Emmaus High School athletics capped the 2016 school year with college with a signing ceremony in the school auditorium last Tuesday afternoon, honoring 23 student-athletes who committed to continue their academic and athletic careers.

Two athletes signed letters of intent to Division II universities and 21 pledged to Division III schools.

Ten sports were represented, including basketball, cheerleading, cross country, field hockey, football, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, track and field, and volleyball. Emmaus Athletic Director Dennis Ramella also highlighted the student-athlete’s accomplishments in the classroom and the group boasts a combined average GPA of 3.13.

Volleyball player Megan Forstburg (Shippensburg) and swimmer Cassandra Young (Seton Hall) were signed with Division II colleges.

Forstburg, a four-year starter, was named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Team and was a First-Team Eastern Pennsylvania Conference All-Star. She was the team’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player.

“I loved my time playing here,” said Forstburg. “I’m really excited about playing at Shippensburg. They just won the PSAC and they have a beautiful campus, so it just all worked out for me.”

She will be studying biology.

Young was a part of the first place 200-free relay team at districts and placed third in the 200 free. She will major in occupational therapy.

Four Emmaus athletes announced intentions to move on to Moravian College.

The Green Hornets football team, which finished with a 7-5 record and an Eastern Conference championship, sent three of its players to Moravian in fullback/linebacker Sal Pagano, and offensive/defensive linemen Brett Poling and Richard Roman.

“It was a great senior year that we were able to win a championship,” said Pagano. “It feels good knowing that I’m going to be playing in college with two teammates that I played with here at Emmaus. I’m looking forward to it.”

The boys volleyball team, which took silver in the EPC and is battling this week for a District 11 title, also has three players committed to play in college: Jacob Faust (Lancaster Bible), Zayne George (Arcadia), and Mitch Sterkenburg (Alvernia).

The undefeated and state champion field hockey team had two signees in defender Delany Ahn (Dickinson) and midfielder Carly Philbin (Catholic).

Maura Beuttel (Ithaca) and Tom Schlechter (Case Western Reserve) joined Young from the swimming program signing.

Collin Mason and Collin Tucker, members of three straight District 11 championship lacrosse teams, both signed to play at Stevenson University.

Alyssa Hilmer will join the cheerleading team at Kutztown University next year.

Joey Polczynski, a member of the basketball team that won a state tournament game against a Philadelphia powerhouse Martin Luther King, will be playing at York College next year. He averaged 10.5 points per game.

“York was one of the first schools to send me a letter, and as the process went on it was just a natural fit for me,” Polczynski said. “It was a big deal for us [to win that game against MLK]. As a senior I just tried to be a leader and take everything in and soak everything in.”

John Waring, who played on the district champion soccer team, committed to play at King’s College. The defender was a big part of the team that won districts for the first time since 2011.

“It was great because we were there a couple of times before, but to win it my senior year meant a lot,” Waring said. “I visited there a couple of times and loved the program. It helps that my sister goes there too.”

Last year’s East Penn Press female athlete of the year Katie Bacher will be running cross country and track at MIT. She was joined by fellow signees Greg Jaindl (Moravian) and Vanessa Huber (US Coast Guard Academy).