Above: Schurr’s Jaimee Rivera (Howard College); La Mirada’s
Courtney Skogen (Eastern Arizona), La Mirada’s Liza Perez (Chapman),
Whittier Christian’s Brooke Contreras (South Carolina State); La
Serna’s Savannah Francis (UC Santa Barbara). Front: Schurr’s Jessica
Rivera (Howard College); Santa Fe’s Briana Geffre (Cal State
Northridge); La Mirada’s Amber Hickman (Towson State), La Mirada’s
Rochelle Sablay (Delaware State), Whittier Christian’s Kellian Hunt
(Biola).
The goal of any high school athlete is to succeed on the field and in the classroom to advance to the next level.
For 11 area athletes, that was not a pipe dream. They recently made it a reality, each signing national letters to four-year institutions.
The list, which includes four girls soccer players, six softball players and one girls cross country runner, features four who signed to play on the NCAA Division I level – Santa Fe’s Briana Geffre (Cal State Northridge), La Serna’s Savannah Francis (UC Santa Barbara), La Mirada’s Sarah Carrick (Boston University) and Amber Hickman (Towson, in Maryland).
Also advancing to play at the next level is Whittier Christian soccer player Brooke Contreras (South Carolina State); Schurr softball players Jaimee and Jessica Rivera (Howard College in Big Spring, Texas); La Mirada softball players Rochelle Sablay (Delaware State), Courtney Skogen (Eastern Arizona) and Lisa Perez (Chapman); and Whittier Christian cross country runner Kellian Hunt, who will go to nearby Biola.
Geffre and Francis, friendly rivals in the Del Rio League, said the lure of Northridge and Santa Barbara was the opportunity to play at the Division I level.
Geffre, a senior forward, has nine goals and six assists for the Chiefs this season.
“I chose Cal State Northridge because it’s close to home, so I can come back and forth to see my family,” Geffre said. “I know the coach well, and I’ve played with his team before, and I like the coach a lot.”
Francis is a key part of the La Serna team that is ranked in the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 top 10 and leads the Del Rio League.
“I chose to go to Santa Barbara because it’s D-I soccer,” Francis said. “I liked the campus and the location. It’s also close to home. It’s kind of far, but not that far, so I can still come home.”
Hickman was one of the top players in the area last season, hitting .303 with 16 RBIs and scoring 15 runs. She now takes her talents to Towson, which is one of the up-and-coming softball programs in the Southeast.
“It’s so beautiful over there,” Hickman said of the Maryland campus. “It’s East Coast, and coming from California, it’s a different experience. It had the programs I’m thinking about studying, so it’s a perfect fit.”
For the Rivera sisters, it was about the lure of having the opportunity to attend an out-of-state college.
“I wanted to get away from home and be more independent,” Jaimee Rivera said. “It’s an overwhelming feeling to be the first ones from Schurr to go somewhere.”
Jaimee and Jessica Rivera were two of the better hitters in the area last season, batting .452 and .417, respectively.
Carrick is one of the top goalies in the area and a four-year starter for the Matadores.
“(Boston University) is a great academic school and a powerhouse soccer program,” Carrick said. “I had a few other schools I was looking at, but Boston just fit me better.”
South Carolina State is getting one of the better forwards in the area in Contreras, who scored five goals and had four assists in leading the Heralds to a share of first place in the Olympic League.
Sablay, Skogen and Perez hit .451, .345 and .370, respectively for La Mirada last season.
Biola’s program should be boosted with Hunt, who qualified for the CIF State championships in 2011 and was Daily News Runner of the Year.
