At 7:00 on Wednesday, November 12th, many of our own Cathedral Catholic High School student athletes gathered together in the Guadalupe Theatre to celebrate a very special moment: a breakfast being hosted by the Cathedral Catholic Athletic department, honoring student-athletes in the Class of 2015 who’ve signed their National Letter of Intent to participate in collegiate athletics.

“It’s a big deal,” Tennis coach Ron Marquez said. “Nineteen of our students signed their letter at the breakfast, which is triple the amount of years past.”

There is a breakfast for all the student athletes in San Diego that are going to commit to their universities, but CCHS decided to have one of their own, so they could have a more intimate celebration with the Dons community. “Most of these athletes are getting full tuition scholarships, so signing the Letter of Intent means that they are fully committed to the university,” said Coach Marquez. ” It’s essentially a job.”

At the breakfast, Coach Marquez, shared some statistics – out of 7.7 million high school athletes, 2% receive athletic affiliated scholarships (about 270,000 students out of 7.7 million). Among those in this very low percentage stood senior Sarai Niu, who has committed to Mississippi State University to play softball. She signed the letter as her family displayed posters behind her saying things like “We always Niu you’d make us proud.”

Another senior, Kelsey Blacker, signed her Letter of Intent and committed the UCLA to play water polo. Kelsey said that she was happy to get into her “dream school. It felt like I was signing my life away,” she said. “My heart was pounding.”

Other water polo players also signed their letters. Cheyenne Brady committed to Cal State East Bay, Sami Herrick committed to UC Davis, and LJ Edwards and Sarah Lewis committed to Hartwick College. Volleyball player Madison Linxwiler committed to Campbell University, and field hockey player Peyton Mowery committed to UC Berkeley. Tierra Falo committed to Cal State Long Beach for softball, and Kimi Clark committed to Saint Mary’s College of California for crew.

All interviewed athletes expressed that they have worked very hard to get to where they are now. They had to meet all of the school’s and NCAA’s standards – keeping their grades up, maintaining the required GPA, and attending their practices and meets/games.

Senior Remy Jones also contributed to this report.