West Deptford Athletes Celebrate College Commitments

Last week, four student-athletes from the West Deptford High School Class of 2014 put pens to paper and inked their post-graduation plans.

All four are known for their excellence in competition; three are captains of their teams, and each has earned recognition for his or her outstanding individual achievements.

The are: swimmer MacKenna Angert, who will attend Shippensburg University; lacrosse players Joe Diaco and Nick Ellis, who will attend Merrimack College and Villanova University, respectively; and lacrosse player Paige Paratore, who will attend Rutgers University.

Jason Morrell, WDHS Assistant Principal of Athletics & Activities, provided Patch readers with a brief biography of each of the scholar-athletes. Please join us in congratulating them and their families.

MacKenna Angert is a co-captain and four-year member of the WDHS swim team who's gunning for a title at the New Jersey State Individual Championships. 

As both a sophomore and junior, Angert claimed first place in the 100-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle events at the Gloucester County Championships. 

Last year, Angert also placed second in the 200-meter freestyle and third in the 100-meter freestyle at the SJISA's Coaches' Invitational.

Angert was a first-team county all-star in the 100-meter backstroke as a sophomore, and in the 100-meter freestyle as a junior. 

She was also award the "This Girl Rules" award at the Girlz' Rule Invitational in 2013 as the fastest female swimmer in an elimination sprint. 

Nick Ellis is a dynamic and athletic lacrosse attackman, known as a great dodger and tremendous shooter with exceptional on-the-field vision, Morrell said. 

Ellis impressed college coaches when he was named a top attack recruit to watch in the summer of 2012 by Inside Lacrosse magazine, and was recently ranked the tenth-best player in the state by StudentSportsLacrosse.com.

Joe Diaco 

Joe is generally the best athlete on the field when he plays, Morrell said. An explosively smooth midfielder, he racked up 100 points as a junior en route to being named the South Jersey Times Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year for 2013.

Equally tireless on the gridiron, Diaco is a two-way starter who captained the 2013 WDHS football team.

Paige Paratore

Paratore made history for WDHS as the first female lacrosse player from the school to sign a letter of commitment to a Division I school. 

A four-year varsity starter, she has 91 career goals, earned second-team all-conference honors as a sophomore, and first-team all-conference honors as a junior. 

Paratore also made the Philly Showcase Fab 40 All-Star Team two years in a row, played on the NJ South National Team this past spring, and will captain the WDHS girls lacrosse team this season.