Grant Brewer made his college commitment official and then went into relaxation mode.
The Greensburg Central Catholic senior joined his family for a vacation to Peru a few days after signing a letter of intent to compete in track and field at Division I Bucknell.
It seems like an appropriate thing to do considering four siblings also went on to college track careers.
One brother, Aiden, was a pole vaulter at Bucknell. Another, Patrick, competed in multis and throws at Cornell.
One other brother, James, competes in multis as a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon, and his sister, Corrin Brewer, competed in the multis and the pole vault at Notre Dame and Lehigh.
“It means a lot to me to be able to have this opportunity and be able to compete in track with some of my siblings like I did my whole life,” Grant Brewer said.
He chose the Bison over Lafayette and Saint Francis.
“I was looking for engineering schools with a strong mechanical engineering program, and Bucknell fulfilled that requirement,” he said. “I was also looking for a track team where the coaches care about your development and seeing you improve.”
Brewer, who also played soccer for the Centurions, plans to run multi-events, possibly the decathlon, at the next level.
“It’s nice to be competing at this level, and I think it’ll bring some good competition,” Brewer said. “But there are always opportunities to compete wherever you go, so I think as long as you want to compete and you want to improve, you can take your career wherever you want.”
Brewer is hoping to cap his high school career with a big spring. He was ranked No. 2 in the pole vault and 300-meter hurdles going into the WPIAL postseason last year, but a hamstring pull sidelined him.
Tavares going D2?
Tristyn Tavares has been one of the WPIAL’s most consistently good dual-threat quarterbacks over the last four years. Now the Norwin senior is looking to play at the college level. He would like to remain a quarterback.
Tavares has a number of Division III schools interested in his game — Waynesburg, Gettysburg, Allegheny and Grove City are among them. But last week he announced his first Division II offer, from Edinboro.
He hopes it will open the door for more PSAC offers.
Tavares, a four-year starter and two-year team captain, led Norwin to the WPIAL 6A playoffs last year. Career-wise, he threw for 5,717 yards and 51 touchdowns, and rushed for 1,210 yards and 27 scores.
Recruiting