Seniors at Woodland play a wide variety of sports, some have played since childhood, some only started as freshmen. No matter when they began playing the sport, each sport shaped them into the athlete and student they are today.

A small percentage of the 2023 senior class is looking to play sports in college and an even smaller percentage is willing to go to the top level, Division 1.

Maura Beltrami (Merrimack College)

Maura Beltrami, an avid swimmer since age nine, hopes to further her career at Merrimack college.

“I was offered three official visits. The first [college visit] I went on was Merrimack and when I went there I immediately knew it was home,” Beltrami said.

After Beltrami’s visit she had a meeting with the coach where she was offered her first athletic scholarship. Beltrami plans to swim the 200 butterfly, the 100 butterfly, and the 200 individual medley at this college level.

Division 1 sports are very demanding, as you have to be able to balance your schedule with school and practices. At Beltrami’s club team, she practices Monday through Saturday, mornings and afternoons. Beltrami knew her hard work at her club team would help her at the college level. To continue her academic experience, Beltrami will be majoring in nursing.

“Everybody told me that I could never do it because nursing is gonna be so hard. I wanted to prove them wrong.” Beltrami said.

Sarah Cooley (Fordham University)

Sarah Cooley, a Track and Field athlete, is going to play at Fordham University.

Cooley is excited to continue her track career as a freshman in college. Cooley started track and field as a sophomore and just wasn’t ready to stop.

“I wanted to keep going because I feel like I could do better each year,” said Cooley. “I feel like I haven’t reached my full potential as a track athlete.”

Cooley’s main event is throwing. At Fordham, she will throw discus, shot put, and javelin.

She never really had a top choice, Cooley explored many universities, and landed on Fordham. Cooley got an official offer this April for track and field. While at Fordham she plans to major in journalism.

“I’m still not sure if I want to do journalism,” Cooley said. “I figured it’s better to go into college with an idea rather than no idea.”

Paige Letourneau (Long Island University)

The next athlete is Paige Letourneau who will play forward at Long Island University. She grew up around the sport and she was excited to meet new people.

“I thought it would be a cool way to get introduced to a group, so I don’t go into college not knowing anybody,” Letourneau said.

After an official visit to the campus in June, she attended an ID camp in July (a place where athletes looking to go to the collegiate level can get challenged and play against other players. Also a lot of college coaches are at these and are scouting,) where she was offered an official offer.

As for academics, her major is very inspired by a real life event. In the fall, Letourneau suffered a leg injury and she had to go through a lot of physical therapy and training to get back to full strength. As a result, she is majoring in health science in order to pursue physical therapy.

“I personally went through a sports injury that many people don’t come back from,” Letourneau said. “It exposed me to the idea that PT is really a support system, they help give you back the hope of returning to your sport or even just to your daily tasks.”

Samantha Sosnovich (Merrimack College)

Samantha Sosnovich, shortstop for softball, will be playing softball at Merrimack college. Sosnovich started playing softball at age 5 and in May of 2022 she committed to play college softball.

“I loved the school,” Sosnovich said. “It had what I wanted to major in so it was really a no brainer.”

When touring the school, she really enjoyed it and knew that this was where she wanted to spend her next four years, majoring in criminal justice with a minor in criminology forensics, psychology and playing softball.

She has always had a very strong connection with the sport. Both of her parents played baseball and softball, so she was very familiar with the sport.

“I played softball my entire life,” Sosnovich said. “I always knew I wanted to play at the college level.”

All of these athletes are very successful and are excited to continue their academic and athletic journey’s at their different colleges and universities.