Happy signing day for local athletes
Wednesday marked a big day for Alan Alcantara at Newport Harbor High. The senior had a key Sunset League boys’ soccer match at home in the evening, but before that, Alcantara made a decision on his future.
Alcantara plans to play in college, as he signed a national letter of intent with the UC Riverside men’s soccer program on national signing day, the first day seniors could sign with a college in sports like soccer, football and men’s water polo.
Alcantara is one of 14 local athletes who committed to colleges on Wednesday. Alcantara is joined by teammate Jose Garfias, who is going to Concordia University to play soccer. Coach Juan Mares was proud of his two players, who hoped to keep the Sailors’ CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff hopes alive against Marina.
“It’s great to see all their hard work pay off,” said Mares of Alcantara and Garfias, who will be playing for NCAA Division I and NAIA programs, respectively. “A dozen of their teammates came out to see them during the ceremony, and hopefully they see what it takes to earn a chance to play on the next level.”
Out of the local schools, Newport Harbor had five athletes commit to colleges, the most in the area. The other three Sailors were quarterback Cole Norris to Northern Arizona University’s football program, fullback Trevor Shaw to the University of Chicago’s football program, and Natalie Ward to the University of Notre Dame women’s soccer program.
From Corona del Mar, Jack Trush is heading to UC Irvine for men’s water polo, Brianna Westrup to the University of Virginia for women’s soccer, Evan Schwartz to UC Santa Barbara for men’s soccer, and Harrison Carter to Georgetown for football.
Two girls’ soccer players from Estancia, Alba Barrios and Gianna Guyot, are bound for Cal State Fullerton and Alabama State, respectively.
Three Newport Beach residents who played at Mater Dei in the fall, Ben Humphreys (Duke football), Spencer Carroll (Brown men’s water polo) and Nick Silvers (USC men’s water polo), are also college bound.