With the 2021-22 Lane sports seasons coming to a close, many senior athletes say goodbye to their fellow teammates and look towards the next step in their sports careers, beyond Lane’s fields, pools and gyms. 

This year, Lane has 28 senior athletes who will be going on to play at the collegiate level next year in a range of different sports, including competitive dance, bowling and rowing. 

To celebrate their accomplishment, on June 1, these 28 athletes gathered together in the College and Career Center to take photographs informally signing with their future schools (official college commitments have already been made).

Nicholas LoGalbo, Lane’s Athletic Director and the organizer of the event, started off the signing with a presentation acknowledging the time and dedication the athletes had put into getting to this point, and emphasized that they would still represent Lane and Chicago, even as they moved on to another school. 

“We think it’s really important to honor those athletes for all their sacrifices and remind them the importance of representing us when they leave here.”  LoGalbo said after the event. 

LoGalbo also mentioned that sports teach students the importance of discipline and routine, and that although it’s easy to slip out of that mindset during college, it’s important to maintain that structure within your life.  

“Now they’re going to get the chance to go on and start this new chapter of their lives, and hopefully they’ve taken some things with them from here that’s going to set them up for success in the future,” LoGalbo said. 

Francisco Roman is committed to Tulane University as a walk-on athlete for track and field. He has played football at Lane since his freshman year and has competed in track and field since his junior year.

“I feel like having to balance the workload [of school] with the rigor of being an athlete has prepared me well,” Roman said. 

Roman said his advice to rising senior athletes is to “stay in tune with school work.”

“You have to get into the school first — that’s the most important thing. You can be as great an athlete as you want, but if you’re not eligible to get into the school then you can’t compete there,” Roman said. 

Lane also has multiple rowers going on to compete at the collegiate level, including Andrea Djuric and Madeline Lach, who are committed to UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

“I’ve been rowing for 3 years, and I really love the discipline that it’s brought for me, both physically and mentally and I found that it really helped me manage my time well,” Djuric said. 

In addition, Lach has advised rising senior athletes to stay organized next year and to pace themselves with college admissions.

“Just take it day by day because it can get to be a lot really quickly, but it’s definitely worth the process,” Lach said. 

 Before students took photos at the end of the event, LoGalbo told an emotional story about a Lane alum who had graduated in the 1950s. The alum had reached out to LoGalbo about giving his old school letterman jacket back to Lane and flew from Florida to Chicago just to pass it on. LoGalbo recounted how when meeting this alum, the passion in the alum’s voice as he spoke about his time at Lane reminded him just how important Lane’s legacy is.

“I love this place and it changed my life,” LoGalbo said to the audience. “Take its legacy with you.”   

Donnell Adams–Eastern Illinois University 

Katie Burns-University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 

Andrea Djuric-University of California-Los Angeles 

Jack Goldstein-Brandeis  University 

Jack Klein-Miami University  

Emily Koziol-Ohio State University

Lexani Melecio-Roosevelt University 

Sean Molloy-North Central College 

Scout Murray-Ohio University

Claudia Poehlman-Smith College 

Logan Roeder-University of Michigan 

Samantha Schuberth-Temple University

Noah Verbrick-Macalester College

Maddie Zehr-Miami University 

Lucciano Basile-Carthage College

Liam Dooley-Princeton University 

Daniel Esguerra–St. Xavier University 

Maeve Heneghan–Yale University 

Bella Korellis–University of Southern California 

Nick Lagges–Washington & Lee University 

Tessa Mitchell- Carthage College

Gisele Moreno–Alverno College

Lily Pember- University of California-Berkeley

Jocelyn Ramirez-Dominican University 

Francisco Roman-Tulane University

Dale Sink–Oberlin College

Liam White-Yale University

Madeline Lach-University of Pennsylvania