High school notebook: Burris signs with Nevada, Kinder with Fresno State
| Wednesday, Nov 11 2009 09:16 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Nov 11 2009 09:41 PM
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Michael Fagans / The Californian Stockdale's Jordan Burris reenacts his letter of intent signing for friends and family gathered at the Firehouse Restaurant on Wednesday night in Bakersfield. Jordan will be attending the University of Nevada in the fall.
Stockdale senior Jordan Burris signed his name Wednesday night. Then he dated the paper.
Then he signed his name again, or at least pretended like he did. And again. Then another date.
You have to pretend like you're signing for a long time when there are so many pictures to be taken. But that's life when you're a newly minted Division I men's basketball player.
Officially, Burris signed his letter of intent to play at Nevada earlier Wednesday afternoon, but it was almost as dramatic that evening at the Firehouse Restaurant.
"It's the most exciting thing I've done in my whole life," he said. "... Every emotion that you can think of right now, it's that: Exciting, nerve-racking, stressful, everything."
Also signing a letter of intent Wednesday was Stockdale's Jalei Kinder, who will play women's basketball at Fresno State.
"I always knew I wanted to go to college and play basketball," said Kinder, who was The Californian's Co-Player of the Year last season. "For that to be reality is pretty cool."
She chose the Bulldogs over Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield and Nebraska.
"It's the fact that they play ball kind of the way Stockdale plays ball," Kinder said. "They run the floor and press on defense."
The other Californian Co-Player of the Year, Melissa Sweat, signed with San Diego State on Wednesday. Sweat's family moved last spring and she'll play this season for Madera Ranchos-Liberty.
Burris chose to play for Nevada over Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, among a few other schools, mostly because he liked Nevada's coaching staff and up-tempo playing style.
He was second in Kern County in scoring as a junior, averaging 23 points a game last year. The throng of friends and family that celebrated with him Wednesday included his father, Ray, who played basketball at CSUB, and mom, Rachel, who played volleyball there.
Now Burris will join the D-I family. He shot 51 percent from 3-point range last year and is plenty quick enough to drive to the basket.
"He's just a big-time athlete," first-year Stockdale coach Oliver Brown said. "To me, he's the best Division I prospect in the last five years in Bakersfield."
But it was a mid-range jump shot that Burris added last offseason at the urging of his personal trainer that caught Nevada's eye.
"And when I got done with my workout, that's what they talked about, was my mid-range game," he said.
Now he'll take that game to the next level.
"My mom said my first word was 'ball,'" Burris said. "Just basketball in general, I just always had a love for the sport."
Cross country titles decided today
All cross country paths leading to Woodward Park in Fresno finally get there today.
The Central Section championships make their annual visit to Woodward this morning and afternoon, with 10 boys and girls races slated.
The first race will be the Division IV boys, with McFarland favored to win its state-record 19th straight section title. Last week, the Cougars extended their league-championship streak to that number by finishing 1-3-5-6-9 at the East Sequoia League meet.
Other locals hoping for championships include Ridgeview's Division III girls, the defending champions, and top runner Tijerra Lynch, who finished third in last year's race and has been unbeaten against local competition this year; and McFarland's girls, who like the boys are top-ranked in Division IV by Central California Cross Country.
Highland and Ridgeview boys also are top-ranked in Divisions II and III. Highland finished second in D-II last year.
Stockdale's boys are No. 3 in Division I, as are North's girls in Division II.
The event gets underway at 11 a.m.
Football tickets on sale
Centennial (6-3) and Frontier (8-1) are selling tickets in advance for their 7:30 p.m. game Friday at Centennial.
Tickets will be available in either school's finance office from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. today and from 7:30 a.m.-noon Friday.
