Cardington’s Brannon signs with Ashland

Cardington’s Sage Brannon recently made her college choice official as the Cardington senior signed her letter of intent to play basketball for Ashland University.

“They were the national Division II champs in 2013 and 2017,” she said. “That really drew me in and I enjoyed the coaches, campus and cafeteria.”

Brannon also was looking at Tiffin, Malone and Baldwin-Wallace, but being able to be on a team as acclaimed as Ashland proved to be important in making her decision.

While currently undecided, she is considering majoring in exercise science. On the team, she expects to be a combo guard, but isn’t sure exactly when she’ll first see action for the Eagles.

“I don’t know — it depends on how hard I’ll work when I come in,” she said.

Brannon noted that she’s looking forward to working hard, as one of her main goals as a college player is to simply improve her game.

As a member of the Cardington Pirates, Brannon earned a number of awards in multiple sports — to the degree that she was recruited in far more than basketball.

“I was getting calls for track, golf and even cross country,” she said.

Currently, she is on track to finish with 15 total varsity letters — four each in basketball, cross country and track and three in golf.

In basketball, she is currently a two-time first-team MOAC player, the MOAC Player of the Year as a sophomore, a two-time first-team all-district pick, an All-Ohio special mention and honorable mention pick and two-time team MVP.

Added to that are her awards from other teams. She’s been the cross country team MVP and is ranked 17th in program history for fastest running time. In golf, she was honorable mention all-district as a junior and second-team all-district this year, was the second girl in school history to qualify for districts and earned the Pirate Award this year. Competing in the long jump in track, she holds the school record, was the MOAC champ last year, placed second at districts and sixth at regionals.

Having experienced a lot of high school success in those sports, including back-to-back berths in the district finals, Brannon is looking forward to moving on to another program known for its basketball success.

“It feels for me to know that I come from a winning team and will move on to a winning team, it’s really exciting to move on,” she said.

Pictured above is Cardington senior Sage Brannon signing to play college basketball for Ashland University. In the front row with her are her mother, Carol, and brother, Cade. In the back row are (l-r): Scott Hardwick, Tim Maceyko, Jodi Brown, Megan King, Chuck Jones and Jamie Edwards. Edwards and Hardwick are the current high school coaches, Brown coached Brannon as a freshman, King was her AAU coach for three years and both Maceyko and Jones coached her in youth and junior high.

http://www.morrowcountysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2017/12/web1_IMG_2962-2-.jpgPictured above is Cardington senior Sage Brannon signing to play college basketball for Ashland University. In the front row with her are her mother, Carol, and brother, Cade. In the back row are (l-r): Scott Hardwick, Tim Maceyko, Jodi Brown, Megan King, Chuck Jones and Jamie Edwards. Edwards and Hardwick are the current high school coaches, Brown coached Brannon as a freshman, King was her AAU coach for three years and both Maceyko and Jones coached her in youth and junior high. Courtesy Photo