A handful of local athletes recently signed letters of intent to continue their athletic career at the collegiate level beginning in the 2017-18 school year.

Carbon High School’s Lindsey Blanc has signed to play basketball for the USU Eastern Eagles. Taylor Passarella will also continue at USU Eastern as a member of the softball program. Veronica Ibanez will move on to Arkansas to swim for Hendrix College, and Joey Penovich will next play golf at Lamar Community College in Colorado. Emery track star Erin Hurst has also signed to compete at Dixie State.

Blanc, who was selected to the 3A All-State girl’s basketball team in February, will join fellow Carbon alum Jordan Scoggins at USU Eastern. A key contributor for the Lady Dinos out of the backcourt, Blanc averaged 14 points, four rebounds, three steals and three assists per contest. The consistency from Blanc helped Carbon reach the semifinals for the third consecutive year.

Ibanez will continue her swimming career at Division III Hendrix following a very successful senior campaign. Ibanez earned two first place individual finishes at the regional meet in the 500 yard freestyle and the 100 yard butterfly during her senior season. Leading Carbon to the state tournament, Ibanez also joined three others in breaking the school record in the 200 yard medley relay at the same event.

Passarella became the first Carbon student-athlete to join the USU Eastern softball program when she signed a national letter of intent at the beginning of the year. Playing third base throughout her sophomore and junior seasons, Passarella tied for the team lead in home runs in 2016.

After helping the Dinos to back-to-back top five finishes in the state tournament, Penovich will look to continue his success on the course at the junior college level. Apart of a region championship squad in 2016, Penovich finished with a 159 in two rounds at the state tournament in Soldier Hollow.

Four consecutive top five finishes at the state cross country championship has landed Emery’s Hurst an opportunity to run for Dixie State. Outside of the success in cross country, Hurst recorded the lone first place finish for the Lady Spartans at the 2017 state meet in the 3200 meters.