Fall signing period begins

Today is the first day of the NCAA fall signing period, but as always, for most athletes, a year-long recruiting process — and in many cases a process that takes years — has been underway for a while and is still ongoing.

One local athlete who is in line to sign with a Division I school is Porterville College sophomore volleyball player Amanda Monge.

The interest in Monge has heated up in recent weeks. “She has at least 10 schools that are inquiring about her,” PC coach Dale Henderson said.

Among the Division I programs that have asked to see tape on Monge include DePaul, the Southeastern Conference’s Auburn, Cal State Los Angeles and Manhattan. Other schools showing interest include NAIA William Jessup and Division II Holy Names, both in Northern California and Division III Cal Lutheran and Wells in New York. Henderson said Monge should make a decision within the next 30 to 45 days. “Amanda’s choices are still up in the air,” he said.

Other PC sophomore volleyball players who are being recruited on the four-year level include Allison Clem and Kacey Markarian. Both Clem and Markarian have received scholarship package offers from  the University of Pikeville-Updike, an NAIA school, in Kentucky. Former PC teammate and Pirate setter Stephanie Dounsereux is now a member of the Pikeville volleyball team.

Henderson said that Wells has also showed interest in Clem, but he also said Clem is leaning toward Pikeville. “She’s pretty confident that’s where she’s going to attend,” Henderson said. “Nothing’s final.”

Henderson said Markarian doesn’t plan to continue to play volleyball after PC as she plans to pursue a nursing career.

Four sophomores from last year’s PC men’s basketball team are still in the process of working out details to move on to the four-year level. Among them is Jason Carmichael, who should end up at a Division II school, PC coach T.J. Jennings said.

Jennings said Carmichael still needs to earn his associates degree before moving on. “There are several teams that will be interested,” Jennings said.

Jordan Wilkinson is still leaning toward Cal Lutheran, Jennings said, who also said he needs to finish up his classwork before moving on. Kameron Hoyt and Donald Lee are looking at walking on at a school or playing at a college in Canada. The advantage of playing in Canada, Jennings said, is that Hoyt and Lee would have three years of eligibility while they would just have two years of eligibility at an American four-year school. Jennings said all four players likely won’t sign until the end of the school year.

PC women’s basketball coach Dave Kavern said one of his sophomores, Maribel Bravo, should move on to a four-year school while another of his sophomores, Eva Gutierrez, also could potentially play at a four-year program.

Among the other local athletes who has received interest on the Division I level has been Monache senior softball player Danielle Emerson. But Emerson said most of the interest that has been shown in her has come from East Coast schools, so she’s leaning to not playing in college.