Ten Valley athletes commit to Fresno State and other highlights from signing day

Ten Fresno-area high school athletes will play for hometown Fresno State, including Buchanan volleyball standout Mikayla Weiss who helped the Bears to a Central Section Division I title this season.

National Signing Day for the fall period was Wednesday for sports other than football, which has an early signing period Dec. 19-21 and national signing day Feb. 6.

Weiss signs with the Bulldogs as they’re flourishing under first-year coach Jonathan Winder. Fresno State is 20-8 and 12-3 in the Mountain West Conference with three matches remaining.

Also staying put is Matthew Olguin (Buchanan), Christian Rodriguez (Selma) and Jace Luchau (Selma) who will wrestle for Fresno State coach Troy Steiner.

Currently, the Bulldogs have 14 wrestlers from the Fresno-area since the school brought back the sport in the 2017-19 season.

Aunjona James of San Joaquin Memorial will play basketball for Bulldogs women’s coach Jaime White.

Last season, James, listed at 5-foot-11, helped the Panthers to a 24-6 overall record and 10-0 in the County/Metro Athletic Conference, including a Central Section Division IV title with a 58-51 victory over Sierra Pacific.

Clovis’ Isabella Sonkoloy will continue her water polo career at Fresno State under coach Natalie Benson.

Sonkoloy helped the Cougars to a section Division I title with a 6-5 victory over Arroyo Grande. She had a goal in the title game.

Sierra Pacific pitcher Will Springer is carrying on the family tradition by signing to play baseball at Fresno State under coach Mike Batesole. Will’s dad, Dennis, went from Fresno State to an eight-year major league career finishing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2002.

Batesole also signed Redwood’s Hunter Bryan. He was named the West Yosemite League Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018.

Sanger High pitcher Jake Harrell also signed to play baseball at Fresno State.

Megan Ridenour of Redwood High will continue her swimming career with the Bulldogs..

College-bound

Here is the list of central San Joaquin Valley athletes signing on Wednesday. (Let us know about missing names, email sports@fresnobee.com.)

Buchanan

Kaleb Archer, water polo, Harvard

Maren Butler, track and field, Tulane

Tori Carlos, volleyball, Cal State Monterey Bay

Tyler Deen, wrestling, Nebraska

Ashley Dittmann, volleyball, UC Riverside

TJ Fondtain, baseball, San Diego State

Madilyn Hernandez, soccer, Fresno Pacific

Christian Johnson, Texas, track and field

Rachel Kessler, softball, Colorado School of the Mines

Jacob King, baseball, UC Riverside

Michelle Kroell, softball, Friends University

Sierra May, water polo, Long Beach State

Mattie Millwee, golf, Colorado State Pueblo

Matthew Olguin, wrestling, Fresno State

JD Ortiz, baseball, UC Santa Barbara

Miguel Ortiz, baseball, Cal State Fullerton

Gabe Putnam, water polo, Harvard

Conner Schink, water polo, Fresno Pacific

Nathan Schwantes, swimming, Biola

Mikayla Weiss, volleyball, Fresno State

Zach Zetz, water polo, Fresno Pacific

Bullard

Dawson Sihavong, wrestling, Stanford

Central

Angie Cabal, volleyball, Cal State Dominquez Hills

Bailey Combs, volleyball, Central Oklahoma

Amethyst Harper, volleyball, Montana

Makayla Lewis, volleyball, San Jose State

Central Valley Christian

Brian Stark, golf, Oklahoma State

Chowchilla

Jana Pope, softball, Nevada

Clovis

Maxwell Anderson, wrestling, Cal Poly

Jacob Good, wrestling, Arizona State

Jackson Lake, golf, Oregon State

Abby Mammen, water polo, Cal Baptist

Darian Miller, baseball, New Mexico

Makena Ogas, volleyball, Fresno Pacific

Brandon Paulson, wrestling, Cal Baptist

Averee Preble, swimming, Auburn

Isabella Sonkoloy, water polo, Fresno State

Clovis East

Michelle Berry, basketball, Fresno Pacific

Taja Felder, softball, Louisville

Jasmine Megerdichian, softball, Geneva College

Clovis North

Sierra Alvarez, soccer, Sonoma State

Brady Crow, baseball, Fresno Pacific

Ben Forbes, swimming, Northwestern

Mattie Herzog, water polo, Azusa Pacific

Trevor Lott, baseball, McPherson College

Andrew Penrose, baseball, McPherson College

Taylor Pilot, basketball, Cal State Stanislaus

Theo Tuggle, swimming, McKendree University

Curtis Vidinoff, water polo, Fresno Pacific

Clovis West

Madison Campbell, basketball, USC

Jordan Diaz, soccer, Youngstown State

Hannah Lambert, Augustana University

Champney Pulliam, basketball, Idaho

Abby Samansky, swimming, Tennessee

Aari’Yanna Sanders, basketball Academy of Art

Jessica Schab, swimming, Dixie State

Claire Shubin, golf, Dominican

Dos Palos

Janessa Jasso, softball, Iowa State

El Diamante

Janessa Bringe, swimming, Youngstown State

Preston Niayesh, swimming, Cal

Exeter

Corinne Acosta, volleyball, Fresno Pacific

Fowler

Jocelyn Budwig, track and field, Auburn

Golden West

Mackenzie Garza, swimming, San Jose State

Immanuel

Regan Ott, soccer, Wayne State

Kingsburg

Maddie Reed, basketball, UC Merced

Kylee Silva, soccer, UC Merced

Madera South

Chris Jones, baseball, Sterling College-Kansas

Savannah Garcia, softball, Drexell

Redwood

Hunter Bryan, baseball, Fresno State

Megan Ridenour, swimming, Fresno State

Sanger

Jake Harrell, baseball, Fresno

San Joaquin Memorial

Maximilian Arfsten, soccer, UC Davis

Aunjona James, basketball, Fresno State

Selma

Jace Luchau, wrestling, Fresno State

DeAndre McDaniel, track and field, Cal

Christian Rodriguez, wrestling, Fresno State

Dominique Trevino, softball, Northwest Nazarene University

Sierra Pacific

Will Springer, baseball, Fresno State

Tulare Union

Madison Cotta, soccer, Mississippi State

Kiara Brown, basketball, Menlo College

Tulare Western

Melani Medina, soccer, University of the Pacific

Washington Union

Sydney Kuma, softball, Georgia

This story was originally published November 14, 2018 at 12:19 PM.