For nine Highland Park athletes, dreams were achieved Wednesday as they put pen to paper to finalize their collegiate intentions on National Signing Day.
This year’s signing class features athletes from four different sports, including four football and three baseball players in addition to athletes in volleyball and boys basketball.
The lone Lady Scot ready to compete at the next level is Lydia Fisher, who has signed to play volleyball at Gonzaga University.
Fisher is bound for Spokane, Washington, following one year at Highland Park in which she helped lead the Lady Scots to the Class 5A state title.
A first-team all-district performer, Fisher believes moving from Georgia to Texas prior to her senior high school season will help ease the transition to the collegiate ranks.
“Being able to connect with new girls right away and immediately start playing with them is going to be a direct similarity to what’s going to happen at college,” Fisher said. “My teammates were so welcoming here and we had an unbelievable season and I’m hoping that’s exactly what happens at Gonzaga, too.
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“Ultimately, I committed (to Gonzaga) the day I got back home from my visit. I knew pretty instantly that’s where I wanted to be.”
Head volleyball coach Michael Dearman, however, wishes he had more than just one season with Fisher on the court.
“We haven’t even known her that long, but she obviously made a big impact for us from the moment she got here and earned the respect of her teammates and coaches quickly,” he said. “On the court, she’s a talented and gifted athlete. She played multiple positions she hadn’t played before because of injuries we had and she was outstanding and very willing at that. My only regret about everything is that she’s a senior and we don’t have her anymore.”
In Spokane, Fisher plans to study communications or sports management.
“It seems to change by the day,” Fisher joked. “But I think I finally have it narrowed down to those areas.”
While Fisher will be heading west, football player Thomas Cook is going east to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
The rest of his football teammates, however, will remain in Texas with Tripp Townsend signing with the University of Texas-El Paso and both Case Messer and Jack Swaldi signing with Southwestern University in Georgetown.
“I liked that Southwestern is close to home and I have a lot of friends in Austin,” Messer said. “I visited a couple of other schools and I thought about walking on at a Division I program, but in the end I decided to go with Southwestern because I love the coaches and I love the campus. It’s beautiful and like I said, it’s also still close to home.”
Messer is also confident he will be back to full strength prior to his arrival in Georgetown after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the fall.
“I’ll be 100 percent by the summer and hopefully I’ll get some playing time when I get out there next year,” Messer said. “I know I won’t be a starter, but I’d like to be a solid contributor. I have to get my knee better, though, and get back to working out and putting on some weight.”
Like Cook, basketball player Will Saunders has also signed with Washington and Lee, while on the baseball diamond Isaac Hutchinson is heading to Murray State (Murray, Kentucky) with Tripp Mattison and Adam Richey inking with Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania) and Paris Junior College (Paris, Texas), respectively.
“From the start, [Murray State] coach (Dan Skirka) really believed in me,” Hutchinson said. “And they made a great run to Omaha to the College World Series last year, so I feel like they have a lot of great momentum going. They’re also re-doing the field and making a lot of upgrades to the facilities. I’m just really excited for what’s ahead. It’s a great program and coaching staff and they just really believe in me.”
But unlike their fellow HP signees, Hutchinson and his baseball teammates still have work to do prior to graduation and heading to college.
“It’s always nice when you know what’s in store and you have a plan,” he said. “I’m blessed to know where I’m going so early. It’s very relieving to just be able to focus on the season and I think we’re going to have a pretty good team. We have a lot of young guys ready to step up and a lot of dogs and we’re hoping for a deep run through the playoffs.”
Highland Park 2026 Signees
Lydia Fisher, Volleyball, Gonzaga
Isaac Hutchinson, Baseball, Murray State
Tripp Mattison, Baseball, Swarthmore College
Adam Richey, Baseball, Paris Junior College
Thomas Cook, Football, Washington and Lee
Tripp Townsend, Football, Texas-El Paso
Case Messer, Football, Southwestern
Jack Swaldi, Football, Southwestern
Will Saunders, Boys Basketball, Washington and Lee
