Frontier's Aakhus signs with UCSB, Whittington to play for 'Runners
| Tuesday, Nov 17 2009 08:58 PM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 20 2009 01:39 PM
Images
Casey Christie / The Californian Randy Aakhus, Frontier High all area swimmer.
Frontier athletic director Ryan Geivet set the theme for Tuesday afternoon when he mentioned the school's journey from infancy in 2005 to now, when it's a regular contender in the Southwest Yosemite League and a factory for two of its first Division I recruits.
Later, Samantha Whittington talked about her journey from a freshman volleyball player on a young Titans team to a setter and leader on a Frontier team that would play in the Division II Central Section semifinals later in the night.
Never in her plans was a scholarship offer to Cal State Bakersfield, which she signed in the Frontier library.
"I never thought this would happen," she said.
Then there was Randy Aakhus, whose journey has been full of expectations and accomplishments -- he won the 200-yard individual medley at the section championships in Porterville last May. He fulfilled his dream by signing a partial-scholarship offer to UC Santa Barbara.
"So far, it's the biggest decision I've made in my life, where to go to college," Aakhus said. "And all the hard work I've put into swimming finally pays off."
Aakhus also finished second in the 500 freestyle for the second straight year. He recorded automatic All-American times in both events. He said he chose UCSB over UNLV and Arizona State, schools that had shown some interest in him.
"I really like the coaches, and you can't beat the guys on the team," Aakhus said. "That's basically what I was looking for, and they have an amazing group of guys."
Whittington has started for all four years at Frontier, and she thought she would have to decide between walking on at CSUB or waiting for a scholarship offer elsewhere until last week, when Roadrunners coach John Price told her his team could offer a scholarship.
"It was really overwhelming," Whittington said. "I get to stay home, my family gets to come watch me. I'm really excited."
Whittington and Aakhus were the second and third athletes in Frontier's history to sign with Division I schools, following girls swimmer Stevie Hughey, who went to Boise State last year.
Stockdale baseball player Kyle Desimone also signed a letter of intent in the past week to play for CSUB, Stockdale coach Dan Lemon said.
Today, Bakersfield High volleyball player Hailey Moore will sign with Southern Utah and swimmer Ericka Becker with Youngstown (Ohio) State.
