Athletes from Harmony, Osceola, St. Cloud sign scholarships
St. Cloud High golfer Karolyna Adams signed her National Letter of Intent Saturday to play at Tiffin University in Ohio. (Photo/Ken Jackson)
High school athletes could sign with college programs as part of the 2026 signing period earlier this month, and thus far six athletes among three county schools have locked up their collegiate sports opportunities by signing National Letters of Intent for scholarships.
Harmony
Longhorns Emerson Aslan and Aaron Stephenson signed with Florida Atlantic University and Malone University.
Aslan, a multi-sport athlete you’ll see on the hardwood this winter, stars on the clay of the softball diamond and will take her talents to the Atlantic Sun Conference.
In three varsity seasons thus far for the Longhorns, she’s hit .384 with 18 home runs, 67 RBI and scored 64 runs in 64 games. That included hitting .397 as a junior and leading the team in home runs (7), RBIs (25) and runs (31) in 25 games.
Longhorns Coach Kristi Mindrup said the Owls are getting a hitter who has proven her power at the high school level.
“Em cleans up the bases and helps us win by scoring runs,” she said. “She’ll be a difference maker for any team with her strong power and softball knowledge. She will excel at the next level.”
Stephenson will swim for the Division II Malone Pioneers program. The Canton, Ohio school competes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).
His final race for the Longhorns was the Class 4A state meet on Nov. 14, where he finished 12th in the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 58.45 seconds.
Osceola
The Kowboys volleyball team earned trips to the Class 7A state tournament three of the last four seasons thanks to the effort of a strong senior class that Coach Carrie Palmi watches graduate — and also move on to the next level.
Hitters Jordin Southall, Sophie Spivey and Cate Palmi, the coach’s daughter, are headed to Division I programs Vanderbilt, South Carolina-Upstate and the University of South Florida respectively.
“These are all real special, talented players,” Coach Palmi said. “They were big weapons for our program, and their families sacrificed a lot for them to get to this point.
“As for the next level, they’ve all played open-level volleyball against the best, against girls they’ll play against for that level. They’ve been competing for playing time everywhere they’ve gone, so that won’t be a surprise for them in college. I’ve been looking forward to this day, for all of them.”
Southall joined the program her sophomore year and amassed 1,095 kills in those three years, and will now play for the Commodores of the SEC.
“I didn’t think I could find a better culture or coaching staff than Vanderbilt, and as soon as I experienced the gym up there (Nashville) I knew it was somewhere I wanted to call home.”
Spivey amassed 718 kills, including 284 her senior year.
“I’m super excited to continue my career at Upstate (a Big South Conference member). I really meshed well with the team and the coaches when I visited there.
Cate Palmi was born into the OHS program — literally, as Carrie has coached there for 21 years, and Cate could be seen running around the gym since she was physically able.
And in four years as a high-school standout, Cate compiled 2,021 kills, not just a record at Osceola (rewriting the records of older sister and collegiate player Allison) but in Central Florida.
“Kowboy volleyball has been everything to me, I grew up in that gym. “USF (one of the top programs in the American Athletic Conference) suits my style of play and I’m super excited to join that program.”
St. Cloud
Karolyna Adams, a mainstay of a Lady Bulldogs golf program that qualified for the Class 3A state tournament in all of her four years and finished in the top 10 each year, has signed with Tiffin (Ohio) University, a Division II school just southeast of Toledo that also competes in the GMAC.
Her signing is the culmination of a golf career that began at age five, she said.
“My dad took me out to the range one day and I fell in love with it. And then I got in summer camps with Doug (Holloway, Royal St. Cloud Golf pro), and it just kind of went from there.”
She said that while living “up north” after being a Florida girl all her life will be an adjustment, the small private school checks all the boxes for her.
“It's a small private school that’s like 75 percent athletes, all people who choose to be there for the same reasons,” Adams said. “It’s a small campus; you can walk across it in like 10 minutes. A small school is exactly what I wanted coming from a big high school like St. Cloud.
“There are 12 players, an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team, so I have an opportunity to play even if I'm not on the top elite team.”
Adams, who said she plans to major in sports psychology as her professional fallback to golf, has had to battle more than course conditions in her high school career. Father Ryan is the Osceola school district’s athletic director, and mom Katie is a school principal.
“I’ve heard everyone say what I’ve gotten is because my dad,” she said. “Maybe some of the connections, but the stuff that I do, the people that I meet now outside of St. Cloud, those are all me.”
“Everybody's looking at you all the time, and she’s handled it very, very well,” Katie Adams said. “But I don't think anybody realizes just how much pressure she’s had.”
Ryan, a former college recruiter, said it’s “fun” seeing athletes on this journey, and he’s excited and optimistic about how this journey that passed through his own home took place.
“We did our research correctly,” he said. “If this coach (Dawn West) is as good as she says she is, she's going to be great.”
Karolyna said the winter and spring will include some practice, a couple more tournaments, and the last vestiges of Florida weather.
“It’s crazy to leave, but I’m excited to make my name known up there.”
