SEARCY – The NCAA’s early signing period began Nov. 11 and continues through Nov. 18. Harding has signed players in five different sports through Nov. 18. Below is a list of the signees that will be updated as more student-athletes select Harding as their collegiate destination beginning next school year.
Head baseball coach Dr. Patrick McGaha has added two to his squad. Joining the Bisons next season will be Harding Academy product Matt Calhoun, a 6-foot first baseman/catcher, and Tulsa Union High School’s Shane Kinnear. Calhoun hit a staggering .556 with 30 hits in 54 at-bats as a junior, earning Arkansas Class 3A All-State honors. In his sophomore season, Calhoun drove in a team-high 60 runs. Kinnear, a 6-foot outfielder, earned Academic All-Conference honors as a junior at Union.
Head coach Tim Kirby signed two to the women’s basketball team. Six-foot-two forward Lauren Harrison and 5-foot-11 guard Kristen Celsor, both of Searcy, Ark., will join the Lady Bisons next season. Harrison earned All-State honors as a junior and is a two-time All-Conference honoree. Celsor is also a two-time All-Conference honoree and can lay claim to being the top female athlete in Arkansas. As a junior, Celsor won the Arkansas State Heptathlon championship and was the state high jump champion.
Keith Giboney, Harding’s head volleyball coach, also signed two new players. Mollie Arnold, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter from Bono, Ark., is a three-time All-State honoree at Jonesboro Westside High School. As a senior, Arnold led Westside to a 30-3 record and an Arkansas Class 4A State Championship, earning tournament most valuable player honors. She finished the season with 602 kills, 178 blocks and 311 digs and won the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award for the state of Arkansas.
Arnold is joined by Alyssa Short, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker from The Woodlands, Texas. Giboney calls Short “a strong middle that will be a big blocking presence for us and another offensive threat.”
Reed Teel, a 6-foot guard from Montgomery, Ala., signed with head coach Jeff Morgan’s men’s basketball team. As a junior at Alabama Christian Academy, Teel earned 1st Team All-Metro honors and was named honorable mention All-State. He averaged 19 points per game each of the last two seasons.
Men’s golf coach Dustin Howell signed Jordan Perry, a native of Judsonia, Ark., who attends Riverview High School. Perry is a four-time All-State golfer who finished third in the Arkansas Class 3A state tournament and fourth in the overall state tournament. Late in the week, Evan Greenwood of Hot Springs, Ark., signed with the Bison golf program.