National Signing Day: Local prep stars thrilled to sign scholarship offers
By Michael Bower
The days of waiting until senior year to verbally commit to a college are dwindling fast. That means when National Signing Day rolls around many of the athletes have been waiting for over a year to ink their name on a scholarship.
That is the case for Rancho Bernardo High girls lacrosse star Kathy Rudkin, who along with 12 other local athletes are expected to make their verbal commitments official with the start of the early signing period on Wednesday.
All athletes with a scholarship offer in sports except football, field hockey, soccer, track and field, cross country and boys water polo are eligible to sign during the early period, which ends Nov. 20.
“I committed at the very end of summer before my junior year so I am excited that it is finally so close,” said Rudkin, who will sign with Syracuse. “It has been my dream to play in college and to see everything becoming a reality is really exciting.”
Poway girls volleyball player Kelsey Horvath committed to Chicago’s DePaul University in October of 2012. The standout setter has been playing volleyball since she was 8 and is excited to be moving on to the next chapter of her life.
“I am excited to go to a new city, which is very different than San Diego, and I am excited to further my volleyball career,” said Horvath, who has helped guide the Titans to a 17-12 record entering this week. “I love the sport and I am excited to be playing with a new group of girls and being independent in a new city ... but I want to finish out strong here.”
The Broncos’ Alex Jackson, one of the biggest names in the nation when it comes to prep baseball, is expected to sign with the University of Oregon. The power-hitting catcher is considered by many to be worthy of a first-round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft.
His signing would not impact his opportunity to forgo college baseball, if he decides to do so. Jackson said he is fully concentrating on turning in a strong senior season and has not made a decision about bypassing college for the pros.
“I am just focusing on baseball,” he said. “This is my last year and I just want to go out and have fun. You can’t worry about the draft because you can’t select when you are going to go. It is out of your hands. It is more important to go out and have a great senior year.”
Other local athletes from Rancho Bernardo expected to sign are: Sara White (Notre Dame, softball), Tianna Mack-Miller (University of Illinois at Chicago), Megan Cury (Rollins College, girls lacrosse), Franklin Huang (Stanford, boys golf), Brandon Mai (UCLA, boys golf).
Other athletes from Poway expected to sign are: April Luther (University of Texas at El Paso, girls volleyball) Sydney Masaki (Fresno State, girls lacrosse), Asia Pitzer (UC Davis, girls lacrosse) and Jake O’Donnell (Drexel University, boys lacrosse).