MONTAGUE — Three Montague athletes signed on to move to the next level and play collegiate sports in a small ceremony Friday, May 1 at the high school.
Wildcats Elle Moran and Reagan Cederquist will play soccer and volleyball, respectively, at Muskegon Community College, and Cadence Fox will be the fifth Montague golfer to compete at the Division II level, choosing to play at Northern Michigan University.
Fox's decision to attend NMU was buoyed by positive things she heard about the program from another former Wildcat, Gabby Moreau, who played for the NMU Wildcats. The two never overlapped on the course as Moreau is four years ahead of Fox, but her positive feedback coming from Marquette helped spark Fox's interest.
"It definitely helped because I heard how great the program was there and how great the coach was," Fox said, referring to NMU coach Ben Johnson. "Gabby only had him for about two years, and she loved him. (I thought,) 'That sounds like a great place.' It's not too far from home, but far enough."
Fox, the undisputed top player for the Wildcats in 2025, led the team to a regional championship last fall and a fourth-place finish at the state meet, the school's best finish since its 2021 state title. Fox herself took ninth place at the finals.
Montague coach Phil Kerr said Fox wasn't necessarily a traditional fiery leader, but she was very well-liked by the team and her work showed younger players what it takes to be successful at the varsity level.
"She set expectations for off-season work," Kerr said. "She worked harder in the off-season, in the winter, in the spring and in the summer than anybody. She set an example there. At practice, she always came locked in. She basically just showed the other girls how to do it. When they look at her, they can see the grace that she carries herself with, but also the confidence."
Fox, who said she will likely major in elementary education at NMU, said she knew Marquette was the place for her when she loved her visit to campus despite it being "basically 10 degrees outside."
"The fact that I still liked it after that was definitely shocking," Fox smiled. "The campus is nice...They had lots to do with athletics and academics. They had basically anything you could ask for. It's just such a nice campus environment."
Moran's signing was a special moment for her, coming after a couple of trying years both on and off the field. Moran's father Troy, the former Montague principal, unexpectedly passed away in spring 2024 - the Wildcats have regularly honored him since - and her 2025 soccer season was cut short when she suffered a torn ACL.
The Wildcats managed to win the district title despite her injury, and the work she did to get back on the field this spring helped stoke her desire to play collegiately when she got the chance.
"I think that was a big factor in me wanting to continue my soccer journey," Moran said. "Tearing my ACL and not being able to do sports, or really be active for an entire year, really made me work harder for my senior year and then allowed me to want to follow my journey in soccer. When I was presented the opportunity to play at MCC, I knew I had to take that, just because my love for the sport is so strong."
What Moran means to the program was clear in all five Montague coaches making it to her signing despite it taking place at 3 p.m. and many of them having to take time off work to make it.
"I had coaches that took time off of work to make sure that they could get here just to be here for the 15 minutes of celebrating her and her accomplishments to get there," Montague coach Chris Aebig said. "If you look up resilience, you look up perseverance, you look up adaptability, you look up heart, and it's going to be her picture next to all of those. She's just absolutely incredible."
Moran said she will study nursing at MCC and transfer to a four-year school after her two years as a Jayhawk, possibly to Michigan State University. On the field, it's not yet determined where she'll play, though she enjoyed and excelled at her time at sweeper for the Wildcats. She'll join former Montague teammates Abby Dyer, Braylyn Bultema, Ava Pelton and Adilynn Peterson on the 2026 roster.
"She has that speed and she has that determination," Aebig said. "She's not afraid to throw her body on the line to go out and take care of whatever needs to be taken care of. I don't know where Muskegon's going to play her, but I know that wherever they play her, she's going to do it very, very well."
Cederquist's choice to play at MCC was informed by her experience playing for Jayhawks' coach Samantha Fehler at the club level, as well as her love for the sport, which stands out to Montague coach Gretchen Schneider. Schneider said Cederquist has helped her with activities for elementary-school players and strikes her as having the traits of a future coach herself.
"She lights up when she gets on the volleyball court," Schneider said. "She's pretty meek and mild until she stands on the court, and then it's a completely different person. She comes to me with questions, solutions and options. I like that she bounces ideas off you. That's a coach mentality. That's someone who wants to know more.
"You can just tell that she's ready for more, not just playing it, but fully understanding the sport and immersing herself in it completely. I'm so excited about this opportunity for her."
Cederquist is likely to play in the front row for MCC. She said she's pursuing a major in finance and will later transfer to a four-year school. For now, though, she's all Jayhawk.
"I really love this sport," Cederquist said. "I love all the friendships that I've made from it, and I really wanted to keep playing and not be done after high school, so I decided that was the path for me."
