WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Katherine Swann has been a force on the cross country course at Mount Greylock Regional School for years.

 

And she has a chance to be one for years to come.

 

On Thursday, Swann joined five of her senior classmates in the school's auditorium to celebrate their plans to participate in intercollegiate athletics next year.

 

In Swann's case, that means running cross country at Williams College, which uses the well regarded course at Mount Greylock to host meets.

 

"It's amazing," she said after Thursday morning's ceremony in the school's auditorium. "It's a lovely course, too, so I'm excited to continue racing there."

 

Swann signed what the NCAA calls a "celebratory" letter, which the national governing body created in 2015 to allow high school seniors bound for Division III programs to have a similar experience to that of those signing the better known National Letter of Intent for DI college programs.

 

Derek Paris signed his NLOI to attend and play baseball at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County in November. But Mount Greylock Athletic Director Lindsey von Holtz said UMBC coach Liam Bowen helped create a document that Paris could sign on Thursday in order to join his fellow Mounties on stage.

 

In addition to Swann and Paris, Thursday's ceremony included track's Jack Catelotti (Rensselaer, N.Y., Polytechnic Institute), cross country's Parker Winters (Framingham State) and baseball's Jack Cangelosi (UMass Boston) and Anthony Welch (Massachusetts Maritime Academy).

 

Von Holtz noted that the national average for high school student-athletes going to the "next level" is about 6 percent, and the six seniors on Mount Greylock's stage represented 8 percent of the 72-student senior class.

 

To have three seniors from the baseball team alone was noteworthy.

 

"I think it says a lot about our coaching," Welch said. "Coach [Rick] Paris has been coaching us, off and on, for years now. I think the program, not only the high school program but the little league program – Cal Ripken in Lanesborough and Williamstown – it's a great little corner of Massachusetts here for baseball.

 

"I think it says we have great coaching and great work ethics."

 

The elder Paris reflected the praise back on the student-athletes themselves.

 

"Their dedication to the team itself this year and their dedication to the sport of baseball, it just goes to show they love the game," he said. "That's what we try to preach: If you love the game, you'll have the passion to go on and do the things it takes to win. And they do what it takes to move forward. They want to continue on.

 

"Hats off to them and their teammates. They make it fun."

 

Winters spoke about the support of his teammates in helping to drive him to participate in interscholastic sports in every season he could at the school – one of just three graduating seniors who can say that (Catelotti is another).

 

"It means a lot," Winters said of competing for Mount Greylock in cross country running, Nordic skiing and track and field every chance he could at the school.

 

"It was a journey. I came from Pittsfield [as a school choice participant], and the only reason I joined these teams was because I came to Mount Greylock. I wouldn't have had this opportunity before. Just this opportunity to go out and compete, to find a family through each team and have the coaches to be someone I really looked up to through the five years I've done the three sports is fantastic."

 

During Thursday's ceremony, attended by the student-athletes' teammates, friends and families, von Holtz read brief testimonials about each of the college-bound seniors from their high school coaches.

 

"Jack [Catelotti] has always had a love for athletics, and in particular track and field," coach Brian Gill wrote. "After he and his friends won the middle school state championship, he was hooked.

 

"While Jack has progressed as an athlete and become one of the best track athletes in the county, it has been his dedication, leadership and passion for the sport and team that has truly set him apart. Jack will make any team he is part of better simply by his presence."

 

Cross country and track coach Hilary Greene said of Swann that she "practices each day with intensity and intentionality but also with a big smile on her face."

 

In the fall, Swann will bring that intensity to Williams, running for a program that has won three NCAA Division III titles this century under U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach Peter Farwell, who will hang up his whistle after the 2022 season.

 

"I didn't really know [Farwell] very well," Swann said. "I know [Williams women's track and field coach] Nate Hoey because he's [Mount Greylock teammate] Chase Hoey's dad.

 

"I just knew [Farwell] was an amazing coach even though I hadn't talked to him a lot before. I knew I would be in great hands. There was a [Williams] cross country race on our course, and I watched, and all around I heard people talking about his great coaching and how he prepares athletes really well. So I was like, 'OK, this is great.' "