Lee University has released several sets of early signees for the 2016-17 school year, and those include baseball outfielder Tyler Carpenter from Bradley Central High School and women's basketball player Taylor Boggess from Meigs County.
Golf coach John Maupin announced Tuesday the signing of Anne Hedegaard from Aalborg, Denmark, for the NCAA Division II school in Cleveland.
Baseball coach Mark Brew's other new recruits are catcher Micah McClellan from La Vergne, Tenn., and Stewart's Creek High School, left-handed pitcher Lance Hamilton from Clinton (Tenn.) High and right-handed pitcher Joe Parete from Jacksonville, Fla., and South Georgia State College.
"Each young man brings unique skill sets to complement our returning players for the 2017 season and continue our program on the track of being a top-tiered program annually in the rugged Gulf South Conference," coach Mark Brew said in the baseball release, praising chief recruiter Justin Dedman and fellow assistants Drew French and Chris Torgerson.
Marty Rowe, the Lee women's basketball coach, added two other Tennessee high school senior guards besides Boggess - Maddie Long from McEwen High and Abby Bertram from Midway High - with 6-foot-1 forward Nicky Widenski from Franklin, Wis.
"We think all four signees have a chance to be very good for us," Rowe said in his team's release. "We've definitely addressed depth and athleticism needs on the perimeter in this class."
Boggess averaged 23.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals a game last year for Meigs, and Rowe said she "has a motor that never stops, and when you combine that with her ability to score, you've got a really good player."
Long averaged 21.6 points, five steals and three steals as a junior, and Bertram averaged 17 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.2 steals. Widenski averaged 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 blocked shots "for one of the best high school programs in Wisconsin," Rowe said.
Dedman called Carpenter, a past Best of Preps receiver in football, "a dynamic athlete and aggressive competitor" with "very good bat speed and a consistent swing that showed improved power this summer." And Bradley coach Travis Adams said, "Tyler is one of the hardest working kids I have ever coached. He is a true competitor and great teammate. He will bring great energy to Lee baseball."
Carpenter, who said he was inspired by Lee players going back to when he was a student at Ocoee Middle School beside the Flames' field, batted .310 last season with 10 extra-base hits, 21 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.
McClellan hit .351 with a .434 on-base percentage, 15 extra-base knocks and 27 runs scored in 2015, and the 6-foot-3 Hamilton went 7-2 with two saves, a 2.68 earned run average and 64 strikeouts with only 14 walks in 64 innings pitched.
The 6-2 Parete redshirted last spring at his junior college, where he also ran cross country, after appearing in 17 games with 39 hits allowed in 35 1/3 innings in 2014. Dedman said his fastball regularly is 87-90 mph and has hit 92.
Golfer Hedegaard also was considering Harding University and Lander in the United States, according to the Tuesday release. She won the under-17 Junior Cup nationals in 2013 in Denmark and the TaylorMade Open this year, when she also was the Jaegerspris Open runner-up.
"We have gotten great reviews on Anne's game from people that have a great eye for talent, but Anne's scores also spoke for themselves," Maupin said.