Jonathan Dayton held its Commitment Day ceremony on Monday, May 15 to honor six athletes who will be playing sports at the college level next season. 

Following very accomplished careers at Dayton, seniors Wesley Griffith, Gianna Hester, Taylor Gollin, Samantha Janker, Samantha Casey and Deanna DuBois have earned the opportunity to continue playing their respective sports at the next level. 

Griffith will be playing baseball at Moravian University after helping lead the Dayton program to great success over the past two seasons. With Griffith in the middle of the lineup, the Bulldogs reached the final round of the Union County Tournament last season and are 13-10 this year with an opportunity to make a deep run in the North 2, Group 1 state tournament. 

He has a .365 career batting average for Dayton with 18 doubles, 29 runs scored and 40 RBI. Griffith was also named First Team All-Mountain Division last year and was named the MVP of the 2022 Underclassmen All-Star Game. 

Hester and Gollin have been key members of the Dayton soccer team. Hester was a three-year starter for the Bulldogs and will be playing for Hobart and William Smith College. She was recognized this past fall as First Team for the New Jersey Girls Soccer Coaches Association, the Union County Girls Soccer Coaches Association and the Valley Division. 

“Gigi did a great job of possessing the ball and also managed the game very well,” Dayton girls soccer head coach Matt Lynch said. “She knew when to distribute the ball and had tremendous poise to wait for her teammates to move to open space. She was an outstanding player for us.”

Gollin – a captain for the Bulldogs the past two seasons  – was a four-year starter and had committed to play for Wilkes University. She finished her Dayton career with 15 goals and 24 assists. Her 10 assists this season tied the program’s single-season record and she finished second all-time on Dayton’s assist leaderboard. 

She was also named First Team for the NJGSCA, the UCGSCA and the Valley Division for 2022. 

“Taylor started as a left midfielder as a freshman and has been our center midfielder since then,” Lynch said. “It has always been difficult for opposing players to get the ball from her. Her free kicks and corner kicks have always been outstanding. She has scored off of these kicks often and also created scoring opportunities for us.”

Janker was a four-year starter for the highly successful Dayton volleyball team that won three  Central Jersey, Group 1 sectional titles during her run and will be playing at Union College. She set the Dayton all-time record for kills with 390 in her career. Janker was named Second Team All-Union County the past two seasons and First Team All-Valley Division for the past three years. 

“Sami's skills improved over the seasons on the court,” Dayton volleyball coach Mike O’Brien said. “Other teams' coaches knew she was one of the players on our team that they had to stop to beat us. She became captain her junior year and was a leader on and off the court.”

Casey was the lone senior on that Dayton girls basketball team that finished this season with 19-8 after moving up to the Mountain Division and reached the sectional semifinals for the second consecutive year. She will be playing at Misericordia University.

Casey was a two-year captain for the Bulldogs and finished her career with 688 points, 629 rebounds and 86 blocks. She was named Third Team All-County and First Team All-Mountain Division. 

"Sami came in freshman year with a very strong work ethic and focus,” Dayton girls basketball head coach Dave Rennie said. “That made it apparent that she would make a positive impact on the program.She certainly proved her leadership ability throughout her four years.” 

DuBois has played a key role for a Dayton softball team that has already reached the Union County Tournament semifinals and has won the Mountain Division. She will be taking her talents to the College of Staten Island. 

DuBois has been a two-year captain, is one of the team leaders with a .357 batting average, leads the Bulldogs with 16 steals and is one of the best defensive center fielders in the county. 

“After missing out on her freshman year due to the pandemic, Deanna came back ready to make up for lost time and made an immediate impact.” Rennie said. “She accepted playing second base even though she was an outfielder because that was a need that we had. She then went back to center field and became one of the best in the county the past two years.”