It's 'Signing Day' for Local Athletes

Five seniors from signed their letters of intent today to play sports at the collegiate level.

When a school is only into its second class of graduating seniors, there’s still time for firsts. So today’s signing featured the school’s first female athletes ever to participate in what’s become practically a national holiday for some schools.

“Their dedication and perseverance has paid off,” said Armando Gonzalez, the school’s athletic director before the five picked up their pens for the ceremonial signing. “Hopefully, they won’t forget it all started at San Juan Hills. You’re all welcome back as alumni.”

The five athletes are:

• Aaron Azoff, a lacrosse player now headed to Adams State College in Alamosa, Col.
• Allyson Barys, a soccer player now headed to Georgia College and State University
• Hope Frisch, a softball player now headed to Union College-Kentucky
• Jake Pintar, a baseball player now headed to San Diego State University
• McKenzie Lee Walsh, a soccer player now headed to UC Santa Barbara

Azoff said Adams was in his top three choices, so he’s really excited.

“When I first started playing lacrosse, I was really comfortable with the sport and knew that I wanted to reach the collegiate level,” he said.

Mark Azoff, Aaron’s father, said he does have an incredible sense of accomplishment after a long and not always smooth journey.

“From a parent perspective, you give your kids all the opportunities and you hope they carry forth,” he said.

Walsh is ready to carry forth right now.

“Oh my God, I had senioritis in my junior year,” she said. Walsh first visited UC Santa Barbara when she did a soccer camp there in the summer of 2010. The dream has been a long time coming. Starting at 5 years old, she went into club soccer at age 8.

“Ever since I was 8, I wanted to go to college for it [soccer]. I even wanted to play nationally,” she said.

Principal Tom Ressler told the students that signing the letter of intent and even heading off to college is just the “next step in the process” of becoming an adult. He had a few words of wisdom for the student athletes:

“Guys, get every moment you can out of these last few months of high school. They go so fast.”

Here are the student athletes from other local high schools who have signed letters of intent:

• Billy Gaudreau, cross-country and track and field, Harvard University
• Brian Vail, boys soccer, Lehigh University
• Cole Gennrich, boys soccer, Johns Hopkins University
• Katie Donahue, girls soccer, Stanford University
• Natalie Barbaresi, girls soccer, Pomona College
• Chelsie Churchill, track and field, Brown University
• Emily Moore, girls volleyball, New York University
• Tiffany Cheng, tennis Bowdoin College              

• Brooke Barnidge, soccer, Point Loma: "I'm beyond excited to play for Point Loma; it's everything I had ever wanted since I was a kid. All my training is finally paying off."
• Jonavaughn Williams, football, UNLV: "I am blessed that UNLV is giving me the opportunity to play football for them. It wasn't an easy decision but this is where I'm meant to be."
• Sagar Jambusaria, soccer, Northwestern: "I am extremely excited to play for Northwestern. No one in my family has ever played a sport at the collegiate level. I'm happy that Northwestern can offer me a strong academic experience as well as athletic."

Patch is waiting to hear back from other San Juan Capistrano-based high schools and will update this story.