West Lauderdale senior Anna Claire Nance signed with Mississippi College to continue her soccer career.

Wednesday at West Lauderdale was supposed to feature a signing ceremony for seniors Anna Claire Nance, Emma Claire James and JJ Rowcliff.

With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, though, school campuses are shut down, and no signing ceremony took place. Instead, the three announced their intentions from home: Nance signed with Mississippi College for soccer, James inked with Charleston Southern for track and cross country and Rowcliff will sign with Belhaven for football.

Nance said Mississippi College made her feel at home when she visited, which made the decision to sign there easy.

“When I first went there I liked how everyone was so welcoming,” Nance said. “The admissions (people), even the team, they all just made me feel like family.”

The Lady Knights concluded their season in early February with an MHSAA Class 4A state title before the pandemic forced schools to close, and Nance said getting to finish her senior season is an even bigger deal now with spring sports getting canceled before their seasons conclude.

“I’m extremely grateful,” Nance said. “It was really nice getting to play with my teammates one last time. I feel really bad for those who didn’t get to finish.”

Having the chance to continue her soccer career gives Nance a feeling of accomplishment after countless hours of practice and games.

“I had a lot of teammates and family who supported me, so that made it easier,” Nance said. “It’s very rewarding to know I can play at the next level.”

James said she liked the team, coaches and atmosphere at Charleston Southern.

“The campus is really safe, too, which is a big thing for me since I’ll be moving farther away from home,” James explained.

With the pandemic forcing schools to close, James said she currently has more free time on her hands, and she said the experience has been bizarre.

“I can still run and stuff, so that’s nice,” James said. “It’s surreal because we thought spring break would be just a week but we ended up not going back. It doesn’t feel right. I haven’t processed the fact that we’re not going to have prom or graduation yet.”

James also said she’s grateful not just to continue her track and cross country careers but also for being able to elevate her skills by going against collegiate athletes.

“I’m really excited to not just run and compete against people at the college level, but to train with them, too,” James said.

Rowcliff said he liked how Belhaven’s coaches were super-involved with their players, and head coach Blaine McCorkle told Rowcliff the team and campus is continuing to grow.

“They’re constantly rebuilding stuff, and they’re getting a new workout facility when I’ll be there in the fall,” Rowcliff said.

Getting to play a college sport is a dream, Rowcliff said, one for which he’s grateful to fulfill.

“I’ve been working my tail off for I don’t know how many years to get to this point, so to be able to do that is truly a blessing,” Rowcliff said.

At the same time, it’s a bittersweet feeling for Rowcliff, as he and the rest of the Knights’ baseball players had their season cut short due to the pandemic.

“I think we had a chance to win state (in baseball),” Rowcliff said. “We went down to Biloxi and beat a couple of very good 6A teams, and those were actually the last games we played. We were feeling really good, and then they canceled the season. It’s been tough certainly. I felt like we had a really good shot, especially with such a good senior class.”