- November 11, 2021
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The following student-athletes at Greenwich High School were part of a ceremony to announce their college commitments Wednesday: Chason Barber, Football, Brown; Annie Bingle, Diving, UPenn; Zita Cohen, Field Hockey, Brown; Zachary Jelinek, Track/Cross Country, Bucknell; Andrew O’Donnell, Track, UPenn; Tessa Matson, Water Polo, Loyola Marymount; Bella Schraa, Water Polo, Bucknell; Liana Sarkissian, Volleyball, Dayton; Eva Anderson, Crew, Georgetown; Lucy Barratt, Crew, Boston College; Izzy Blackburn, Crew, Syracuse; Andrew Cavanaugh, Crew, Yale; Taeshic Chung, Crew, Columbia; Marian Cracraft, Crew, Wisconsin; Bianca Granitto, Crew, UPenn; George Lathrop, Crew, Princeton; Brandon Mark, Crew, Northeastern; Ella Moore, Crew, Stanford; Isabelle Ritchie, Crew, Harvard
There were so many Division 1 athletes at the signing day ceremony in the Greenwich gymnasium Wednesday morning, they needed four tables covered in Greenwich red and black to accommodate them.
In sports ranging from football to crew, athletes sat at the tables in front of family, coaches and administrators for the ceremony denoting the transition from high school to college athletics.
Liana Sarkissian signed to play volleyball at Dayton and was joined by water polo team members Tessa Matson (Loyola Marymount) and Bella Schraa (Bucknell) and Zachary Jelinek of the track and cross country teams (Bucknell).
Athletes do not sign National Letters of Intent for Ivy League schools but at the ceremony committing to play in college were: Chason Barber, Football, Brown; Annie Bingle, Diving, UPenn; Zita Cohen, Field Hockey, Brown; Andrew O’Donnell, Track, UPenn.
And while Greenwich High does not offer Crew as a varsity sport, the following athletes from the school will all continue their athletic careers in college: Eva Anderson, Georgetown; Lucy Barratt, Boston College; Izzy Blackburn, Syracuse; Andrew Cavanaugh, Yale; Taeshic Chung, Columbia; Marian Cracraft, Wisconsin; Bianca Granitto, UPenn; George Lathrop, Princeton; Brandon Mark, Northeastern; Ella Moore, Stanford; and Isabelle Ritchie, Harvard.
Many of the crew athletes going on to the next level, row for Greenwich Crew.
“We have a huge recruiting class at Greenwich. I am really proud of everybody up here today,” Bingle said. “I have a lot of close friends signing with me today and they are all amazing and inspire me to work my hardest. I hope I do the same for them. Being in school everyday and knowing you are not the only one who will be going to practice for three hours afterwards is nice. It’s a great community in the school of athletes. It’s different going through high school with essentially a full-time job and having others doing it too, inspires me to keep working as hard as a I can.”
Sarkissian started as a freshman on the JV volleyball team but by sophomore year was up starting with the varsity.
This fall she helped the Cardinals to the FCIAC Championship and currently has them in the CIAC Class LL Tournament as the No. 2 seed.
“It’s amazing to see the program change over my time here. My sophomore and junior year we had almost the exact same team but this year it was almost completely different,” Sarkissian said. “Being able to bring a FCIAC title to our school is has been really amazing. It has been my pleasure to be a part of this program.”
Some of these athletes missed out on junior season due to COVID-19 and all agreed that getting to play in 2021 was the best part of the year.
Having so many at one signing ceremony added to the sense of gratitude for the athletes.
“It’s great. There is a huge sense of accomplishment in the air,” Barber said. “Everyone up here has worked so hard and are now being rewarded for our efforts. I am just so happy we had a season this year. After last year was canceled, everyone was super excited to get back on the field. I think you can feel that in this class. Not just with football but everyone who is an athlete appreciates being able to play after what we went through.”
Sericson@stamfordadvocate.com; @EricsonSports
Greenwich High Division-1 Athletes
Chason Barber, Football, Brown
Annie Bingle, Diving, UPenn
Zita Cohen, Field Hockey, Brown
Zachary Jelinek, Track/Cross Country, Bucknell
Andrew O’Donnell, Track, UPenn
Tessa Matson, Water Polo, Loyola Marymount
Bella Schraa, Water Polo, Bucknell
Liana Sarkissian, Volleyball, Dayton
Eva Anderson, Crew, Georgetown
Lucy Barratt, Crew, Boston College
Izzy Blackburn, Crew, Syracuse
Andrew Cavanaugh, Crew, Yale
Taeshic Chung, Crew, Columbia
Marian Cracraft, Crew, Wisconsin
Bianca Granitto, Crew, UPenn
George Lathrop, Crew, Princeton
Brandon Mark, Crew, Northeastern
Ella Moore, Crew, Stanford
Isabelle Ritchie, Crew, Harvard
Scott is a sports writer for GametimeCT and Hearst Connecticut Media, writing about high school sports across Connecticut. He also has co-hosted “Just for Kicks,” the high school soccer podcast, and “high and Tight,” a high school baseball podcast.