Kellam and Princess Anne high schools in Virginia Beach sent more than 50 female athletes to major college programs — among the most in the state — according to a recent study of the 2021-22 academic year.
Bishop O’Connell High from Arlington was first in Virginia with 32 athletes, while Kellam was tied for third with 29, Princess Anne was tied for 12th with 25 and Chesapeake’s Western Branch was tied for 17th with 24.
The study was conducted by Greg Dayton, from Pickerington, Ohio. He looked at all NCAA Division I women’s sports rosters for the 2021-22 academic year to see what high schools produced the most Division I athletes for all sports.
Among Kellam’s athletes were were soccer player Kaylee Kozlowski, who played at Maryland, and softball player Brooke Cannon, who played at Lehigh.
As a senior, Kozlowski scored a team-high 23 goals and was the All-Tidewater Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Cannon, who finished with a 1.10 ERA and and 212 strikeouts and batted .552 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs, was the All-Tidewater Softball Player of the Year.
Nationally, IMG Academy of Bradenton, Florida, was first with 111 female athletes sent to Division I programs. Mater Dei High of Santa Ana, California, was second with 97, and Santa Margarita Catholic High of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, was third with 85.
To make the top 50, a school needed to have at least 50 athletes playing Division I sports.
In all, Dayton’s study found there were 72,351 Division I women athletes.
The sports included basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, cross country, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, rowing, skiing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, volleyball and water polo.
Two years ago, Dayton conducted a study analyzing all 357 Division I women’s basketball rosters from the 2021-22 season. It included all players from each high school program — public and private.
Princess Anne High, led by legendary coach Darnell Dozier, had the nation’s ninth-most players in college in that study.
