Farmington senior track standout Nadia Lorencz wanted to find a college to attend that felt like home. Lorencz found what she was looking for at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Lorencz signed a letter-of-intent with the school March 11, the first day of the high school track season, and will be a member of the women’s track program in the fall.

“It was important to me that the team and coaches were all welcoming and very supportive,” Lorencz said. “But beyond track, I wanted a place where if I were to get injured, I’d still be happy attending that school. Michigan State had everything that I wanted. It was very diverse, which was important to me because I haven’t gotten to experience much of it in high school.”

Lorencz is the Class 2A reigning state champion in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles. She went 17 feet, 11.75 inches in the long jump and posted a time of 14.36 in the hurdles. She was the state runner-up in both events as a sophomore.

“I will be competing in the heptathlon at Michigan State, and it was important that I knew the coach wants to see all of his athletes succeed,” Lorencz said. “I’m looking forward to being a Spartan next year, and excited for my future both on and off the track at Michigan State.”

Lorencz, the school’s Athena Award winner, also visited Minnesota, Utah and Wisconsin.

 

Basketball commit

Jordan girls’ basketball standout Madison Dean has verbally committed to Drake University. The junior guard is the first player from the program to commit to a Division I school since Brittany Chambers and Leah Dietel did in 2009.

Dean, the Minnesota River Conference’s most valuable player, led the Jaguars (20-5) to a share of the league title this past season. She led the team in scoring, rebounds and assists.

Dean is third on the Jaguars’ all-time scoring list behind Chambers and Dietel. She holds the school’s single-game scoring record with a 48-point performance as a sophomore. Dean’s output surpassed the previous school mark of 47 points set by Chambers in the state tournament in 2008.

Chambers, a four-year standout at Kansas State University, was recently an honorable mention selection on the Associated Press All-America team. She established the school record for points in a season this year, and concluded her career with more than 2,000 points, 850 rebounds and 350 assists.