The number of incoming athletes who have signed contracts with AACC this year is the highest on record, according to the athletics director.

Across the 11 teams playing at AACC throughout this school year, 49 student athletes have signed contracts with the college so far. Athletics Director Duane Herr said most of the signees are freshmen.

When a student signs a contract, called a letter of intent, with a college, he or she promises not to play a chosen sport for anyone but that college.

AACC offers limited scholarships to qualified students who sign letters for Baseball, Softball, Men’s Lacrosse and Women’s Lacrosse.

Herr said the department put more emphasis on letters during recruitment this year than previous years because signing is exciting for incoming freshmen.

“With the letter of intent signing you get more exposure,” Herr said. “And when student athletes see [that], they … want to sign as well.”

Karin Victorio, head coach for Women’s Soccer, said 19 players came to the team’s first practice, compared with six last year. She said the high number of incoming players on her team is the result of the time she spent recruiting on social media and putting “boots on the ground” with visits to local high schools.

Women’s Soccer has 16 signed students, the highest number of all the teams. Men’s Lacrosse is next at 14 signings, followed by Softball and Baseball, with six each. Women’s Basketball recruited four and Men’s Soccer signed three.

Students can join any AACC sports team without signing a letter of intent, and they are not required to play if they have signed one.

The National Junior College Athletic Association oversees letters between students and AACC. The NJCAA website lists 24 national regions and 508 schools in its membership directory.