Cedars Achieving Their Dreams
BY MAHKYE CORTES — Staff Writer
On February 2nd, 3 of our Lebanon Cedars committed to play their sport after High School. Griffin Gonzalez committed to Lehigh University to pursue his wrestling career. Carlos Hildago committed to St Bonaventure University to continue his swimming career. Emanuel Mason will pursue his football career at Seton Hill University.
Griffin Gonzalez chose to continue his academic and athletic career at Lehigh University. Lehigh University is a division 1 wrestling school and is ranked 22nd in the nation. Lehigh University is also ranked 51st in the nation for their academics. Griffin wanted to wrestle at Lehigh because it “checked all his boxes.” Griffin Gonzalez has 141 career wins and he is a 4 time L-L league wrestling champion.
According to Griffin, his biggest inspiration to wrestle came from a gym teacher that believed in his athletic ability. When he is wrestling, he gets motivated from his friends and family traveling to see him wrestle. His advice for young Cedar athletes is to “always work as hard as you can and to not make excuses for yourself. Even if you have to travel to get extra work, wake up early or stay up late after practice, you should always put in the extra work.”
Carlos Hildago plans to continue his academic and athletic career at St. Bonaventure University, a division 1 school. St. Bonaventure University is also ranked 20th in academics. Carlos even stated, “There weren’t really any schools I decided against. I did have trouble getting colleges to notice me because Lebanon isn’t a swimming school.” This year, Carlos placed first in both 50 Y free and the 100 Y free in the 2023 LL League Championships.
Carlos gained inspiration when Mr. Giovino and Mr. Malafronte supported him throughout his high school career. His favorite moment in swimming was “metaling at states my junior year and breaking the league record my senior year.” His advice for young athletes is to “never stop training, make it a routine.”
Emanuel Mason will continue his academic and athletic journey at Seton Hill University to play football. Seton Hill University is a division 2 school and is ranked 54th in Regional Universities North. It wasn’t an easy decision though; he also thought about Kutztown, West Virginia, Wesleyan, and Central Connecticut. This year, Emanuel was selected to play in the Tri- County all star game being held May 26.
Emanuel draws his inspiration from his family supporting him. His favorite moments playing football were scoring 5 touchdowns against Ephrata his junior year and his first high school game. He is motivated from “All of the coaches and teachers I have had, they all have helped me in some way. Especially my Family.” His advice for future student athletes is to “work hard everyday and get 1% better everyday.”
Although these student athletes have accomplished so much, their high school careers are not yet finished. Continue to wish these Cedars luck as they finish their time here at LHS, and as they begin their collegiate journeys.
Stay tuned, as there are more athletes to commit this year.
