During this year's college sports seasons, Parkland saw a number of alumni put together standout campaigns.

Boston College senior running back Andre Williams put together a Heisman-nomination season on the football field, while Kutztown University senior Ziad Haddad was a Division II national wrestling champion at the heavyweight bout. Those were just two former Trojans that highlighted the collegiate ranks.

During last week's Parkland Athletic Press Conference, the next crop of collegiate players were introduced. Seven seniors were recognized for receiving scholarships to continue playing a sport at the Division I or II level, including ties to the before mentioned Williams and Haddad.

Kareem Williams, Nezar Haddad, Lyndsey Iacobelli, Jessica Cottone, Gabriel Mosser, Zachary Merkle and Matt Smith were all recognized last Wednesday at Parkland High School for continuing their athletic careers in college.

Following in the footsteps of his brother Andre, Kareem Williams will play football at the Division I level at the University of Delaware. As a member of the Trojans, Williams was the leading rusher in the LVC as a senior, tallying roughly 1,900 yards on the ground. He is responsible for 28 career touchdowns as a Trojan, and he was a First Team selection in both the LVC and state. Kareem plans to major in Criminal Justice.

"I had a lot of schools in mind, but when I went down to visit it just felt like real family," Williams said. "I got along with everyone there and the coaches. I fell in love with the place right from the start. It felt like home.

"When I go down there, I have all intentions of breaking every record I can down there. Not only for Delaware, but for my family name to go on and hopefully to get to the next level [NFL] where he's [Andre] going right now."

Haddad, who saw his brother Ziad win a national championship, will continue his wresting career at Drexel University. He went 45-3 this past season and has 129 career wins at Parkland, which ranks in the top-five in school history. He has won three straight District 11 Class AAA titles and was a state runner up this year. He will study engineering at Drexel.

"They have a great engineering program," Haddad said. "Their co-op program where you get work experience while going to school is one of the bigger ones, [and] I think it pulls in a lot of athletes for them. And their program is on the rise, I think.

"It sets standards for me to achieve," Haddad said of his brother's accomplishment. "He's always helping me out with technique and stuff like that, and what I got to do to be the best."

Iacobelli decided to attend West Chester University where she will continue playing volleyball for the Golden Rams. She was an LVC All-Star this past season, and she was a vital part to the Lady Trojans' streak of 53 consecutive sets without a loss. She is interested in majoring in speech therapy.

She'll continue her career with two of her former Parkland teammates at West Chester in Brooke Pristas and Amy Kovax.

"I know a lot of people that are going there first of all," Iacobelli said. "So I'll be able to play with them and mesh together."

Cottone will continue the next stage of her cheerleading career at Gannon University, where she will major in elementary education. As a Lady Trojan, she helped the cheerleading team reach the semifinals at this season's state competition.

"I got in touch with the coach early because I knew of the school from my friend," Cottone said. "She just seemed like a very loving coach, and the squad seemed very family-oriented. It seemed liked a good fit for me."

Mosser and Merkle, two of the Trojans' top baseball players this season, will get to play baseball for the next four years of college.

As a pitcher, Mosser entered last Wednesday with a 9-3 career record with a .93 ERA and 75 strikeouts. He is 4-0 this season with a .71 ERA. He will attend Shippensburg University and major in Business.

Merkle is a catcher for the Trojans and will attend Southern Connecticut State University to play baseball next year. He has a .450 on-base percentage with 25 hits and 45 runs in his junior and senior seasons combined. He plans to major in communication disorders.

As a defenseman on the Trojans boys' lacrosse team, Smith played in the Top 205 All-Star Game and Battle of the Hotbeds All-Stare Game.

He was also a selection on the USA All-American team for the state. He will attend the United States Naval Academy and major in Naval architecture/ Marine engineering.