By Nicole Falco and Arlene Hinkemeyer
North's Theresa Rush, who has garnered All-State honors in cross country for the second year in a row, was recruited with full scholarship offers by more than a dozen Division I colleges. At a track team celebratory pizza party after school, Rush signed a formal letter of intent, which is a "contract" to run, with her "dream college," Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
"They have a really strong cross country team and I feel right at home there," Rush said of her top choice.
Central's Joe Miller signed a letter of intent to play baseball for High Point University in North Carolina in the office of Principal Joe Pompilio after school. His parents Edward Jr. and Rosemary, siblings Eddie and Jennifer, grandmother Mary Maritato, and girlfriend Katie Fee joined Miller as he signed the document with varsity baseball Coach Rich Adams, who is also the school's athletic director, by his side.
Miller, who has been playing baseball since the third-grade, said one of the reasons he chose High Point over the other offers he received is the promise that he'll get a starting position as a freshman. As for the sport itself, Miller loves it and pursuing a professional baseball career is definitely a goal.
"It's putting me in college, probably a university I wouldn't have been able to get into," said Miller, an All-County player. "I'm very excited."
Miller was recruited to play for the High Point Panthers over the summer. Coach Sal Bando Jr. saw Miller play in a baseball tournament in Georgia. "First and foremost, we like Joe as a person," Bando Jr. said in a phone interview. "He's going to represent High Point University and its baseball program very well. Secondly, we feel he's a talent on the [pitching] mound. He can throw three different pitches for a strike and throws with a velocity in the high 80s and low 90s."
Bando Jr. said High Point's baseball program is in a rebuilding stage, and he expects Miller to be a key factor in the club's future success.
The athletes' high school coaches couldn't be happier. In praise of Rush, North High girls track team Coach Michael Frazer said, "All of our coaches couldn't ask for a better student athlete. The other girls look up to her and see how hard you have to work to be a champion."
At the recent Nov. 12 state meet in Queensbury, Rush finished fifth out of 132 runners in the cross country 5K competition, with a personal best and North High record of 19:03.1.
Adams said Miller, who he has coached since his freshman year, is the first Central baseball player to sign a letter of intent since Andrew Larsen, a 2001 graduate. Larsen signed with Stony Brook, and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals earlier this year.
"[Joe] will probably break and surpass every pitching record we currently have at Central," Adams said. "He's worked hard for [the scholarship] and he deserves it."
Pompilio said he's proud that Miller is a representative of the Central's athletic program. "He's very intense, he's focused and he's very high profile, but he's always maintained a level head and a very good sense of reality. I wish him unconditional success."
