he’ll be competing in. “I want to see if I can sneak into the 400 hurdles as well. I feel like I could be a good competitor at that race with the work ethic that I have.”
Sutherlin is happy with his high school career, especially his senior season. He’s ranked in the top five in 4A in the 110 hurdles. He qualified for New Balance Nationals, which seemed like an audacious goal a few months ago. Sutherlin credited Keller with helping him qualify for New Balance Nationals.
Despite never formally playing beach volleyball other than with her friends in the summer, Stewart is excited to compete for Colorado Mesa. She committed there in February. A Colorado Mesa coach saw Stewart play in high school in Grand Junction and became interested.
“Then I reached out to the beach team, because I thought, ‘Oh, that might be a cool experience.’ So I reached out to them, then had a practice with the team and I really liked it. Beach volleyball is super fun, so I thought that'd be a really fun change. It's still volleyball, it's just a little different.”
Stewart is heading to Colorado Mesa for nursing.
Huston is also heading to Colorado Mesa for nursing. She had a couple of colleges in mind but chose the Mavericks because of the cycling team, the scholarship opportunities and nursing.
Racing for the Mavericks will allow her to race for one of the best collegiate mountain bike teams in the country, as well as compete in mountain bike and downhill.
“I reached out to Ruby Ryan, who recently graduated from there, and we talked about it. We were on Team Segment 28 last year and I got to know her … I talked to her a bit about it and she told me a lot about the team. It sounded like there was a great environment and the team travel is a whole lot of fun. Everyone is really serious about cycling … I really look up to her (Ryan).”
Dugan committed to Colorado School of Mines in March. He’s always wanted to be an engineer and has always enjoyed creating things. He said the tour felt like something out of a movie and the environment felt really uplifting.
He leaves Durango High School as one of the more decorated Demon wrestlers in recent history. He plans to wrestle at 126 pounds in college like he did his senior year. Dugan expects to compete as a freshman at Colorado School of Mines.
“I learned the definition of hard work pays off,” Dugan said about his time in Durango. “I put in countless hours every offseason going to tournaments, camps and staying hours late after practice … knowing that everything I did paid off in the end and seeing the results is the biggest lesson.”
Aaland committed to Division III Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, on Tuesday. He said he likes the way the team plays with the number of 3-pointers they take and his ability to shoot from beyond the arc. Aaland’s looking to go into athletic training.
The Buena Vista coaches have told Aaland that he needs to put on weight and be more aggressive offensively and defensively.
Before the athletes completed the ceremony with the ceremonial signing, Knorr asked them to close their eyes to try and capture this moment, a moment they will probably remember for the rest of their lives.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
