South Sound signing day: Who is signing their letters of intent and where are they going?

This is the first national signing period of the 2017-18 school year. Athletes in sports other than football can sign between Nov. 8-15.

Here you can find all of the South Sound student-athletes signing their letters of intent. To report an NLI signing for this period, reach out to us at preps@thenewstribune.com.

Some of the most notable athletes securing their college future:

▪  Erik Stevenson, Timberline: Remember when Wichita State, the Kansas school, reached the Final Four in 2013? Stevenson hopes to help take them back there. He picked the Shockers over offers from LSU, Utah, UW, Washington State and others.

▪  Emmitt Matthews Jr., Wilson: Speaking of American Athletic Conference schools, Matthews will be heading to the University of Connecticut, has won four national championships, including one in 2014. He’s the first South Sound athlete to head to UConn since Federal Way’s Donny Marshall, who went on to play in back-to-back NBA Finals with the New Jersey Nets.

▪  Brandon Kaylor, Bonney Lake: He’ll try to join the exclusive four-timers club of state wrestlers to win four state titles in four years and Kaylor, who is ranked No. 13 in the nation in the 113-pound weight class by FloWrestling, is signing with Oregon State University.

▪  Alex Cruz, Orting: Speaking of nationally ranked wrestlers trying to enter the four-timers club, Cruz is ranked No. 18 in the country in the 132-pound weight class by FloWrestling and has won three state titles in three years for the Cardinals. He’s signing with the University of Virginia to wrestle.

▪  Shalyse Smith, Bellarmine Prep: Two-time league MVP (once in the 4A Narrows League, once in the 4A SPSL) led the Lions’ girls basketball team to the 4A state semifinals last year, and now she’s signing to play at the University of Arizona. Also a first-team TNT All-Area selection.

▪  Zyonna Fellows, Mount Tahoma: Speaking of the University of Arizona, Fellows plans to head there, too, but for volleyball. The 3A Pierce County League MVP and TNT first-team All-Area selection is the first female athlete from Mount Tahoma to ever receive a Pac-12 full-ride athletic scholarship.

▪  Alexis Ellis, Curtis: She can jump far — really far — but she’s not traveling very far for college. Ellis is signing with the University of Oregon for track and field, though she had been talking with Miami, Florida and Stanford among others. She set the state sophomore record in the triple jump two years ago and had the seventh-best jump in the nation last year when she hit 42 feet, 7 1/4 inches at the district championships.

▪  Calley Heilborn, Auburn Riverside: The best volleyball player in the South Sound two years in a row and hoping for back-to-back state titles is signing with Western Washington University over NCAA Division I schools Wichita State and Boise State because she said she was promised a redshirt year. She wanted that because she plans to study behavioral neuroscience.

Here’s the rest of the South Sound athletes signing this week (based on available information):

AUBURN RIVERSIDE

Calley Heilborn, volleyball, Western Washington University

Ciera Zimmerman, volleyball, Colorado State University

BELLARMINE PREP

Jordan Lee, women’s golf, Western Washington University

Morgan Bentley, women’s golf, Weber State

Shalyse Smith, women’s basketball, University of Arizona

Hannah Pukis, volleyball, Washington State University

Rylee Born, volleyball, Western Washington University

Peter Allegro, baseball, University of Portland

Joe Highsmith, men’s golf, Pepperdine University

David Richards, baseball, Fordham University

BETHEL

Emma Johnson, women’s golf, Weber State

BLACK HILLS

Bella Brown, women’s soccer, Central Washington University

BONNEY LAKE

Brandon Kaylor, wrestling, Oregon State University

CAPITAL

Peyton Uznanski, fastpitch, Bethel College (Newton, Kansas)

CURTIS

Alexis Ellis, women's track and field, University of Oregon

Kasey Woodruff, volleyball, Western Washington University

EMERALD RIDGE

Amber Fickle, women’s basketball, Tacoma Community College

Kava Durr, volleyball, Colorado State University

Jadyn Mullen, volleyball, Corban University

Tayler Templeman, volleyball, California State East Bay

Jeffrey Fahnlander, baseball, Whitworth University

KENNEDY CATHOLIC

McKenna Bryant, rowing, University of Washington

Kalina Cordero, women’s soccer, University of Puget Sound

Claire Varden, women’s soccer, Seattle University

KENTLAKE

Jordan Fong, women’s track and field, Stanford

Jordon Wright, baseball, Lower Columbia College

Jennifer Barnes, women’s soccer, Minnesota State University Moorehead

KENTRIDGE

Morgan Gary, women’s basketball, Northern Arizona University

MOUNT RAINIER LUTHERAN

Jack Shannon, men’s soccer, Walla Walla University

MOUNT TAHOMA

Zyonna Fellows, volleyball, University of Arizona

Northwest Christian

Samantha Johnson, UPS, volleyball

ORTING

Joe Gerke, cross country and men’s lacrosse, Dominican University

Alex Cruz, wrestling, University of Virginia

PENINSULA

Riley Bass, women’s golf, University of North Dakota

ROGERS

Maddy Clark, beach volleyball, Concordia University

Maddy Glasoe, fastpitch, Boise State University

Ellie Hamel, women’s basketball, Simpson University

Nick Waterstraat, men’s basketball, California Lutheran University

PUYALLUP

Sophia Bjerk, fastpitch, University of San Diego

Joseph Fitzsimmons, men’s swimming, Concordia University

Gavin Grant, baseball, Oregon State University

Brady McLean, baseball, Pacific Lutheran University

Anna Saelens, volleybal, Northwest University

Kaitlin Sugai, volleyball, Eastern Washington University

SUMNER

Kaitlin Clark, Girls Basketball, Olivet University Chicago

Samantha Larberg, Women's Soccer, Northern Arizona University

Jake Gehri, Baseball, Yale University

TIMBERLINE

Erik Stevenson, men's basketball, Wichita State University

TODD BEAMER

Tommy Davis, baseball, Lower Columbia College

TUMWATER

Kennedy Croft, volleyball, Gonzaga University

WHITE RIVER

Megan Vandegrift, fastpitch, University of Washington

WILSON

Emmitt Matthews, men’s basketball, University of Connecticut

This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 11:14 AM with the headline "South Sound signing day: Who is signing their letters of intent and where are they going?."