Before her 2023 signing with Howard University’s golf team, Laniah Moffett, a high school senior at Crosby High School, brought a co-ed golf team to Waterbury, Connecticut, with the help of another student and their former coach, Jason Abate.
During the students’ freshman year, they played for a private school in Waterbury called Sacred Hearts High School. In 2021, the high school closed down leaving the students who played for the school without a team.
The athletic directors of Sacred Hearts High School, Crosby High School and Holy Cross High School collaborated on an idea to have a co-ed team including all four public schools in Waterbury as a way to maximize participation.
With the help of their brothers and other teammates, the team would go on to have several victories, ending their 2023 season with a record of 16-0. The team won the Naugatuck Valley League Championship meet, and saw the two seniors place first and second at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Girls’ State Open.
Since the age of five, golf has been a part of her life. As she reached high school she gained experience and a newfound love for the sport, centering her career goals around playing professionally.
“I’ve always wanted to become a professional golfer but that was when I really knew that I could do it,” Moffett said.
The team was brought to Waterbury to open up possibilities that were once limited due to unforeseen circumstances.
“We thought anybody who wants to play golf, they can like… come join,” the Howard University signee said.
The team did more than allow students to play golf, giving them a place to learn and grow as young adults.
“I feel like it just made me a better person overall because of the life skills,” said Laniah Moffett’s brother Milo Moffett, a sophomore at Crosby High School. “It definitely gave me more commitment to the game of golf, ‘cause like just knowing I did achieve something motivates me to achieve more.”
As her high school athletic career comes to an end, a new journey begins. In the fall, the standout senior will be welcomed into the Bison golf family where she will be around women who are diligent academically and athletically, according to Samuel Puryear, the Howard University director of golf.
“She’s going to be around a lot of like-minded young ladies who are really bright in school and very very hard-working golfers on the course,” Puryear said.
With the experience gained from partaking in developing her golf team, this future Bison understands what it means to be on a team and how influential one’s presence in a sport can be.
“I think it’s so important for Howard to have a golf team and to kind of just prove to any other school that we can do exactly what their golf team can,” the senior golfer added. “And I think we’re paving the way for other kids and younger generations.”
Copy edited by Alana Matthew
