Vermilion’s Anne Hamilton will get a chance to be on the first-ever basketball team at Holy Cross College in Indiana, when the Saints usher in their inaugural season on October 28th, against Grace College in the McKenna Arena.

Hamilton, who was a four-year letter winner in basketball at Vermilion, signed a letter of intent last week to attend Holy Cross and has a great opportunity in a new program to be a starter as a freshman.

“When I went there and met the coaches, they were real welcoming,” Hamilton said. “I thought it would be cool to be able to be one of the first to play on the team and be a part of their history there.”

St. Francis (Illinois), Mercyhurst, Hiram, John Carroll and Mount Union were just some of her other options, but Holy Cross seemed like the perfect fit for her.

“I’m really excited about it,” Hamilton said. “I’ll be competing with everyone else to get my spot. It’ll be nice, because I’ll probably be playing with the same people for four years so it’ll create a good vibe and we’ll have a strong team in the future.”

She averaged 14 points and nearly seven rebounds per game this past season and earned All-West Shore Conference, All-Lorain County and All-District for three straight seasons.

She was also named the Vermilion’s team MVP and Best Offensive Player in her junior and senior year.

“Anne is a perfect fit for Holy Cross,“ Holy Cross head coach Matt Hunsberger said on the team’s website. “She has worked really hard to prepare herself for college - not only on the basketball court, but more importantly in the classroom … She'll be what I like to call a hybrid center/forward for us who can shoot the 3-point shot and dominate in the post as well. We'll be able to play Anne at any position because of her perimeter game and ball handling skills.”

Hamilton has been busy her senior year. Besides playing basketball, she also throws the shot put and discus for the track team.

“It was definitely a big relief to finally pick and tell everyone,” Hamilton said. “I had school and track, and my college decision. It was hard to tell the other schools, but now I feel relieved and can focus on ending my senior year.”

Her fourth appearance at regionals paid off this year, as she qualified for state in the shot put for the first time in her track career.

“I threw farther this year,“ Hamilton joked, when I asked her what the difference was this year. “And being at regionals for the past three years, I knew what to expect. I knew how they ran the meet and nothing was new for me. I just went there and acted like it was any other meet and threw as far as I could.”

Hamilton will compete at the state track meet this week and then start concentrating on her college basketball career at Holy Cross, where she will major in communications and marketing. In the future, she has a goal of being a public relations person for a professional sports team.

“I’m just really excited to get my college career going,” Hamilton added.

She also thanked her basketball coach Anjie Caffarel, who coached her all four years at Vermilion.

“She’s one of the most important people in my basketball life,” Hamilton said. “She’s been my mentor, on the court and off the court. I owe her a lot.”

swalker@MorningJournal.com