BOURBON — Between 1984 and 2008, Triton High School had five athletes go on to compete at an NCAA Division I school. In two days, it’s added two more. With senior Clay Yeo signing his national letter of intent to play basketball at Valparaiso University and senior Quentyn Carpenter set to sign his letter to golf at Ball State University today, Triton is turning some heads. “It's definitely an awesome thing, and with only 57 kids in that (2012) class makes it even more amazing,” Triton Athletic Director Mason McIntyre said. “Both of them are just outstanding kids. They work hard and they deserve everything they're getting.” The two join Lorea Feldman (a 1984 Triton graduate, University of Michigan), Julie Lozier (1987, Ball State), Justina Reichart (1993, Ball State), Ashli Senff (2003, Evansville University) and T.J. Carpenter (2008, Ball State) on Triton’s short list of DI athletes. “I've been thinking about it the past few days,” Carpenter said. “Our class only has 50-some kids in it, so it's pretty crazy that two of us are going to be signing Division I national letters of intent in two days. It's pretty awesome.” Yeo was the first to sign, putting his name on the dotted line as soon as he could, at 8 a.m. Wednesday. “Probably since I was in sixth grade, I wanted to be at a big-time school,” Yeo said. “Division I is obviously the main goal. I'm pretty happy to be able to take my basketball talent beyond high school.” Just 24 hours before Yeo was signing to play at Valparaiso next season, the Crusaders were playing on ESPN, getting a 69-46 home win over Northern Illinois. “I actually had my teacher turn the TV on to it,” Yeo said. The Crusaders have gotten the opportunity to play on national television thanks to their success, winning the Horizon League regular season title a year ago. Despite winning the regular season crown with a 14-4 mark, Valpo missed out on the NCAA tournament after losing to Detroit in the Horizon League Championship game. The team success was evident last season, and Yeo hopes that can continue this year and into next. “It's exciting to know that every year they're going to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament,” he said. “That's pretty much the main goal.” And what will be the role for the 6-foot-6 guard from Triton on the collegiate level? “They plan on making me a two/three guard, maybe bringing the ball up court every once in a while and put me out on the wing, which is where I like to be so I can penetrate and shoot an open 3 every once in a while,” he said. Yeo made his verbal commitment to Valparaiso before his junior season, and the pressure didn’t seem to bother him as he went out and scored 675 points, leading Triton to a 20-6 mark. As Triton’s all-time leading scorer with 1,335 points, the versatile Yeo never waivered on his decision to play for Valpo. “It all falls back on just how consistent the coaches are and how great their coaching staff is,’ he said. “You have (head coach) Bryce Drew, and everyone knows about him, but their assistant coaches really stood out too. They just treated me really well. I just fit in well there too. It's close to home, where I can be far enough away at college, but can also come home every once in a while to see my family.” And after playing on an AAU team with the highly-touted Demetrius Jackson, who signed with Notre Dame Wednesday, plenty of coaches were able to see him play this summer. “There was other interest that came up,” he said. “Obviously, playing with Demetrius, there were lot of coaches at our games. (University of Kentucky coach) John Calipari came to one of our games. Coach (Rick) Pitino from Louisville was there every time. (Notre Dame coach) Mike Brey, all those guys were there. They didn't talk to me, but they talked to Demetrius about me. But I was solid on Valpo. I'm a pretty honest guy. When I commit, I stick to it.” And what may have drawn him to Valpo, was it’s small-school feel, which is very similiar to Triton. “They have a pretty good fan base,” he said. “Everyone over there is big on basketball. Valparaiso is a basketball-oriented school and I feel like Triton is a basketball-oriented school. It's not much different in that aspect.” Carpenter was scheduled to sign his national letter of intent at 1:45 p.m. today. “I'm very excited to get it done and over with,” he said. “Ball State had a great fall season, ranked in the top 30. I'm very excited to become part of the Cardinal family.” Part of that family is 2012 Warsaw Community High School graduate Tyler Ostrom and current Warsaw senior Jon Schramm will also be signing with the Cardinals Friday at 9:30 a.m. With three members of the 2013 Ball State team coming from the area, they’re sure to have immediate chemistry. “We all play the same course (Stonehenge Golf Club), we all go to the same teacher (Tim Frazier in Fort Wayne), who went to Ball State too,” Carpenter said. “It's just kind of our thing to stick together I guess. “As a team, us already knowing each other, I think that will help us from a team aspect,” he added. Coming through middle school, the tales of Carpenter were about his basketball prowess and how he compared with his older brother, Griffyn Carpenter, who was Triton’s former all-time leading scorer with 1,327 points. Carpenter was the one who was whispered about at high school games, while Yeo wasn’t as talked about during the duo’s time in junior high. But after playing together on the varsity team during their freshman and sophomore seasons, Yeo began to separate himself a bit on the court. “One of the things most surprising about Clay was, as he was coming up, I don't think many people saw that potential,” McIntyre said. “They saw it more in Quentyn than they did Clay. It's been an interesting process to see Clay develop as a basketball player.” Following his sophomore season, Carpenter decided to hang up his high tops to concentrate on his golf game, and now he and Yeo are both DI signees, albeit in different sports. “I never saw myself as a Division I basketball player,” Carpenter said. “That's kind of why I switched over to golf. I knew I had better a shot of making it big time if I went to golf solely. I never saw myself as a Division I basketball player, but in golf, I could picture myself doing it.” And with him doing it, Triton’s adding to its list of DI players, which doesn’t happen every year. “It's few and far between,” McIntyre said.
