Saring, Gaywood sign letters
It was unintentional, but in some ways fitting when before Monday’s signing ceremony at Cape Coral High athletic director Bob Plageman combined the names of the two signees into one.
“Colleen” referred to the pair of seniors – Collin Saring and Christine Gaywood.
For Saring, in particular, he had a difficult time gaining the spotlight during his four years at quarterback for the Seahawks, often playing behind or with some other talented players at the same position.
It didn’t prevent him from displaying his strong work ethic and potential at quarterback and didn’t prevent him from getting a shot at the next level. Saring signed a football scholarship with Webber University.
“Collin epitomized the team player,” Seahawks coach Mike Goebbel said. “He competed very hard to be the starting quarterback and when he got the chance he won some big games for us.”
Persistence and hard work also defined much of Gaywood’s three-year basketball career. The 6-foot center/forward put her name on a letter-of-intent with Kentucky State University.
“Christine worked very hard for the three years she was with us,” Seahawks coach Olivia Myers said. “She had to put in her time.”
Saring (6-1, 187 pounds) plans to major in business administration when he gets to Webber, located in Babson Park. It’s a young football program, only in its ninth year, but Saring notices the potential.
He selected Webber over other schools like Dakota State University, Jamestown College in North Dakota and Methodist University in North Carolina.
“I liked Webber because it’s not that far away,” he said. “The coaches there liked what they saw on film and when I got there I felt at home.”
With the Seahawks, Saring waited his turn behind two Division I-caliber players in Nate Allen and David Pasquale. Allen started at quarterback in Saring’s freshman year and Pasquale started the next two years. Allen ended up at USF and Pasquale at Toledo.
Though Saring wanted to be on the field more, he thinks watching those players turned out to be a valuable experience.
“David was a great teammate and taught me a lot,” Saring said. “It made me better.”
Saring emerged as the Seahawks’ starting quarterback early last season, but split time with junior Jaylen Watkins. The two-QB system had some difficulties, as anticipated, but both players led the team to key wins on their path to the regional playoffs.
Gaywood came to the Seahawks her sophomore year after playing varsity basketball as a freshman at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego. Though Gaywood had good height and provided an inside presence, she constantly worked on her skills and it showed each year on both the offensive and defensive ends.
On a team that already had two standout players in Jardin McCarthy and Alexiss Griffin, Gaywood became another go-to option.
She scored a career-high 25 points in the Seahawks’ District 5A-15 Tournament win over Ida Baker and continued her strong play throughout their three-game run to their first ever district title.
“It felt really good to finish off that way,” Gaywood said.
Gaywood, who also participated in track for three years at Cape, plans to study business at Kentucky State, located in Frankfort, Ky.