By simply signing their names to sheets of paper Wednesday, Kassandra Jean Louis and Asha Tavernier made history. History they hope is soon repeated.

The pair became Golden Gate's first girl athletes to sign with college teams during a Wednesday morning celebration in the school's media center. Jean Louis agreed to play volleyball for South Florida Community College, while Tavernier will run track at Alabama State.

“Hopefully we're starting a trend,” Tavernier said. “I'm just glad we can be the first to sign and get it started so more girls can sign in more sports.”

Tavernier and Jean Louis competed at the varsity level ever since they came to Golden Gate as freshmen, the year the school opened. They guided their respective teams from the woes of being an inaugural program to unprecedented postseason success.

Though Jean Louis will play volleyball at South Florida, a two-year college in Avon Park, she was a three-sport athlete at Golden Gate. She played basketball and, along with Tavernier, helped the Titans finish runner-up in the Class 2A state track and field finals this year.

“Coming in as a freshman, I felt like I had to set and example and make a name for myself,” Jean Louis said. “Being a senior now and graduating and going off to college, I just want to break down and cry.”

Jean Louis wasn't even supposed to play volleyball. She was in Golden Gate's gym playing basketball the summer before her freshman year, when Titans coach Kim Kaye noticed her. Kaye invited Jean Louis to try out for the volleyball team, and she was a varsity player from then on.

After two rough years, Jean Louis and the Titans finished runner-up in District 4A-12 to powerhouse Naples and made the state playoffs the past two seasons.

Tavernier has a full-ride scholarship to Alabama State, an NCAA Division I school in Montgomery, which she chose over two other offers. Eastern Michigan and Warner Southern were also courting Golden Gate's do-it-all track star.

“I'd been looking at (the Hornets) since last year, but I didn't know they were looking at me,” Tavernier said. “When they offered the full-ride, I was going crazy and doing cartwheels like a gymnast.”

Given the jumping ability she showed this season, Tavernier might want to give gymnastics a try. The first time the senior ever tried the triple jump, she set a school record and won a district championship. She went on to win regionals in the event and take sixth in the state.

Tavernier was fourth in the state in the long jump and ran on the fourth-place 4x400 relay team with Jean Louis. As a team, the Titans won regional, district and Collier County Athletic Conference championships this season.

Alabama State coaches plan to use Tavernier in all the jumping events. They also told her she can try out for the 4x400 and 4x100 relay teams. Tavernier plans to major in either accounting or psychology.

Jean Louis hopes to complete her two years at South Florida and transfer to Central Florida. She would like to pursue a degree in criminal justice.