Seniors Trey Neal and Ben Leach have both received sports signings for their upcoming college careers.

Trey Neal is a two time All-American football player and is ranked fifth in the country for long snappers. He will be heading to Auburn to study exercise science, and of course to play on the football team as a long-snapper. He was discovered two years ago at a Mizzou camp by a former Mizzou coach, who is now coaching at Auburn.

“We (his family) knew because I was so highly ranked that hopefully I’d end up somewhere, but honestly we never expected a school like Auburn, because it’s just so big,” Neal said. “We were shocked at first, but we knew it was because of all the hard work I had put in and it was paying off.”

Neal’s dedication has spanned over many years, starting with playing in kindergarten and continuing till present day, where he has attended football camps all throughout his high school career. Neal snaps and lifts seven days a week, no matter what, and he hasn’t missed a single day in three years.

Ben Leach is signed for wrestling and will be attending Missouri Baptist. Leach has been wrestling for six years and practices for three hours everyday after school, and has to lift a lot.

“Being mentally tough is a big thing too,” Leach said. “Having to deal with keeping your weight down, and practicing in sweats and doing things like that, making yourself more mentally tough so you can advance to the next level.”

Leach was a state qualifier this past season.

Leach was discovered at a Saturday wrestling tournament and before that had never thought about wrestling in college before. After seeing the campus and being offered a scholarship, he didn’t think much before accepting.

“Ben is really outspoken, he doesn’t really care what other people think,” teammate Trentin Helton said.

Leach will be studying unified science biology and would like to be a teacher.

Maddie Baker