12 Los Alamitos High School Athletes Sign Letters of Intent

A dozen high school athletes revealed Friday where they'd be keeping their cleats, swim caps, oars, kneepads and helmets for the next four years.

Twelve Los Alamitos High School students announced they had signed letters of intent formalizing their commitments to four-year college athletics programs.

“I’m very excited to have committed to my No. 1 school for my sport (that) I’ve been practicing for for years,” said Seal Beach resident Molly O’Connell, who will head to Southern Methodist University for rowing. “The main reason why I chose it was I knew I wanted to be far away from home but close enough so (that) it’s only a two hour flight. And they have a super competitive program and that’s what I wanted.”

Other college choices included UC Berkeley, University of Chicago and Vanguard. Scroll to the end of the story to see the full list.

Friends and familes took pictures with the athletes on campus in room 500. Banners with the names of the colleges and the students covered the walls of the room.

 “It’s just nice to see someone else – another close friend – be happy,” said Katy Newmarker, who attended to congratulate friend Daniel Szechy who plans to go to North Central on a football scholarship.

Newmarker, who signed with UCLA Rowing team in November, said, “it’s a great feeling to be up there and have everyone clap for you and cheer for you.

A Los Alamitos resident, Newmarker added she wanted Szechy to remember something:

“Even though he’s going far away, we’re all still close in heart,” Newmarker said.

Parents were happy for their kids too.

“It’s beautiful,” said businessman Patrick Maietta, who's daughter Cristina Maietta is going to UC Riverside to play volleyball. “This has been a lot of years of Cristina working hard ever since she was 8 and 9 years old.”

“I think it’s going to be a great four years with UCR,” he added.

Los Alamitos Mayor Warren Kusumoto was on hand for the local signing day, too.

“It’s always great to see that we have a great school that provides a good environment for these young people to excel in what they want to do,” said Kusumoto, whose son Darren announced he would play basketball at Occidental.

Kusumoto said he was happy for his son, and that his son's efforts had paid off.

Patch profiled Szechy in 2012. Click here to read that brief interview.

Student

College

Sport

Max Merrill

U.C. Berkeley

Water Polo

Chandler Jarrels

U.C. Berkeley

Water Polo

Molly O’Connell

Southern Methodist University

Rowing

Alyssa Lua

San Diego State University

Rowing

Daniel Szechy

North Central

Football

Cristina Maietta

UC Riverside

Volleyball

Darren Kusumoto

Occidental College

Basketball

Abhinav Nagpal

University of Redlands

Cross Country

Jordan Agnew

Cal. State University of Long Beach

Cross Country

Jessica McIntyre

 Cal. State University Monterey

Cross Country

Zachary Way

Vanguard

Soccer

David Weis

University of Chicago

Soccer

Stay Patched in! Check out some of Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and Seal Beach's other top stories here. | Like Los Alamitos Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter and sign up for the daily email with links to the latest local news.