Arnold High is the scene yet again for a signing day for some very talented Marlin athletes. It’s a wonderful time to celebrate dedication and perseverance, not just in sports—on the field, mat, and track—but also in the classroom.
Find out where these Marlins signed.
The versatile athlete will call Golden, Colorado home and compete in javelin and hammer throw. Cobb secured third place in the javelin at the state track and field championship last season. The senior also won a fifth-place medal at the weightlifting state meet earlier this year.
Cobb, an accomplished softball player, boasts a career batting average of .324 with 80 hits, 60 RBI and two home runs.
Cobb, who has a 4.6 GPA and a 34 ACT score, was also accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but said it was after her visit in the mountains of Colorado that she truly knew where she wanted to be.
“The location is west of Denver and in the mountains,” Cobb said. “I have lived on the beach my whole life, and I wanted something new with a pretty campus and an all-engineering school.”
Cobb, a lifelong softball player since the age of 5, explored javelin later in high school and decided to pursue it further in college.
“My parents have pushed me to be the best I can be academically, but also, my brother and I had to stay active and play a sport,” Cobb said. “They have always helped me with my homework and practices.”
After two seasons with the Marlins, Thompson will continue her softball career in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Thompson, who may be one of the fastest girls in the Panhandle, will primarily run the bases for the Bobcats.
The senior boasts a 2.7 home-to-first time, which is among the nation’s elite. Thompson has scored four runs and stolen 33 bases in her softball career.
“Softball has always been like a sense of family for me and creating and meeting new people, and over the past four years, all of my teammates have become family and really close,” Thompson said. “When I went on a visit up there, the campus was covered in snow and icicles, and it was just gorgeous.”
Banji Bamidele is a sports reporter for the Panama City News Herald. He can be reached at abamidele@gannett.com or through X, formerly known as Twitter, @AdebanjiBamide1.
