34 Murrieta Valley Athletes Set to Play at Collegiate Level

With graduation a week away, the Murrieta Valley High School Athletics Department celebrated its 34 athletes who will go on to play at the collegiate level.

While other schools held their college-signing day in early February as is customary, Murrieta Valley opted to wait. In February, 14 student athletes had confirmation that they would play in college.

By Wednesday, that list had grown to 34.

The students were joined by Athletic Department officials, as well as Principal Renate Jefferson for the traditional signing.

In cross country, Nikki Anderson will head to University of San Diego, Bethany Bilton to Cal Baptist University and Amanda Reynolds to Humboldt State University.

In women's tennis, Meghan Sheehan-Dizon will head to Brigham Young University.

In volleyball, Alyssa Gergins will head to Masters College and Alyssa Paisley to California State University San Marcos.

In men's water polo, Ryan Baliani will head to Univeristy of California, Santa Barbara, Kyle Elmore to Iona College, Jantz Johnson to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Eric Van de Mortel to University of Santa Barbara, Trent Virgil to California State University Long Beach, Dylan Vrooman to California Baptist University and Cody Wetherbee to California Baptist University.    

In men's basketball, Mark Tarabilda will head to the University of San Diego.

In men's soccer, Kyle Haecker will head to California Baptist University and Dale Howard to Dominican University.   

In women's soccer, Brittney Irland will head to Kansas Wesleyan, Paige Kilpatrick to Southern Oregon University and Kaylee Mason to California State University San Marcos.

In women's water polo, Melissa Hale will head to University of California Berkeley.

In baseball, Kyle Nielsen will head to California Polytecnic Pomona and Gunnar Vanden Bossche to California Baptist University.    

In men's golf, Trent Twamley will head to University of La Verne.

In softball, Alyson Clemente will head to Bradley University, Charlotte Foster to North Carolina State, Mackenna Neuroth to St. John's University New York and Taylor Triplett to University of South Carolina Beaufort.    

In men's swimming, Sean Shugrou will head to University of California Santa Cruz and Justin Coplen to Riverside Community College.

In women's track & field, Janessa Brown will head to University of California Irvine,  Cassie Gstrien to California Polytechnic Pomona and Shelby Wilkins, Brigham Young University-Idaho.

In men's track & field, Solomon Ijah will head to Eastern Michigan University.

And in gymnastics, Kayla DeFrancesco will head to University of California Davis.