TENNERTON, W.Va. – Five Buckhannon-Upshur High School athletes signed to continue athletics at the collegiate level.

Four of those five signed to stay in Buckhannon for the next four years at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Catherine Oliveto signed with the West Virginia Wesleyan women’s soccer program.

Oliveto, one of the Bucs’ leading goal scorers, made quick relationships with her future coaching staff. She especially liked her new head coach, Rich Owens, because he matches her passion for the game.

“I chose to play soccer at Wesleyan because it’s an awesome program, I love Rich [Owens] and during the high school season I lost a little bit of passion for the game but he’s brought my confidence back and my passion back for the game,” Oliveto said. “I’m going to be majoring in nursing because it’s one of the top nursing programs in the state and I’m super excited.”

BU’s Aden Pitts officially joins the Bobcats tennis program.

Pitts, a Texas native, moved to Buckhannon just a few years ago and all of his experiences playing under different coaches and against various competitors has shaped him into the tennis player he is now.

“I went there and I spoke with the coach and I’ve already spoken to a couple other coaches at other colleges and Kyle Hoffman, the coach at Wesleyan, he just really drew me in along with the different players at Wesleyan.  It’s a boiling pot full of international students and local students and just the different personalities and cultures and everything else really drew me in,” Pitts said.

Bucs’ golf standout, Evan Coffman, signs with the West Virginia Wesleyan golf team.

Coffman was named the Big 10 Conference Player of the Year after helping lead the BU golf team to a conference championship.

Coffman also represented the Buckhannon-Upshur golf team well at the state golf meet multiple times in his career. The coaching staff and family-like atmosphere brought him to WVWC.

“It’s a family down there. I wanted to stay close to home and be close to my family at home and also have a good golf coach and nice school to go to. She was a super nice lady, I really liked her and she just connected well with the kids,” Coffman said.

Nathaniel Russell did what no other BU student has done before- signed with the West Virginia Wesleyan e-sports team.

A unique opportunity for Russell who said Call of Duty and Halo are his top games. He’ll be representing Wesleyan playing against other e-sports gamers nationwide.  

“During the summer, Mr. McDaniels started e-sports so I joined and then coach Hayes from Wesleyan stopped by and watched us play and he offered me a scholarship. Getting to know everyone, getting a good education and winning for the team,” Russell said.

Kiara Woods decided to stay in the mountain state but she is heading to Philippi to play lacrosse at Alderson Broaddus.

Woods has suffered multiple injuries throughout her athletic career at BU but still caught the attention of college lax coaches.

Wood is recovering from her second ACL tear but is gearing up for her senior lacrosse season with the Bucs before heading off to play defense for the Battlers.

“I loved the team, they made me feel like family and the coach reached out to me obviously after an ACL tear which meant a lot to me. I really love that they reached out to me, like I said, during a hard time and it means a lot that they think I can help the team,” Woods said.