KENNEBUNK — It was a special day at Kennebunk High School on Tuesday as eight seniors signed their National Letters of Intent to play sports at the next level.

Christian Putnam and Connor Archibald will take their talents to Norwich University to play football, while Tommy Madden is heading to Nichols College and Bryan Hickey to Denison University to play football.

Elizabeth Flynn and Adia Grogan will remain teammates as they head to Saint Joseph’s College in Standish to play soccer. Emily Hickey is off to Western New England University to play volleyball and Gabe Calandri will run cross country and track at The College of New Jersey next year.

Archibald and Putnam are excited to join Kennebunk native and former Rams standout Bill Russell, who is the Associate Head Coach at Norwich.

“Coach Russell is a Kennebunk guy. He came and saw us in the state game two years ago and he really just reached out to us — and honestly from the start I knew I wanted to go there,” said Putnam of Russell, who played for longtime Kennebunk coach Joe Rafferty. “He played under coach Raff, so we have a lot of the same ideals.”

Archibald credits Rafferty with getting him ready for the next level.

“Coach Raff is an amazing coach. He’ll prepare you for anything whether it’s DII or DI, he’ll have you prepared,” said Archibald.

Bryan Hickey also spoke highly of Rafferty.

“Coach Raff is one of my biggest mentors. He taught me how to be not only a great teammate, a great player but also a great person,” said Hickey.

The future Denison wide receiver knows he will have to work hard to have a chance to play in his first season.

“I know going in as a freshman it’s going to be the same thing as high school where you’ve got to work your way up the totem pole. I talked to a couple guys who graduated from here and they said don’t expect to play your freshman year but it’s about planting the seed for your sophomore year,” said Hickey. “When I get to campus I’m going to try to work as hard as possible, and show the coaches I can play and hopefully get some snaps on offense as a freshman.”

Madden’s journey to Division III college football was quick as he joined the Kennebunk football team in his senior season.

“I was playing soccer my whole life and then I didn’t make the team my senior year and that was a big shock to me so I just said, ‘I’m going to play football,’ and that was the best choice I ever made,” said Madden, who had a successful season as the Rams’ kicker.

Nichols was the perfect landing spot for Madden.

“I loved football and I just wanted to find the right place … I wanted to major in business and I wanted to find a good business school where I could play football,” said Madden, who believes he will have a chance to play early on. “They have a kicker right now who is hit or miss so they kind of hinted that I will (have a chance to start) which is good. I’m very excited.”

Flynn and Grogan will follow in Kennebunk coach Shannon Cavanaugh’s footsteps when they head to St. Joe’s and play for the Monks.

“Our coach, Shannon Cavanaugh, came from St. Joseph’s and so does my (travel coach) and they both highly recommended it. They talked about their experience there and it sounds like what I want,” said Grogan.

“My coach actually went to St. Joe’s which is really cool and that’s kind of how I heard about it in the beginning,” added Flynn. “She was a really great coach and playing all four years with Kennebunk has really helped me progress as a player.”

Flynn is excited to head to St. Joe’s with a longtime teammate and friend.

“It’s awesome. Adia’s always been a really fun teammate of mine to have on the field. She’s been my goalie for the past four years so it’s going to be nice to go into college with her as well,” Flynn said.

Grogan was originally considering schools on the other side of the country, but in the end St. Joe’s turned out to be the right fit.

“I was looking at schools out in California, that’s where I always wanted to go,” said Grogan. “But I went and visited (St. Joe’s) and it just felt right.”

Emily Hickey was also looking at schools far away from Kennebunk, but decided to stay a little closer to home.

“I started looking in Florida and South Carolina and then I realized I wanted to be close to family … I decided that I didn’t want to be too close, but it was the perfect distance,” said Hickey of Western New England, which is just under three hours from Kennebunk. “I fell in love with the campus and I loved all the girls on the team. I’m studying neuroscience so (Division III) is the perfect way to go.”

Emily Hickey gave plenty of credit to the Kennebunk coaching staff for getting her ready for the next level.

“I owe everything that I’ve done to my coaches and I’m really thankful for everything that they’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” Hickey said.

Calandri is excited to head to New Jersey for the next chapter.

“It’s a fine institution and has great academics and athletics,” said Calandri of TCNJ.

The future Lion was happy to sign his NLI with seven classmates.

“When I went to my previous high school there wasn’t many athletes who would sign (to play college sports), but there’s a special environment here where people actually want to pursue athletics after high school,” Calandri said.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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