FOUR CORNING SENIORS SIGN TO PLAY SPORTS AT D1 LEVEL (16 PHOTOS) (2025-02-06)
By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports ReportCORNING — Four Corning Hawks senior athletes will be headed to the Division I level as they took part in a group signing at the school on Wednesday.
Riley Keeler will play women’s lacrosse at Albany, while Deegan Rankinw will play for the men’s team at Albany.
Dom DiNardo signed to play at Loyola University Maryland and Jaxyn Mahoney will run cross country and track and field at Canisius.
DOM DINARDO
DiNardo is a four-year member of the varsity lacrosse team, while also playing golf for the Hawks. He signed to play at Loyola.
“I’m really excited for the next four years of my life at Loyola,” DiNardo said. “Just the team culuture, they are a smaller campus, which I liked. The vibes they gave me were unmatched.”
DiNardo watched Aidan Olmstead play when he was younger, and then saw him go and star at Loyola, which helped with his interest in the school.
“Aidan Olmstead, I looked up to him my whole life as a lacrosse player,” DiNardo said. “As soon as Loyola reached out to me I knew it was where I wanted to go.”
He has two sisters (Kaitlyn DiNardo at Youngstown State and Jenna DiNardo at Virginia) that also went Division I to play lacrosse. DiNardo started playing lacrosse with the Corning Youth lacrosse league in first grade through sixth grade. He played for 3D travel lacrosse club out of Rochester, which allowed him to play against the top club lacrosse teams in the nation. He played two sports and travel lacrosse through high school while still maintaining a 93-grade point average.
Watching his sister go on and play at the college level is something that’s helped DiNardo.
“It’s a lot easier seeing all the steps they had to make to play Division I lacrosse, so it’s easy to look up to.”
And, seeing Jenna go on and dominate as a freshman motivates Dom.
“I really want to make an impact like she did and help my team anyway I can,” DiNardo said.
His honors include being an Empire State all-star in ninth grade, best in class showcase, Naptown Challenge Club Champinship Champions — Hilltop. Lake placid Champions — Nation’s Best. Sectional Champin and high honor rolle.
His sophomore year he missed with an ACL injury, but made high honor roll and was part of a sectional championship team.
Last year he was on the National Honor Society, was a NYSPHSAA Section IV first-team all-league player and an eighth-team all-state midfielder. He was a first team All STSR Boys’ Lacrosse All-Star and a member of the STSR 2024 Terrific 13. He was a sectional champion and made the high honor roll.
“That ACL injury was terrible, but I bounced back my junior year, had a great year, and I just can’t wait to see how my senior year goes,” DiNardo said.
Having a college decision over makes things easier for DiNardo.
“Definitely takes a lot of pressure off,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about college or anything. Just focus on lacrose and have a great season.”
RILEY KEELER
For Keeler, as soon as she went to Albany she knew it was the place for her.
“I am so excited, it’s a dream come true,” she said. “The caoches, I stepped on campus and they are not only great coaches, but they are great, genuine people and they see me as who I am not only as an athlete but as a person.”
When it came to deciding on a school the first choice was on how far she wanted to be from home.
“I think depending if I wanted to go far from home,” she said. “I didn’t know at the time, but now I know I want to stay close it was definitely the right decision and as soon as I stepped on the campus I knew.”
A four-year starter on the varsity lacrosse team, Keeler plays defense and midfield.
During Keeler's career she was first-team defense, Terrific 10 first-team, player of the week and an honorable mention as a newcomer for her freshman year. She also played for the Upstate NY American Select team for three years, where she received an honorable mention from Nike Lacrosse and was a part of the 2023 Championship team from Upstate, N.Y. Keeler played club lacrosse year-round for Monster Elite out of Rochester which allowed her to travel and compete against the top club lacrosse teams in the nation and be on a top-10 nationally ranked team.
In addiciton to lacrosse, Keeler is a standout volleyball player, playing varsity for two years and JV for two years. She is best known on and off the court for her energy and positive attitude. She is a natural born leader and her energy is contagious.
Educationally, Keeler is a member of the National Honor Society and holds a 98% GPA. She maintains this GPA while taking college classes through CCC and is also a member of the New Visions Health Program. She is very active in her community and volunteers at many different organizations,.
Being part of a signing with three classmates was fun for Keeler.
“It’s so much fun,” she said. “Two of them I know personally and Degan is going to Albany with me and Dom, he’s just a great athlete and a great person. It’s exciting we get to do this together.”
Two Corning kids going to Albany to play lacrosse on the boys and girls teams is special.
“It’s super exciting,” Keeler said. “We already have our group chat with all our friends, so it’s definitely a good family up there.”
Having her college choice made already takes a lot of pressure off for Keeler.
“It’s so nice,” she said. “All my friends right now are worrying about where they want to go to college and what’s going to be best for them, and right now it’s kind of just a weight lifted off my shoulders and I can have a fun senior year and not have to worry about it.”
