Soaring beyond the nest: Amazing athletes perform well

Kyle Russell, SSC Editor

The Hawks Nest has a great athletics program that is very successful, So what happens to those star athletes who continue to play their sports after high school is over?

Becca Rinaca, senior at Salisbury University, continued her field hockey career there. “I definitely have had a lot of accomplishments since high school. Athlete related, my greatest accomplishment was being honored as an All-American field hockey player and helping lead my team to the NCAA final four tournament 3 of my 4 years at Salisbury.”

Rinaca admits “my experience has definitely been better than I expected. I have made friends that will last a lifetime and will always remember my years at Salisbury with my SUFH (Salisbury University Field Hockey) team!” The field hockey player continued to say “one thing that I didn’t expect to happen would have to be becoming so close to all of my coaches and teammates.”

The field hockey player says that her biggest struggle has been “balancing school and hockey was really just the time consumption. Field hockey practice was roughly four hours a day, sometimes a little bit more, and on pregame days, a little less. This takes a huge amount of time away from studying, which makes you great with time management skills!! In a normal day, you go to classes, study and do homework between classes, before practice and after practice.”

Her Home away from home, Rinaca admits “my coach looks after all of her girls like we are her own children. And I have made best friends who feel like they are sisters. Playing field hockey at a more competitive level, at Salisbury university has been the best decision that I’ve ever made!”

Another student athlete Molly Clark graduated from North Harford in 2015, is currently playing lacrosse and running cross country for Harford Community College and next year she will continue her lax journey at Flagler College. Clark says, “my biggest accomplishment would be that I helped HCC come in second place for regionals in cross country this past fall.”

As an athlete Clark says that her experience is much better than she expected, “I didn’t think that I could handle school, work, and a sport but I have made so many new friends and made so many memories already that I will have forever.”
Penn State athlete Scott Angstadt went from playing baseball for the Hawks to batting for the Lions. Angstadts’ biggest accomplishment thus far in his college career is “becoming captain for the Penn State Harrisburg baseball team as a sophomore” and his goal for the season is to “be the best hitter I can be but the overall goal is to win the CAC conference and overcome the adversity we had faced as a team.”

Angstadt reveals that his experience has been great so far. He says, “It definitely is a life changer and a great experience going out of the comfort zone that I was surrounded by for years, to seeing the real world and having to adapt on my own.”

Lastly is a graduate from both North Harford High School and Penn State, Haley Ford. She played lacrosse, and says that the biggest challenge that she faced with doing a sport in college was time management. Ford says, “We would have classes in the morning, then practice from 2:45-4:30/5, if you had to get taped or anything you had to show up an hour early, after practice you had an hour lift and then film.” Ford continued, “You had study hall, trying to find time to eat and do homework. And in season you were missing classes once or twice a week. It was just a crazy schedule to get used to. Being able to master that time management piece has definitely helped me post college.”

Ford said that it had been her dream to play Division I since she was five years old. Which is one of the factors that led to her success. Ford said her biggest achievement was “In 2015 the BIG TEN  added lacrosse to its conference which is one of the most iconic conferences in sports. We went on that year to win the BIG TEN championship over Maryland, northwestern, Michigan, Ohio state, and were the first ever BIG TEN women’s lacrosse champions. I will never ever forget that feeling.”
The alum says, “I had a career that was full of ups and downs but my injuries are what made my experience at Penn State, I learned more about myself then I ever did in 18 years of playing sports. I was a better all around person, friend, and teammate. I learned to enjoy the journey no matter what position I was playing, on the field or off.”
Ford graduated from the Nest in 2011 and is now back coaching basketball and lacrosse, and next year she will be coaching soccer as well.