Tess Whittet
Sports Editor
Twelve Mira Costa senior athletes committed to continue their passion in the collegiate level.
Costa athletes that are planning to play a sport in college, were honored on Signing Day during lunch on Nov. eighth in the Mustang Mall. The athletes play a variety of sports including girls beach volleyball, baseball, girls volleyball, rowing, and girls basketball.
“It was the best thing ever,” signee Haley Herdman said. “I’ve been waiting for that day since freshman year. It’s crazy that it’s already over.”
Girls beach volleyball had the highest number of athletes at the event. Lily Snyder and Karina Myszkowski are both committed to USC, Piper Monk-Heidrich will be going to UCLA, Tabitha Keever is heading to Arizona State University, and Georgia Kobel we play for the University of Arizona.
“I think it’s amazing that these girls have the opportunity to go to these top colleges because of a new sport,” Snyder said.
Costa’s boys baseball team has two players committing this year. Joey Acosta will play at Azusa Pacific and Chris Penna will play at Rhodes College. Penna and Acosta have played on the Costa baseball team for four years and Acosta has always wanted to play baseball at the next level, according to Acosta.
“I chose Azusa Pacific because I felt very comfortable and at home there when I went on a visit,” Acosta said. “They have great academics and I will be given an opportunity to play right away as a freshman when I get there.”
Kelli Barry and Lea Ungar both committed to play girls volleyball at the collegiate level next year. Barry will be going to University of San Diego and Ungar will play for Cal Poly. They have both been playing on Costa’s varsity team since sophomore year.
“The reason I chose USD is because it is a division 1 volleyball school and has a great campus,” Barry said. “It is just far enough from home so I am able to get the feel of college and being independent, but also close enough to come home when I need to.”
Costa’s rowing team has two girls committed to play in college this upcoming year. Gabby Chelliah will row at Southern Methodist University and Sophia Kuelher will be on the team at Berkeley. Chelliah joined MAC, a crew club team, when she was in eighth grade and Kuelher later joined the same one in her junior year.
“I never thought about rowing in college until I joined the rowing team and fell in love with the sport, but I always knew I wanted to do a sport in college,” Kuelher said.
Herdman was the only girls basketball player to commit on Signing Day. Herdman will be playing at Loyola Marymount University. Herdman has played the sport since kindergarten but became more serious in middle school when she began working hard to achieve her dream.
“I really like how progressive they are in their education and through my recruiting process I got close with the coaching staff and I love the way they run their program,” Herdman said. “And it’s close to home so my family can still come to all my games.”
“I think my season went pretty well overall. I was able to set many PRs this season and our team has gotten so much stronger and faster. Some setbacks we had this season were that we were a completely new team, but we were able to overcome that as we raced together more.”
“For CIF Finals, I expect that there will be tough competition and will be difficult to move on, but I know our team will perform really well.”
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