Students, coaches, teachers, administration and many athletes packed the Santiago theater Feb. 6 to witness 29 athletes from 12 sports sign to 28 different colleges (24 being Division 1). The stage contained a long table that held up to 9 athletes and a projector screen to show the athletes pictures, some showing them at a young age. The athletes who singed their letter of intent featured:Girls Water Polo
Hannah Anderson-Long Beach State
Taylor Shore-University of California , Santa Barbara
Mikayla Tyler-University of Southern California
Taylor Young-Siena College ( New York )
Football
Darryl Graham-University of California , Davis
Christopher Lacroix-Jamestown College ( North Dakota )
Wrestling
Christian Pagdilao-Michigan State
Softball
Brittany Abacherli-University of Nevada , Las Vegas
Melanie David-Boston University
Adrienne Goodban-Towson University ( Maryland )
Ashlee Lynch-Western Oregon University
Ashlynn Martinez-Rutgers University ( New Jersey )
Dakota Matiko-McNeese State University ( Louisiana )
Nicole Orozco-University of Nevada , Reno
Molly Reyes-York College ( Nebraska )
Erica Romero-San Diego State
Kelsey Smith-Princeton University ( New Jersey )
Swim/Dive
Marissa Verdi-University of Wyoming
Hayden Tavoda- University of California , Berkley
Baseball
Kevin Morgan-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Chance Sisco-University of Oregon
Girls Volleyball
Caitlin Hellebrand-Wheaton College ( Illinois )
Girls Basketball
Chrishae Rowe-University of Oregon
Gymnastics
Danielle Ramirez-Southern Utah University
Boys Soccer
Mason Klerks-Pennsylvania State
Girls Soccer
Amber Munerlyn-University of North Carolina
Cabria Turang-University of Utah
Girls Tennis
Caroline Hall-Washington & Lee University ( Virginia )
Taylor LeFridge-Prairie View A&M University ( Texas )
The ceremony started a little after 1 p.m. with Athletic Director Mr. Mitchell giving an opening speech on how proud he was of the signing athletes and their hard work from the long hours of practices and the competiveness of all the games the athletes have played while being an athlete for Santiago High School. Principal Thompkins then walked up to the microphone and explained how he has been at schools where only two or three athletes signed letters of intent, and showed his appreciation and support for the 29 athletes who will go play college sports after representing Santiago athletics. Following his speech he asked all signing athletes to stand-up and clap for their supporting parents in attendance.
The first athletes to give their speeches were four players from the defending CIF Champion Girl’s Water Polo Team. Coach Hudson stepped up to the stage to show his support of his four athletes and introduced Hannah Anderson, Taylor Shore who scored five of the nine goals in last year CIF Championship Game against Mater Dei, Mikayla Tyler who scored the winning goal in last year’s championship game and Taylor Young. All four of them have been on the girl’s water polo program for all four years.
Coach Steinberg then took the stage to introduce the two football players signing. First he introduced three-year varsity player and team captain Darryl Graham who will attend UC Davis, and then offensive lineman Chris Lacroix who will attend Jamestown College.
The last player on the first signing table was Christian Pagdilao introduced by his coach Steve Glassey. Coach Glassey stepped up to the stage and recapped the wrestling team’s big win over Centennial High School just a week before and how Christian will attend Michigan State in the Big Ten conference which is known as the toughest Division 1 wrestling conference in the NCAA. After Pagdilao gave his speech the first seven athletes signed their letter of intent for their college sports.
After the first seven athletes signed, nine softball players set up their pictures and letters on the table. Coach Perez introduced nine of the ten seniors currently on the varsity team who will go on to play NCAA Softball. Seven of the nine girls will play Division 1. Brittany Abacherli, Melanie David, Ashlynn Martinez, Dakota Matiko, Nicole Orozco and Erica Romero were a part of the 2011 Varsity Softball team that won the CIF State Championship.
After the nine softball players signed, six athletes from four sports set up on the table. Mr. Mitchell went up to the stage to introduce varsity softball player and 2011 state champion Kelsey Smith who will sign her letter of intent to play for Princeton University. She is the first athlete in school history to sign an athletic letter of intent to an Ivy League school.
On the same signing table were swimmer Marissa Verdi and diver Hayden Tavoda. The swim and dive coach stepped up to the stage to tell his view on Hayden’s diving and how she has to travel almost everyday to a diving pool since the Santiago pool doesn’t have a diving board.
Coach De Trinidad then stepped up to the stage to speak of his two baseball players signing to Division 1 colleges. Kevin Morgan, who will play for Cal State San Luis Obispo, has played in the Santiago baseball program for all four years as a utility infielder and a catcher. Chance Sisco who plays catcher, pitcher and a utility infielder has signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Oregon, but will enter the MLB Draft this June and is projected to be a high pick in the first rounds.
After Caitlin Hellebrand and Chrishae Rowe gave their speeches, the seven athletes from Kelsey Smith to Rowe signed their letters of intent and then the final six athletes of the ceremony set up on the table.
Danielle Ramirez, who will be apart of the gymnastics program at Southern Utah University, was introduced by Mr. Mitchell because a gymnastics program is not at Santiago. Danielle practices on a daily basis and trains at a gymnastics studio in Tustin. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she trains for three or four hours.
From the soccer teams, Mason Klerks, who will play for Penn State, played for the Boy’s Santiago Varsity Soccer his freshmen year but then made the decision to play for a national club team starting his sophomore year. The girl’s soccer team has two players going on to play Division 1 College Soccer in Amber Munerlyn, who was unable to attend the signing ceremony to train for the U20 national team at the Home Depot Center, and Cabria Turang, who has played for the girl’s varsity soccer team since her freshmen year. Amber will attend the University of North Carolina and Cabria will attend the University of Utah.
The final two athletes to sign were Caroline Hall and Taylor LeFridge from the girl’s varsity tennis team. Caroline will play Division 3 College Tennis at Washington and Lee University and Taylor LeFridge will play Division 1-AA College Tennis at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. Both athletes have played varsity tennis since their freshmen year.
After an hour and a half ceremony of 29 athletes signing letters on intents to go on to the next level and play college sports, many proud parents, coaches and teachers gave a final clap for the athletes. With five of the six winter sports winning league titles this season, it is a great possibility that next year will have even more athletes playing at the next level.
