Four members of the McCallie School rowing team's varsity 8 boat were honored Wednesday at the school for their collegiate plans, along with soccer player Noah Cingilli headed to Berry College and Mac Patton accepting a scholarship to cheer for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The rowers were Joshua Gable, headed to the U.S. Naval Academy; Jackson Moore, to Florida Tech; Shalin Naik, to Vanderbilt; and Bailey Nelson, to Boston University.
Nelson is a McCallie boarder from Seattle, and the University of Washington was among his top choices, along with California-Berkeley and George Washington. The team at Boston U as well as the school sold him on that choice, he said.
The other three rowers moving on are local.
Moore, who will compete in the single in the youth nationals this summer in Sarasota, Fla., and in the trials for the U.S. under-23 team, picked Florida Tech over Syracuse, George Washington and San Diego because of his interest in an aviation career.
"Florida Tech is kind of a one-stop shop for me. It has a good rowing program and a good aviation program," he said.
Gable has a somewhat similar career goal. He wants to be a helicopter pilot, and Navy can set him up for that. His other primary college options were Penn, Princeton, Drexel and Georgetown.
Naik also considered Georgetown, along with Washington in St. Louis and Davidson. Vanderbilt does not have varsity rowing but does have a very competitive club team, and Naik can participate in that while pursuing neuroscience in a "rigorous academic" setting.
"For all four of these guys, outside of their athletic performance, they have great leadership skills and they're great communicators," coach Sean McCourt said. "And they're great role models."
Earlier, in front of the large group gathered to honor the signees, McCourt said, "These guys are tremendous. Not only are they great rowers, but they're great scholars, and their enthusiasm is infectious."
Cingilli is the fourth senior on the 2017 Blue Tornado soccer team to be set for a college team, following Drew Viscomi to Northwestern, Harrison Swank to Bowdoin and fellow Berry commitment Emerson Brock.
The Division III school near Rome, Ga., scouted center midfielder Cingilli against Father Ryan in a matchup of high-ranked teams, "where there were three (NCAA) Division I guys in the midfield and Noah proved he belonged in there with them," McCallie coach Chris Cushenbery said.
"He's a resilient guy. He's also a connector - on the field and off. He's a facilitator," Cushenbery said.
Cingilli also considered Centre and Sewanee in the Vikings' league but said "the atmosphere on (the Berry) campus, that's somewhere I can see myself belonging and fitting in."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.