Mt. Ararat celebrates 10 seniors headed to college athletics

Ten Mt. Ararat High School seniors turned a Monday evening gym ceremony into a clear snapshot of how far the school’s athletic pipeline now reaches. In the Mt. Ararat High School gym at 68 Eagles Way in Topsham, the school celebrated athletes who will carry their sports careers into college after graduation.

The group reflected the breadth of the program. Julianna Allen is headed to the University of New England for basketball. Emma Berry will compete in track and field at Wheaton College. Jesse Bowker signed to play baseball at Husson University, while Noah Duncan will play football at the University of New England. Ashby Hayward is bound for St. Lawrence University for track and field. Eligh Imrie will play baseball at St. Joseph’s College, and Jaelyn Jensen and Jenna Jensen are both headed to St. Joseph’s College for basketball. Aidan Ramsay will play football at Husson University, and Kai Stockford will continue his hockey career at Central Maine Community College.

The ceremony carried a broader message for Topsham and the surrounding Sagadahoc County community: Mt. Ararat athletics is not just producing good seasons, it is building pathways. For families, classmates and coaches, the signing day offered a public marker of years of practices, travel, injuries, conditioning and academic work that led these seniors to college rosters. It also underscored how school sports can function as one of the strongest bridges between local education and postsecondary opportunity.

That bridge is visible across the Mt. Ararat campus. Topsham Public Schools describes an approximately 3.5-mile trail network on the school grounds that is used primarily by the cross-country team, part of an athletics footprint that extends well beyond game fields and the gym. The current high school building opened in 2020 after the old school was demolished to make way for a track and competition athletic field, another sign of long-term investment in athletics as part of the school’s identity.

Mt. Ararat’s celebration also fit a pattern now taking shape in Midcoast Maine. Brunswick High held a similar signing day on May 28, honoring 12 seniors headed to college athletics. Together, the ceremonies show how local schools are using spring signings to publicly recognize student-athletes whose commitments reach well beyond Topsham and Brunswick, and into the next level of competition.