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In her own mind, there was never a doubt her heart would win out over her aching hip.
For everyone else, there was plenty of uncertainty.
But Grace Angelella ultimately overcame a severe case of hip dysplasia which robbed her of nearly two full field hockey seasons at Wyoming Area High School. On Wednesday, she officially joined Lafayette College when the national letter of intent early signing period opened for select sports.
“I was very happy,” Angelella said. “I had some doubt when I first had my surgery. But I really put my heart into it.”
She was among a handful of Wyoming Valley Conference athletes who finalized their plans Wednesday to play for Division I college programs.
Among them were playmaking Emilie Wanko, Angelella’s Wyoming Area teammate, who is heading to Old Dominion; Lake-Lehman’s star field hockey midfielder Taylor Alba, who signed with Temple; Honesdale speedster Clayre Smith, who will head to Penn State; Wyoming Valley West baseball slugger Justin Vought, who made it official with Maryland; and Lake-Lehman track and field state medalist Emily Johns, who is heading to Harvard.
Fresh off scoring the winning goal in Tuesday’s Class 2A field hockey state playoff opener, Crestwood’s Jordan Olenginski is also soon expected to sign a national letter of intent with St. Joseph’s. And Lehman field hockey players Sarah Sabaluski (Louisville) and Lilli Stepanski (St. Francis, Pa.), are planning to sign with their respective colleges Monday — after the Black Knights play in the Class A state quarterfinals Saturday.
For Alba, the proximity of Temple, located in Philadelphia, was too perfect to pass up.
“She didn’t want to be real far away from her family,” Lake-Lehman coach Jean Lipski said. “I think Temple’s a nice place. I think they’re an up-and-coming team. It’s the kind of place Taylor can go and immediately fit in and make and impact on their team.
“She’s a beautiful player, she has vision, understands the game. She’s a terrific player to coach. Many coaches recognize that.”
It didn’t take Wanko long to recognized where she wanted to go.
Old Dominion is a traditional power which recently joined the Big East and has a reputation for turning out All-Americans.
“When I went down, I knew I wanted to go there because of the coaches and atmosphere of the team,” Wanko said. “I felt like I was a part of it. I think I set up a lot of assists. One thing to work on is (taking) more individual shots and defensive stops.”
Old Dominion will get a spirited midfielder in the daughter of Frank and Jamie Wanko of West Pittston, who finished second in the Wyoming Valley Conference with 11 assists and was one of the conference’s top-12 point producers with 19 points.
“If Emily has a good game, a good series, everybody kind of feeds off that,” Wyoming Area coach Chris Comiskey said. “She feeds the team, too.”
Angelella was simply hungry to get back on the field.
Her desire to do that never dwindled, even when Angelella missed her sophomore season and returned briefly as a junior last year after undergoing surgery to correct a misalignment of her hip joint that caused it to keep popping out. But she returned to play one full, final season with the Warriors, accumulating eight points with three goals and a pair of assists.
“This was my first season back,” the daughter of Ernie and Mary Louise Angelella, of Harding, said. “I was really happy with the way I played. When I’m playing, I can’t even tell I had it (the surgery).”
Comiskey said he was certain Angelella would return to full strength after her injury healed, but admitted, “It might have been wishful thinking. But I saw how hard she was working. She never quits. Last year, she came back (for) a little bit and she didn’t have that first step. This year, she kind of got that going.”
Now, Angelella hopes to step right in at Lafayette.
“My first visit there was in 10th grade,” Angelella said. “First time I stepped on the campus, I knew it was for me. I really want to make an impact my freshman year.”
It’s the second straight year Wyoming Area’s improving field hockey program is sending a pair of players to Division I squads, after Bree Bednarski headed off to Michigan and Grace Gober went to Temple to play after graduating this past spring.
“I think the program’s getting some recognition,” Comiskey said.
In baseball, Vought’s been turning heads at Valley West for a few years.
The hard-hitting catcher hit .439 in the regular season as a junior and has been a mainstay in the middle of the batting order for two Spartans teams that went to the PIAA Class 4A finals and quarterfinals during the past two years. He also spent part of this past summer playing in the national showcase Area Code Games in California while preparing for his final high school baseball season at Valley West in 2017.
“Justin’s an extremely talented kid,” Spartans coach John Milius said. “He’s a hard worker. He knows the game. He works at it. I think (Maryland) is a good fit for him, it’s Division I baseball. He’s going to get recognition, going to get a lot of looks and he has what it takes to get to the next level.”
Johns took it to record levels at Lehman, setting a new school mark for shot put distance as a sophomore while recording the state’s longest discus throw of 2014 with a mark of 148-6. She earned a fourth-place PIAA medal in discus that season.
A a two-time District 2 champion in both discus and shot put, Johns didn’t compete in either event as a junior, as she suffered a foot injury this past spring. But she will be gearing up for her final season before joining Harvard’s throwing team.
“Harvard is an outstanding choice,” said Lake-Lehman coach John Sobocinski, noting Johns made her decision after weighing a handful of offers. “Obviously, Emily is very athletically gifted. But the top priority for her was to go to the place that suited her needs best.”
