McCallie School had a Big Ten of its own Tuesday morning.
Ten Blue Tornado senior athletes signed letters of intent or made official commitments to college programs that don't give athletic scholarships in a ceremony in the school's Caldwell Hall.
Eoin Collins and Trevel Talley signed to play lacrosse at Mercer University. Teammate Zack Ward is headed to Salisbury, and goalkeeper Patton Watkins is going to Tufts. Rowers Curtis Kachline and James Winford will join the crew program at Columbia University, while teammates Sam Robinson and Steven Pampreen will row for Bucknell and McGill, respectively. McGill is in Montreal.
Pierce DeRico is joining the track and field program at Davidson, and Cody Pritchett will play football for Centre.
DeRico was the city champion in the 300 intermediate hurdles last year, and this year he has some of the best times in Tennessee in that event, the 110 high hurdles and the triple jump, according to the McCallie release about Tuesday's ceremony. He also competes in the discus and the decathlon.
Pritchett had 49 tackles and three interceptions as a safety last football season, and he returned kicks. Centre went 7-2 overall in 2009 and 4-2 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, which also includes Sewanee.
Kachline and Winford both were in McCallie's lightweight eight boat that finished first in the Southeast and second in the nation in 2008 and first again in the Southeast in 2009, and they and Pampreen were part of the 2009 Head of the Hooch winning boat and the 2010 state champion varsity heavyweight eight. Robinson, a team captain, was stroke seat of the '09 state champion varsity heavyweight eight.
Kachline, another team captain, has the Tornado crew's fastest erg time and was recruited by several Ivy League schools in addition to Columbia, according to the McCallie release.
Ward is a lacrosse attacker with 40 goals and 11 assists so far this season. He was on the Adidas national underclassmen team in 2008 and '09 and also was on the Under Armour Midwest Team last year, when he was all-state and offensive MVP of the state tournament.
Midfielder Collins has 12 goals, eight assists and 31 ground balls this season. Talley, a second-team all-state selection last year, is a long stick midfielder with 37 ground balls and 17 takeaways.
Watkins was an All-American and all-state goalie in 2009, when he was defensive MVP of the state tournament and repeated on the Adidas national underclassmen team. He has 105 saves at a 67 percent rate this year, with a very low goals-against average of 4.6 per game.