Seven Patriots will be playing sports at the highest level next year.

Most of these athletes knew early on that they wanted to play on a college team. Brady Lombardo, the one male Division 1 commit within the 2023 class, will continue his soccer career at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

“I knew I wanted to play in college when I hit middle school because I loved playing and I always needed something to keep me going,” Lombardo said. 

For almost all of these athletes, these sports are something that keeps them motivated and driven in other parts of their lives. Audrey Goodyear, a soccer commit to Ball State, has been finding joy in the sport since she was young.

“I started playing when I was four. I knew I wanted to play in college since 6th grade. It has always been a part of my plan” she said.  

Lucy Price’s athletic talents are in the water. She is committed for swim at Lindenwood University. Price was a part of the state title-winning girl’s swim team from last year. 

“I started swimming summer league when I was four years old and have been swimming on a club team since I was six,” Price said.

Others started in their sport later in Middle School, like Magdalena Singelton. She is committed to Missouri State for Cross Cronty running. 

“I began running officially in 8th gradewhen I joined SouthWest Middle Cross Crounty.”

Khayli Buckels, a committed tennis player at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has been on the top of her game for a while, holding the number one spot on Varsity since she was a freshman. 

Buckels won the state title this year.

“My favorite memory is when I competed at Nationals this summer in California. I believe I played really well and all my hard work preparing for this tournament paid off when I beat this highly-ranked girl in the region,” Buckels said. 

In similarity, many of these athletes are a part of the top athletes in the state. Most of them, winning state in their sport. Lombardo participates in these athletes through the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club (SLSG), where he earned many awards including

“back-to-back state cup champions.” 

In addition to playing for South’s Varsity team, Goodyear also plays under a team at SLSG. With this team, she has received the majority of her awards.

“I got Best 11 at nationals in 2019. My team won the ECNL Midwest conference in Fall 2022 and Fall 2020,” said Goodyear.

In addition to Price, Kylee Sullivan is a committed swimmer–to the University of Missouri-Columbia. There she will continue her swimming career that has been working on since she was four. Through her time, she has achieved many things and broken many school records. Along with Price, she helped the Patriots capture the state swimming title last year, and holds the Missouri state record in the 200 Meter Individual Medley. 

Along with being a school record breaker, Sullivan says she has also received “All-American, State champion (and) Missouri record holder.”

The swim team at South won state in 2022. Pushing both Sullivan and Price to show their skills at the top level.

Price says she has achieved many things, going to include“State finalist 3 years, scholar all American, NISCA all American, state champion (2022)”

Not all of these players have been on the top of their teams their whole life. Madison Geisler, a goalie for SLSG and the Patriot girls’ varsity team is currently committed to Southeast Missouri State University.

“Throughout my club years, I started at the bottom of the league on just normal teams, then moved up to USYS then had the opportunity to play ECNL,” she said.

Many of these athletes such as Buckels, hold inspiration from people that have led them along the way, many of them being family members.

“My inspiration is my grandma because she still to this day plays tennis, and she kind of in a way forced me to take lessons when I was little,” said Buckels. 

Singelton also holds an inspiration from those in her family, her aunt.

“My aunt is my inspiration. She ran with me in my first 5k in 4th grade. She also ran in College at TCU and helped coach me through the mental side of running.” 

Goodyear says that her inspiration for playing soccer is her brother, as throughout her childhood she would watch her brother play from the sidelines. However not all are inspired by their family members, some look up to those that play the same position as them. 

“I have always looked up to Hope Solo. She might not be the best player off the field but was amazing on the field. She was one of the best women goalkeepers in the United States,” said Giesler. 

Many of these players received scholarships as an acknowledgment of the impact they will bring to their college teams. Lombardo said this is an important factor in deciding what college he would  attend. 

“I also wanted to help with the financial burden of college for my parents because I can see how hard they work for me now to do what I do with traveling so I did everything I could do to help with that as well,” said Lombardo. 

Others picked schools based on the coaches who will be leading them for the oncoming years.

“I took a visit to Mizzou, and fell in love with it. The coaches and the team were my number one reason for choosing to go there,” Sullivan said. 

College will bring challenges to everyone, especially those who will work to balance their academics with their top-level athletes. 

“I think the biggest challenge will be the intense practice schedule. It’s going to be hard to manage classes on top of nine practices a week. The high-level competition is also something that I think will be a challenge,” Sullivan said.

However, Geisler said she is up for the challenge of college athletics.

“Next year will for sure be a challenge, being and living with my team all the time, doing 5 am workouts, and managing school with soccer. But I know I can get through it because I have been doing it for the last 12 years. I don’t think it will be a challenge more of adapting,” said Geisler. 

As these athletes move into college athletics they will be surrounded by others at the top of their game. 

Lombardo says he thinks the largest challenge will be “the competition, I feel like everyone will be stronger, faster, and smarter than me at first but I hope to make a quick transition and become a better player quickly when I’m there.”

These athletes hold goals for themselves over the next four years playing their sport, hoping to bring their new schools to success. 

“I hope I form a lifelong bond with my team and help contribute to my team’s success. I want to be a part of the team when they make their first NCAA playoffs,” Goodyear said.

These goals are similar to that of Lombardo.

“I hope to be conference champs and make it to the NCAA tournament, It’s never been done before at IUPUI so I hope while I’m there I can help them do that,” he said.

Others hold different goals for themselves. 

“I hope to make myself and my team proud by hopefully winning most of my matches. I also hope that I maintain good mental and physical health as a collegiate athlete and that I will work hard to balance the many components in my life. I really also want to make friends with the other athletes on campus, as well as have a strong bond with my teammates” says Buckels.