From red and yellow to purple, an exciting day for Fruendt

Fruendt's family, friends, teammates and coaches all witnessed the 6-foot-6 senior forward in a purple sweatshirt signing a bunch of papers from Northwestern University, the school he chose to play basketball at next season.

Batavia's school colors are red and yellow, but on this particular morning, the conference room was covered in all things purple -- grape juice, doughnuts, muffins, coffee cups and balloons.

It must be National Letter of Intent Signing day.

Fruendt and many other athletes from around the Tri-Cities Area made their college choices official. The verbal commitment is now in writing.

"I loved how everyone came and was here to support me today," the always-happy Fruendt said. "It was a day I've looked forward to for a long time."

Fruendt had a huge group of people there to support him, including Grandpa Herman, Carol Krygier, the longtime family caretaker, Fruendt's speed and agility coach, Chris Minor from Get Fast, Inc., sister Sara and friend Hayleigh Erwin, John Bryant (teammate David's dad) and Andrea and Jack Church (teammate Jordan's mom and little brother) and of course, parents Suzanne and Joel, coach Jim Roberts and most of the Bulldogs.

Fruendt walked in the room hatless, but teammate Phil Albrecht fixed that, as he ran to Fruendt with a purple hat as he began to sign the papers.

"So, that's it," Fruendt said when he was done. "Go Bulldogs."

It was a moment Fruendt was relieved to take care of right before the boys basketball season begins.

"Today was like a last hurrah," he said. "I finally signed. Now let's focus on what's right here and now, which is Batavia basketball."

The last time Roberts coached a Division-I athlete was Corey Williams in 1992. Roberts saw something special in Fruendt as a freshman, which is why he put him on varsity in his first year in high school. He's led the team in scoring every year.

"It's a reflection of Nick's hard work both in the classroom and obviously on the basketball court," Roberts said of Fruendt heading to Northwestern.

"I knew he had a chance (to play Division I) because he had great passion and a willingness to work and get better. You can never tell for sure because you aren't the one making the decisions, but I always felt he had a chance."

Other D-I signings

Fruendt wasn't the only senior signing papers Wednesday.

Three of his Batavia classmates, Kristin Hoffman, Kelsey Phalen and Alex Beckmann, signed right before he did.

Hoffman (volleyball) and Beckmann (baseball) are both heading to Northern Illinois, while Phalen will attend Valparaiso for softball.

"It has set in that next year at this time, I'll be playing at Northern," Hoffman said. "It's going to be nice that I'll be able to see my parents whenever and they will see the majority of my games."

"The verbal commitment was the big thing, but it's good that everything is done," Beckmann said.

Rival school Geneva also has a pair of girls heading to D-I programs next year, both for volleyball. Rachel Urbelis (Mercer University in Georgia) and Jenny Pokorny (Valparaiso) sign their letters of intent today.

St. Charles East also had three athletes sign -- Mattie Boyd (DePaul for volleyball), Chris Burgess (Central Michigan) and Tyler Deetjen (Valparaiso) for baseball.

Adding to the list of Division I volleyball players are three from St. Charles North -- Gretchen Giesler (Kentucky), Lindsay Williams (Western Kentucky) and Carla Tietz (Georgia). Rosary's Christine Hartmann is going to Kentucky as well.

Brooke Bettis (golf) from St. Charles North and Caitlin Dauw (swimming) are both going to Michigan next year.

West Aurora's Shannon Brooks will be saying yes to Eastern Illinois, where she will play tennis.