Four more Emmaus athletes signed letters of intent to colleges at a ceremony held last week at the high school.

Cheerleader Erica Ferrizzi (Lindenwood College), pole vaulter Kate Lynch (West Chester University), volleyball player Patrick Bryan (St. Francis University) and swimmer Tori Bingham (Shippensburg University) all announced their college athletic intentions at the event.

Including the 11 Hornets that signed at a ceremony in February, Emmaus is sending 15 scholarship athletes to colleges next fall. They earned an estimated $2.5 million in scholarship funds and have a combined grade point average of 3.35.

Ferrizzi, who began her cheerleading career at three years old, said cheerleading scholarships aren't easy to come by because her sport is not NCAA sanctioned.

That was one of the reasons she chose Lindenwood University's Bellleville, Illionois, campus after considering IUP and West Virginia.

"I didn't really want to stay close to home," she said. "I wanted to venture out. Lindenwood actually gave me my cheerleader scholarship because they're NAIA."

Ferrizzi cheered for Emmaus in middle school and her first two years of high school. She also began all-star cheerleading at the Force Sports Performance Academy in sixth grade and continued through high school. She has been all over the east coast competing at the highest level of cheerleading.

"Last year we went to worlds so we literally compete against teams from around the world," Ferrizzi said.

She hopes to continue that at Lindewood, where the Lynx are one of the top teams in the nation.

"We're going to have an all-girl team and a co-ed team," she said. "I'm hoping to make the coed team, probably as a flyer because I'm small. But I've always been a base, so it's going to different.

"We go to NCAA College Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida, and we'll be on TV so I hope we do well with that."

Lynch, who just learned her sport a couple years ago, considered Mount St. Mary's before deciding on West Chester.

"Mount St. Mary's is a really small school," she said. "West Chester is bigger and the kinesiology program is better at West Chester."

Lynch competed in gymnastics for 13 years before deciding she wanted to find another sport. She used Google to find out what other sports would be good for former gymnasts.

"It was either diving or pole vaulting," she said.

She quickly joined the Vertical Assault Pole Vautling Club in Bath, where many district and state medalists have trained. Like most gymnasts, it didn't take her long to get acclimated to her new discipline.

"It was my first practice," said Lynch. "My coach said 'you're doing these drills pretty well. I want to see what you've got.' And he put me on the runway."

In her first high school season she set a goal of 10 feet. She reached it at her first outdoor meet and ended her season clearing 10-6 consistently, which helped her earn third place at districts.

Before last week's East Penn Conference Championship Meet, her best jump this season was 11-3. She hopes to move on from this week's District 11 Championships to the state meet in Shippensburg. She is also hoping to break the school record of 11-7.

"Right now I'm really happy with the 11-3, but 11-7 is the goal," she said.

Bryan is also somewhat new to his sport. He was part of Emmaus' golf and basketball teams as a freshman, but decided during his sophomore year to give up basketball for volleyball.

Three years later he sat in front of friends, classmates and family and signed a letter of intent to play Division I volleyball.

He chose St. Francis over Kean University and Juniata in part because he was interested in their petroleum engineering program.

"I went to St. Francis and I visited and got to meet with a couple people on the team," said Bryan, who was recently named the EPC Most Valuable Player for 2015. "I liked the guys on the team a lot and St. Francis had a major that I like."

The 6-foot-5 Bryan is excited to keep his volleyball career going and see where it takes him. He hopes to work his way into a key role on the team, just like he had at Emmaus. But he also knows it will take some work to adjust to the level of play he'll see in college.

"The first year there I'm looking forward to getting in the gym and getting bigger, faster, stronger," he said.

His Emmaus team began postseason play Monday with the EPC semifinals. He's hoping to repeat the success of his first season, when Emmaus won the district tournament and finished in the top five in the state. The Hornets will most likely have to knock off rival Parkland to do that.

Bingham is familiar with the rivalry against Parkland. As a four-year contributor to Emmaus' swim team, she swam at four district championship meets.

She chose Shippensburg because the team atmosphere was similar to the one she has with her Emmaus team.

"It seemed like a place that I would fit in and have fun at," she said. "When I went to visit Shippensburg the team reminded me a lot of the team I am on now."

Bingham is a backstroker and individual medley swimmer. She placed all four years at districts and this year was part of a medley relay team that swam in states.