Right now, Keeler is just working to get better before college.
“I am working with my trainer, Karen, she’s awesome, and just working on getting faster and bigger and stronger to make sure I’m in the best shape I possibly can be,” Keeler said.
Watching former teammates, like Jenna DiNardo, shine in college is something that drives Keeler.
“Defintiely, like a Jenna DiNardo, she’s such a great role model, not only as an athlete, but as a person,” Keeler said. “She’s such a great person and she always motivates me and when she was my teammate she pushed me to be the best version I can be.”
DEEGAN RANKIN
Right when Rankin visited Albany he knew it was the place for him.
“Ever since I first received that text from the coaches and the first contact, I was in love with it,” Rankin said. “And, we wwent to the campus and I couldn’t love it enough. The coaches, the atmosphere, I went to the scrimmage and the energy the team had. I just felt it was right for me.”
Rankin started playing lacrosse for Corning-Painted Post Youth Lacrosse League in kindergarten; however, he has had a stick in his hand since even younger.
Rankin went on to play for the Corning Skyhawks travel lacrosse team up until fifth grade. In sixth grade, Rankin joined the 3D Upstate Travel Lacrosse Club out of Rochester. This gave Rankin the opportunity to play against some of the bst competition in the nation.
Rankin joined the Corning Hawks in ninth grade as a starter on the JV program, then proceeded to join the varsity program as a sophomore and earned a starting position. While enrolled in both travel and school lacrosse, Rankin maintained a 93 grade-point average on high hnor roll for his years at Corning.
Rankin has one brother, Drew, who played lacrosse at Corning.
Playing in college is something that Rankin is ready for.
“I am so excited for it,” he said. “I can’t wait, it’s going to be so much fun,” Rankin said.
Having a signing with three classmates, and having one of them going to Albany as well, is special.
“It was great, lovely to have everyone else out here,” Rankin said. “It’s going to be great to have a familiar face around campus.”
For now there is some work to do for Rankin.
“My game in general,” Rankin said of what he’s working on. “Just getting bigger, faster, stronger, betrer any way I can.”
JAXYN MAHONEY
When it came to picking a college Canisius seemed like the right fit for Mahoney.
“It’s two big things,” Mahoney said. “Mainly there coach, he’s a big middle distance specialist and so am I, so to have a coach that is so experienced in my same events made it really intriguing going there. And, then obviously, college is always a big financial investement and financially I think it was the best fit for me so those were the two big factors.”
For Mahoney there are some familiar faces at Canisius which helps him.
“With Cassandra (Collins) being there, I really get an inside word on what is good and what isn’t there and I heard great things from her,” Mahoney said. “I took a visit myself and I got to look around and I think it’s a place I can see myself and a place I think I’ll make a lot of friends.”
A three-sport athlete at Corning since ninth grade, his athletic career at Corning started in the fall of 2021 on the cross country team. He has since run cross country all four years of his high school career as well as indoor and outdoor track all four years.
Along with being a multi-sport athlete, Mahoney has remained dedicated to his education and has taken many Regents, AP and IB classes all four years and was invited into the National Society of High School Scholars. Mahoney has been an active member in his community through running and has volunteered at many of the local races with the local youth team SOAR which he started running with in April of 2016.
In Cross Country Mahoney was part of a state championship team in 2022 and they were the number one team at Nike Regionals, with Mahoney finishing 69th individually. In the NIke cross country nationals in Portland, the team took 10th and Mahoney was 172nd. In 2023 he was a 72nd place finisher at states and this past year he was 48th at states.
In indoor track in 2023 he was a 1600 meter state qualifier with a time of 4:34.07 and he was an NBNI Qualifier in the 4xmile. He was a 600 state qualifier in 2024 and an NBNI DMR qualifier in 2024. He was a NBNI qualifier this year.
In outdoor track and field he was part of a fourth-place 4x800 meter relay team at the 2023 NYSPHSAA Championships.
With Corning grads like Matt Gensel at Buffalo and Marcus Homa at Siena there are opportunities for Mahoney to run against some former teammates in college.
“Marcus being at Siena, I’m excited to race him,” Mahoney said. “We race a lot of upstate teams so I’m excited to see a lot of those guys at teh bigger meets. A lot of our guys come home, we see Jack (Gregorski) and Ashton (Bange) and Marcus all coming home and training together and then they go back to college and try and beat each other out. It’s very exciting.”
Since he was younger Mahoney had the idea of running in college on his mind.
“In middle school I never really thought about it,” Mahoney said. “When I got to high school, especially when I saw Jack commit, that’s when I really thought that the next level is for me.
“I think it was always the expectation for myself, but to see it come to fruition, a lot of hard work has gone into this and nothing is guaranteed. So, I’m beyond excited and grateful for the opportunity.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE SIGNINGS.
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