National Letter of Intent Signing Day: Local athletes make it official

A day after their season ended with the Corona del Mar High girls’ volleyball team in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1-AA playoffs, seniors Kelsey Humphreys, Grace Kennedy and Alexis Cage signed with their future college teams on Wednesday.

Humphreys and Kennedy each signed with the Stanford women’s volleyball program and Cage with San Diego State on the first day athletes can sign during the early national letter of intent signing period in sports such as volleyball, girls’ water polo, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, softball and wrestling.

Corona del Mar had eight other athletes sign with their respective colleges on Wednesday. Alec Adamson signed with UC Davis (men’s tennis), Christian Garkani with Louisville (men’s swimming), Stephania Haralabidis with USC (women’s water polo), Ionna Haralabidis with USC (women’s water polo), Madison Hodgkins with Loyola Marymount (crew/rowing), Nicole Muelhauser with UC San Diego (crew), Molly Rovzar with Colorado (women’s lacrosse) and Brynne Wong with Texas (women’s swimming).

Kevin Rakestraw, who signed with the Stanford men’s volleyball program, headlines the five Newport Harbor athletes signing on Wednesday. The others include Casey Duckworth (Wyoming women’s swimming), Avery Peterson (USC women’s water polo), Carly Christian (UC Santa Barbara women’s water polo) and Elissia Schilling (UCLA women’s water polo).

Mater Dei athletes with Newport-Mesa ties who signed include Costa Mesa resident Sara Hughes (USC women’s volleyball) and Newport Coast resident Jiana Vargem (UC Santa Barbara women’s swimming).

CdM’s Cassidy Papa plans to sign with the Stanford women’s water polo program on Thursday.

— From staff reports