Gavin May hadn't seen a lot of his Pennfield classmates for several months. Which made him all the more excited to return to his hometown to celebrate with some of his fellow Panthers as a group of Pennfield athletes announced where they would be continuing their athletic careers at the next level.
May was part of group of seven Pennfield standouts who were part of a ceremonial signing ceremony in the Pennfield High School auditorium on Wednesday, April 22, announcing their college intentions in front of friends, teammates and family.
May was an early graduate in December at Pennfield so he could enroll in college early and join the Saginaw Valley State University football team for the spring practice period. But he returned to Battle Creek this week to be a part of the ceremony for his senior class.
"This is really cool to do... Whenever I get a chance to come back to Pennfield, it's an awesome experience. So happy to come back here for this," May said.
May was joined by Pennfield seniors Johnny Lake, Alaina Simmons, Jeffrey Michael, Gavin McLane, Deondre Manalac and Peyton Rhoades.
May finished up a standout career for Pennfield as a three-year all-league selection and a returning member of the all-city team last fall. Starting both ways at offensive line and linebacker, Mays shined on defense with a team-high 92 tackles and 16 tackles for loss. He finished his career with 240 tackles, 40 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
May's return to Pennfield comes right after he finished up his spring football practice at Saginaw Valley State University.
"By graduating early, I was able to go through spring ball which was great," May said. "I was able to grow my game, getting to train with the team. I have a lot of gratitude, getting that opportunity. Getting that extra two weeks of college football experience has me at a whole other level already, I think."
Lake finished his high school career as one of the all-time leading scorers in boys basketball at the school. Lake has committed to play college basketball at Hope College. The 6-foot, 5-inch center finished as a 1,000-point scorer at Pennfield and third all-time scorer at the school and is a returning all-city selection. Lake averaged 22.2 points per game and 9.2 rebounds for a Panther squad that went 18-6 overall.
"Ultimately, I picked Hope because of the coaches and the environment," Lake said. "Didn't start thinking about playing college basketball until probably my junior year. But at that point, I figured I could do something like this. So I am very grateful for the opportunity."
As part of the ceremony, McLane announced he would be competing in cross country and track at Saint Mary's University and Manalac would be joining the cross country team and track team at Adrian College.
Three of the Pennfield athletes will be competing at Kellogg Community College. Simmons has committed to play volleyball for the Bruins, Rhoades will play for the women's soccer team at KCC and Michael will join the men's bowling team.
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Gavin May, Johnny Lake among Pennfield standouts signing with colleges