College signing countdown finally reaches zero for HHCA trio

It was the culmination of a dream 792 days in the making.

Actually, the dream goes back a lot longer than that. But that’s when Anna Lesemann Eddy and Macee Tamminen started their countdown to signing day.

The countdown finally hit zero on Friday when the Hilton Head Christian standouts signed to continue their athletic careers in college — Eddy to play golf at Wofford, Tamminen for basketball at Presbyterian. Volleyball player Andi Jacobs made it a trio, signing to play for St. Michael’s in Vermont.

“We have always wanted to play Division I (athletics),” Tamminen said. “We started a countdown to this date, right now, to where we could potentially be signing together. I’m so excited to share this moment together with her.”

It was Eddy who had 792 days committed to memory, a number which dates back to sometime in their sophomore years. By then, Eddy already had earned SCISA all-state designation four times; Tamminen had one all-state honor.

“We set the same goal for ourselves and went for it together,” Eddy said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

Eddy has been part of the HHCA golf program since sixth grade, capping her tenure with back-to-back state championships. Last month, the Eagles set a school and SCISA championship record with a two-day total of 359 — good for a 29-shot romp over Ashley Hall.

Eddy was runner-up among individuals, the sixth time she placed among the top five in the SCISA tournament.

“It’s a great sense of accomplishment and very motivating to continue golf at a high level the next four years of my life,” Eddy said. “This is all I’ve known since sixth grade. It’ll be hard to leave behind our coaches and the rest of our young team.”

Tamminen, the daughter of HHCA boys’ coach Mac Tamminen, was a cornerstone in the Eagles’ 2015 state title team but endured a long road after tearing knee ligaments during preseason a year ago.

“All of my hard work just paid off, with the help of everybody,” she said, noting that her knee is back to 100 percent. “They kept pushing, never gave up on me. I knew I had to get something done — just keep going and see what was going to happen.”

Jacobs’ 149 kills this past season ranked third among the Eagles, helping them to the SCISA volleyball tournament. Though she’s lived in Seattle and Atlanta previously, New England will be a new endeavor.

“It’s somewhere new, and that’s kind of exciting,” she said. “I just wanted to do something different. A lot of people go to similar schools (in the South); I wanted to go my own way.”

Bluffton’s Parker heads Upstate: Infielder Jordyn Parker, the last remaining Bobcat from the school’s 2014 state softball finalists, signed to play with USC-Upstate.

Parker has been a Class 4A all-region performer each of the past two seasons, including a 2015 campaign in which she led the Bobcats with a .557 average, 39 hits and 23 runs scored.

This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "College signing countdown finally reaches zero for HHCA trio."