Wait well worth it for Morgan Cummins, other Lakewood Ranch athletes

Throughout Manatee County, student-athletes took part in Wednesday’s early signing day period for sports other than football, soccer and men’s water polo.

High school athletes signed national letters of intent, which bind them to their college choices.

For Lakewood Ranch softball player Morgan Cummins, it ended a long waiting period to make her college choice official.

Cummins signed with LSU on Wednesday after deciding to join the the SEC program in September 2014.

“It was exciting to continue to show my coaches that I was working and I was improving, and I was getting better every year,” Cummins said.

Softball teammate Olivia Danko signed with Florida Gulf Coast University, while swimmer Haille Bogumil signed with Stony Brook.

Pablo Garabitos and Dylan Buck, two Mustangs baseball players, signed with South Florida.

“I really liked their campus, everything about it, and it’s close to home,” said Garabitos, who committed to USF at the end of his sophomore year.

Buck originally planned to attend West Virginia before flipping to USF earlier this year since the Bulls are closer to home and the university is more affordable.

“That’s my roommate, so it’s somebody I get to room with and somebody I get to know going into it,” Buck said about attending USF with Garabitos.

Kailey Christian and Maddie LoCastro, two softball players, were scheduled to sign with State College of Florida. Athletic director Shawn Trent said one was sick and the other couldn’t make the signing ceremony in time, so they’ll sign at a later date.

Elsewhere around the county:

Manatee: Girls golfer Gabrielle Tomeo signed with Wisconsin, while twin sisters Gabby and JoJo Coulter signed to play volleyball at Marshall. Kara Saylor signed with Stetson’s softball team.

Palmetto: Baseball players Jacob Josey (Florida Atlantic), Logan Frasier (State College of Florida), Colton Vincent (College of Central Florida) and softball player Taylor Davis (Florida Southern) signed.

Saint Stephen’s: Lacrosse players Baylee Barker (Rhodes), Katie Pierce (American) and Bryce Gay (Savannah College of Art and Design) and rower Caitlin Lynch (Dartmouth) signed.

Cardinal Mooney: Swimmer Jillian Santiago (James Madison) and lacrosse player Vincent Mercadante (Wisconsin’s Marian University) signed.

Lakewood Ranch Gymnastics: Manatee High’s Derrian Goburne signed with Auburn. Also signing were Venice High’s Sandra Elsadek (Ball State) and Florida Virtual School’s Jasmine Kauffman (Towson).

IMG Academy: Twenty-one student-athletes signed letters of intent. They are include Levi Kelly (LSU) and Bryce Reagan (Texas) — baseball; Eric Ayala (Maryland), Darius Days (LSU), Keyshawn Embery (Arkansas) and Silvio de Sousa (Kansas) — boys basketball; Jala Jordan (West Virginia) — girls basketball; Clayton Tribus (Davidson) and Phu Pwint Khine (North Carolina Wilmington) — golf; Dan Burnam (Drexel), Jared Mabarak (Lenoir-Rhyne) and John Kiracofe (Michigan) — boys lacrosse; Claire Mills (Johns Hopkins), Natalie Dizney (Florida) and Tristan Usher (Lindenwood) — girls lacrosse; Alan Rubio (UCF), Carl Hilliard (Texas A&M, Corpus Christi), Zicheng Zeng (George Washington), Hanyu Liu (George Washington) — boys tennis; and Carolyn Campana (Vanderbilt) and Katya Townsend (Texas A&M) — girls tennis.

Sarasota Crew: Florida Virtual School rowers include Lara King (North Carolina), Venice High’s Olivia DeNiro (Louisville) and Sarasota Riverview’s Ella Kennedy (Miami).

This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Wait well worth it for Morgan Cummins, other Lakewood Ranch athletes."