Six NR athletes pick colleges

Six New Richmond athletes have picked their colleges where they hope to continue their athletic careers.

New Richmond High School athletes (seated from left) Veronica Burnam (Wilmington College), Marty Mahaffey (Campbellsville), Kallie Long (Northern Kentucky University), (standing from left) Austin Warden (Miami University), Garrett Myers (Campbellsville) and Zach Ritter (Mt. St. Joseph) plan to continue their athletic careers in college.

Football players Marty Mahaffey and Garrett Myers will be attending Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Ky. where they hope to be teammates for the Tigers who compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

In baseball, pitcher Austin Warden in headed to Miami University where he has been given preferred walk-on status while his catcher, Zach Ritter, will attend the College of Mt. St. Joseph.

Track and cross country runner Veronica Burnam has picked Wilmington College and four-year softball starter Kallie Long will attend Northern Kentucky University.

Mahaffey is looking at business administration as his major while Myers has chosen criminal justice.

“Campbellsville coaches plan to put me at outside linebacker and I will redshirt my freshman year,” said Mahaffey. “I hope to play special teams or get on the field in some other capacity my sophomore.”

“We’ve talked about me playing defensive back and possibly a little at tailback,” said Myers, who played quarterback, tailback, corner back and safety for the Lions.

Warden, a four-year baseball starter for New Richmond, will be following in the footsteps of his father, Chuck Warden, who was a scholarship pitcher at Miami.

“Miami is losing two lefthanders and they have signed one and are looking to pick up another one so I’m getting a preferred look this fall as a walk-on,” said Warden, who is planning on a science major at Miami with future plans to attend chiropractor school.

Ritter, who plans to major in athletic training at Mt. St. Joseph, was also looking at playing soccer in college until this spring.

“I decided I was going to base my decision on how I did in baseball and after this season I feel I have the potential to play college baseball,” said Ritter.

Burnam also plans to major in athletic training and picked Wilmington over Northern Kentucky and Shawnee State. She will run both cross country and track for the Quakers.

“Wilmington’s a small community and I really liked their athletic training program,” said Burnam.
Long, who pitched and played the outfield for the Lady Lions, plans to major in elementary education at NKU.

“I had an offer from Ohio Valley University in West Virginia but NKU is where my heart was,” said Long.