SOUTH NASHVILLE– If you see Adriana Batey in the mall or about town, she looks like a normal teenager. Around the Father Ryan campus, she is soft-spoken and studious. When you put a shot put in her hand, she is aggressive and as her coach describes, a self-motivated technician that is intentional on fixing her smallest errors and is critical on herself but gets results. Batey accounts her aggressiveness from playing soccer at a younger age. Today that hard work paid off as she signed a letter of intent to compete in track at Milligan College, a NAIA near Johnson City, Tennessee.
“We are so proud of where she is right now,” said mom Veronica Batey. “She struggled with academics when she first came to Father Ryan and now she has excelled as an A-B student. Her coach, Coach (Scott) Shaver is like family to me. We saw her start as a multi-eventer and then she decided to just throw. I am happy she picked Milligan because they cultivate the athletes well. I am so proud of her, I can’t even imagine.”
Adriana has been competing in track for seven years. Her personal best is close to 34 feet in the shot put. She leads by example and will be missed once she moves on to college. Her coach has been extremely impressed with her mental approach.
“I’m been blessed to have coached some great athletes and she has earned every bit of this,” said Shaver. “The first time I met her she was on her way to the pit to get some extra work in on her own in the middle of winter. She throws the discus and hammer during the summer which made her even more attractive to colleges.”
Close to 50 members of her family, high school teammates, coaches and classmates were in attendance for the signing ceremony. Milligan is located close to East Tennessee State University which has three local players (Bo Hodges men’s basketball, Erica Haynes-Overton and Kaia Upton women’s basketball) excelling. While Adriana will miss being at Father Ryan, she is also excited to go on to Milligan to make new friends.
“I chose Milligan because when I visited it reminded me of a bigger version of my high school so I thought it was a perfect fit,” said Adriana. I’m nervous and excited at the same time because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I want thank my family and friends for supporting me.”
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Good for her. I know she will excel a what ever she chooses to do in life. And what a lovely family. #irishpride.