By Eugenio Torrens
Yvanessa Vincent didn’t spend her Senior Skip Day at the beach, lounging in bed or out shopping.
She spent the day phoning coaches as she toiled with the decision of where to play college basketball.
“I just kept comparing every school to Maine,” said the Academy at the Lakes center, who will attend the University of Maine at Machias.
Vincent joined Jarrett Harvey April 17 when they made their college plans official. Vincent is the first Wildcats basketball player, boy or girl, to sign, while Harvey, a running back for the football team, is the first male from the school to do the same.
Harvey will attend Webber International University, an NAIA program in Babson Park.
“It was real stressful, long hours of the night talking to different coaches, visiting different places, going to different states to visit the campuses,” said Harvey, who plans to study sports management.
Harvey thanked Wildcats coach John Castelamare for the role he played in the signing.
“He always knew what I could do, so he was always on top of me making sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing when I was supposed to be doing it,” Harvey said.
Vincent initially chose Machias through a former teammate and AAU coach’s recommendation, but she decided to wait and weigh her options.
She compared every candidate thereafter to Maine, but no school could dethrone the Clippers from the top of Vincent’s list.
