Fall Signing Ceremony

Ten student-athletes in four sports from Jesuit High School's Class of 2022 signed with the college of their choice Wednesday (Nov. 10) at an early morning signing ceremony with family, friends, and coaches in the Tiger Palace at Jesuit.

Jesuit president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. and athletic director Terry Rupp '84 first addressed the signees, encouraging them to complete their senior year with excellence and then take what they've learned at Jesuit with them to college, living their lives as 'Men for Others.'

The 10 seniors who signed Wednesday are:

WRESTLING
Braden Basile – Army West Point
Jack Crook – Harvard
Tom Crook – Virginia Tech

SOCCER
Baylen Young – Davidson

LACROSSE
Antonin Hoppmann-Salario – Haverford College

BASEBALL
Jamie Arnold – Florida State
Ryan Denison – Florida State
Macklin Miller – Santa Fe College
A.J. Nessler – Pittsburgh
Preston Shembekar – Univ. of Tampa

The three wrestling signees comprise the largest and most accomplished class of wrestling signees ever at Jesuit. The trio of Basile and the Crook twins has combined for six individual State titles with one more prep wrestling season to go. They also led Jesuit to the 2020 State Duals Championship, the first State crown for a Jesuit wrestling team.

Basile joins an Army wrestling program that has compiled a 27-14 record with 25 NCAA qualifiers over the past four years. Jack Crook joins a Harvard wrestling program that produced two NCAA All-Americans in 2020. Tom Crook, a three-time State Champion who is undefeated in high school competition, joins an elite Virginia Tech program that is perennially Top 15 at the NCAA Tournament with multiple All-Americans each year.

Young has been a stalwart in the midfield for Jesuit soccer the past two seasons, helping the Tigers to the State title in 2020 and leading them back to the championship game in 2021, when Jesuit finished as State runner-up. He joins Davidson's Division I soccer program that is one of the best in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Hoppmann-Salario, a defender/midfielder who was named All-Region last season while leading Jesuit lacrosse to a 14-3 record and 3rd straight District title, will play for Haverford in suburban Philadelphia, a prestigious Division III school.

The five baseball players give Jesuit a total of 25 baseball signees over the past three seasons, with more likely to come from the Class of 2022 at subsequent signing ceremonies this school year. They have been part of a historic run of success for the program under head coach Miguel Menendez. In 2019, Jesuit baseball captured its 5th State title; in 2020, the Tigers started 9-0 and were ranked No. 1 in the nation by multiple media outlets before the season was cut short due to COVID-19; in 2021, Jesuit was ranked in the Top 10 nationally most of the season and finished 26-3.

Arnold and Denison join a long line of Jesuit pitchers to sign with FSU in recent years, including Jack Anderson '18, who, after starring for the Seminoles this spring, was drafted and is playing in the Detroit Tigers system.

Nessler, who can play multiple positions and had an .869 OPS for the Tigers last season, joins FSU's ACC rival Pitt, which was 23-20 last season. Miller a right-handed pitcher who struck out 57% of the batters he faced last season, joins a Santa Fe program that was 33-13 in 2021. Shembekar joins a storied UT program that is a perennial Division II National Championship contender. The Spartans won it all in 1998 with Rupp as their head coach and Menendez playing for them.

This is the first of four signing ceremonies at Jesuit this school year, occurring on the first day of the NCAA's fall signing period. The winter and spring signing ceremonies will take place in February and April, respectively, plus the football-only signing date on Dec. 15. Each year about 20-30 Jesuit student-athletes sign Letters of Intent to participate in college athletics.

Please view below a photo sideshow and a video from Wednesday's ceremony.