Area athletes make college choices official

WAUSAU - Mariah Whalen helped the Newman Catholic girls volleyball team to a fourth straight WIAA state title last week.

The Cardinals senior made her official commitment Wednesday morning to a University of Wisconsin program that has the potential to remain a collegiate title contender for years to come.

Whalen is part of stellar 2017 recruiting class for a Badgers program which reached the NCAA title game in 2013 and is ranked third in the national polls this week. Whalen joins an incoming class that consists of five of the top 50 ranked senior players in the country this year by prepvolleyball.com

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"I'm so excited just to get down there and get to work," Whalen said after a short ceremony at Newman Catholic in which she signed her national letter of intent with the Badgers.

Whalen was one of eight Wausau area athletes to made a collegiate commitment official Wednesday The group included Newman Catholic's Lauren Fech, Wausau West's Caitlin Deaton, Logan Grunenwald and Paul Weise and D.C. Everest's Miranda Gajewski, Ashley Hodell and Regan Stefan.

Whalen, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, finished her prep career with more than 2,700 kills, was named the national freshman of the year by prepvolleyball.com in 2013. She made a verbal commitment to Wisconsin that same year.

"When I was visiting (other) schools, I would come off campus and be like, 'It's not Wisconsin.'," Whalen said of her decision as a freshman to stay in her home state. "(The choice) was about the academics and the (Wisconsin) volleyball team was also amazing."

Fech was a teammate of Whalen's the past four years on Newman Catholic's volleyball team but also a standout member of the Cardinals girls basketball squad. She is continuing her basketball career at Minnesota State University Moorhead .

Fech, a 5-8 guard, averaged 9.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game last season. She received interest from a number of other programs, notably North Dakota, Youngstown State and Western Michigan.

"I really like the coaching staff. They seemed very enthusiastic and have built a good program there," Fech said of her decision to join the Division II program. "When I went on (a campus visit this summer) they were really interesting in having me be part of the program and offered a scholarship right then. But then they came to my (AAU) tournament the weekend after my visit and kept calling me and telling me that it would really be a good fit."

Fech was one of three local athletes to sign a letter of intent to play collegiate women's basketball. Hodell and Deaton are headed to the University of Sioux Falls and Regis University, respectively.

Sioux Falls and Minnesota State Moorhead are both part of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Hodell said her choice to attend the South Dakota-based school was made not only based on both athletic and academic factors.

"I went for an unofficial visit there and just fell in love (with the program)," said Hodell, a 6-2 senior, who was a second team all-Wisconsin Valley Conference selection last year. "The girls were so welcoming and the campus was small enough but still had a great atmosphere ... and the student-to-teach ratio is really small so you knew that you weren't just a number but that they really care about your education there."

Regis University showed interest in Deaton in about the middle of this summer but a visit to the Denver campus near the start of the school year sold the Wausau West standout on the program.

"Automatically I loved the coach. I loved what she stood for and loved her competitiveness," said Deaton, who was a unanimous all-WVC selection last year as a junior. "I went there with no intention of committing. I went there just to see it because I was considering other schools. I went to the campus for a day and fell in love (with the school). I called my mom and said, 'I am going into my meeting with coach and I'm committing.'"

Gajewski is headed to McKendree University for softball and will be reunited with her older sister, Brooke, who is a junior pitcher/infielder on the team. While there is the sibling connection, it isn't the only reason why Gajewski selected the Division II program located in Lebanon, Ill.

"It's just a welcoming school, everyone was really friendly," said Gajewski, who was a unanimous choice at pitcher on the all-WVC softball team last year as a junior. "I loved both the academics and athletics."

Academics are a reason why Stefan is headed to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to continue her volleyball career as she plans to major in both biology and psychology.

"On the volleyball side they wanted me not just as an athlete but as a person," said Stefan, who has been a unanimous all-WVC selection the past two years. "They pinpointed my leadership capabilities and my passion and enthusiasm for the sport. That made me very appreciative toward the program. They don't just want my skill, they want my personality as well."

Weise is headed to UW-Parkside as well to continue his baseball career. A first-team WVC selection at catcher, the Wausau West senior's choice was based in part on an interest on playing somewhat close to his family.

"Parkside is 30 minutes south of Milwaukee and my sister is currently going to school in Milwaukee," Weise said. "It's in Wisconsin, it's a great campus and I'm looking forward to it."

Weise was contacted a few weeks after playing in a high school baseball showcase game in Kenosha.

"I went (to Parkside) for a visit and really liked Coach (Daniel) Esposito," Weise said. "He made a great impression on me and I liked what he had to say."

Weise has played baseball with Logan Grunenwald since both were in Little League and Grunenwald is headed to Winona State.

"They showed a lot of interest in me early in the summer and we continued communicating back-and-forth," said Grunenwald, a shortstop who was a second team all-WVC selection last year. "I went for a official visit and got a chance to meet some of the guys there and it just felt like family."

Tim Johnson: 715-845-0731, or timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @timmyjo11