December 3, 2007 - Hillsdale College volleyball coach Chris Gravel is pleased to announce the signing of five players who will join the perennially ranked Charger program in the fall of 2008.

All five players recently wrapped up highly successful prep careers, and will bring skill and a winning pedigree to a Hillsdale team that is 55-10 over the past two seasons.

Joining Hillsdale in 2008 will be: outside hitter Ashlee Crowder (Jenison, Mich.), middle hitter Clara Leutheuser (Hillsdale , Mich./Hillsdale Academy), setter Apryl Schmucker (Inman, Kan./Little River), libero Morgan Podkul (Mishawaka, Ind./LaPorte), and defensive specialist/setter Brogan Wells (West Bloomfield, Mich./Pontiac Notre Dame Prep).

"This is one of the most talented classes we've ever recruited here," Gravel said. "They are players who all come from winning programs, and carry themselves as winners. That will help them fit in with our returning players very well next year. I expect all five of them to contribute to any success we have next year in a variety of ways."

Crowder is one of two players in this class to lead her team to a state championship recently. She led the way for Jenison High School to be crowned the 2007 Class A state champs, and she played a huge role in the win, delivering 15 kills with a .480 hitting percentage in the finals.

Crowder, a 5-foot-11 middle hitter in high school, was a three-year starter and a finalist for the 2007 Miss Volleyball Award. She was named All-OK Red Conference as a sophomore and junior, and was named First-Team All-State by the Detroit News. She also plays for the FaR Out Volleyball Club, one of the top club teams in the state. She carries a 3.9 grade point average, and is a member of the honor roll, a peer educator, and a winner of a high school leadership award. She also plays basketball and softball at Jenison.

Leutheuser has many local ties to Hillsdale, making her transition to the Chargers' roster a natural one. Her older sister Anna is a member of Hillsdale College's track team, and her mother Laura was an All-American track athlete at Hillsdale in the 1980s.

Leutheuser was named First-Team Class D All-State by the Detroit News after leading Hillsdale Academy to a spot in the state quarterfinals for the second year in a row. She led her team to district and regional championships as a junior and senior, and in 2006-07, was named to the Jackson Citizen-Patriot Dream Team, along with current Charger Sydney Dow.

Leutheuser is also a state-qualifying track athlete and plays basketball at Hillsdale Academy.

Schmucker is one of the most talented prep setters in the entire midwest. She's been named First-Team All State three times, and was named the Kansas 1A Player of the Year twice. This season, she set the school record for service aces, and finished her career leading Little River High School to a four-year record of 122-36. In her prep career, Schmucker accumulated 471 service aces, 1,427 kills, 1,395 assists and 142 blocks. Her team was state runner-ups in 2005 and she led the team to regional and substate championships in 2004 and 2005. As a senior in 2007, Schmucker was named Class 1A First-Team All-State, and split her time between the setter and right-side hitter positions.

Schmucker played her club volleyball with the Topeka 18's, and was a member of the school's scholar bowl for four years.

Podkul was a three-year starter and team captain at LaPorte High School, leading the team to a 36-7 record in 2007. Her team won three straight conference championships, and was sectional champs each of the past two years.

Podkul has been a member of a Junior Olympics Team that was a national division championship in 2006, and she was named her high school's most outstanding underclassman athlete in 2005-06. She was named Academic All-State this year, as well as being named Athlete of the Month, and was named to the Herald-Argus All-Area Team twice. She was named the IHSAA Player of the Week earlier this season, and led her conference in assists and was second in service aces.

She finished her senior season with 523 assists, 44 service aces, 46 blocks, 88 kills and 162 digs. Off the court, Podkul was a member of her school's Art Club from 2004-06, a member of the National Honor Society, was named the Spanish Student of the Year, and is the sports editor of the school's yearbook.

Wells is another player who finished her high school career on the highest of notes, leading Pontiac Notre Dame Prep High School to a Class B state championship. A three-year starter for the Irish, Wells helped lead the team to four Catholic League AA Conference titles, three district and regional championships, as well as helping the team to become the first Catholic League B team to win the A-B title in more than 20 years in volleyball.

She has played several different positions in her high school career, startung out as a right-side hitter and defensive specialist. She has since evolved into a setter and libero, and she had 29 assists in the team's state championship match. She averaged more than nine assists per game throughout her career.

She was named All-Region as a junior, and was named Third-Team All-State by the Detroit News as a senior. She was also named All-League and All-Catholic in 2007.

Off the court, Wells has served as student council president since 2005 and does much volunteer work in the Oakland County area.