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While letter-of-intent signing day was pretty much focused on football at the national level, Menlo-Atherton had its share of athletes announcing their college commitments on Wednesday.

Athletic Directors Paul Snow and Steven Kryger announced that seven Menlo-Atherton student-athletes will continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level.

Those Bears included Dana Gornick (Cal Poly-SLO soccer), Evan Perkins (Princeton football), Ali Spindt (UCSB volleyball), Laura May (Cal crew), Emily Carlson (Claremont McKenna lacrosse), Brian Kelley (Trinity College soccer) and Katelyn Doherty (Bowdoin volleyball).

Gornick is a tri-captain of the M-A girls' soccer team. She is also a captain of her club team, the Palo Alto Victory, which is currently ranked No. 8 in Northern California. In addition to Cal Poly, she was also recruited by Brown, UC Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount, and others. She was selected to the District 2 Olympic Development Program team in 2008 and 2009 and to the state ODP tryout pool in 2009.

Kelley currently plays for the M-A boys' soccer team and the Palo Alto Soccer Club (currently ranked No. 17 in the nation). He has been an athlete all his life -- competing in baseball, hockey, running, basketball, and of course soccer. He is an extremely versatile player, but currently plays right and left attacking midfielder.

Spindt was a senior captain of the M-A girls' volleyball team that captured its first-ever CCS (Division I) championship in November. She has been named the Player of the Year of both the Peninsula Athletic League and San Mateo County. She helped her team not only win CCS this year, but finish third in the CIF Division I State Tournament in 2011 and make it to the NorCal semifinals in 2012. On the club level, Spindt was named to the USAV Junior National Championships All-Tournament team for her impressive play.

Carlson has been a starting player for the M-A girls' lacrosse team since her freshman year. She also plays on a local club team, the Bay Area Wave. She received league honors in each of the past three seasons, including first team last year. Also in her junior year, Emily was honored as a high school Academic All-American in lacrosse. In addition, she played in Nationals last year representing Northern California.

May joined NorCal Crew as a freshman in high school. In the past 3 1/2 years she has rowed with them nearly year-round out of the Port of Redwood City. May has competed in eight-man and four-man boats, both with and without a coxswain. She has competed locally and in regattas in San Diego and Oregon, as well as twice in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass., the largest regatta in the world.

Perkins will continue his football career at Princeton as a member of the Class of 2017. He was a three-sport athlete for his first two years at Menlo-Atherton (football, basketball and lacrosse). In his senior year of football, he was a team captain and earned the Coach's Award for Offensive Play, and also made first team all-league in the PAL. As a starting receiver, he helped the Bears reach the CCS Division I playoffs the past three years. He also was named to the North team in the CES (Competitive Elite Sports) Literacy Classic All-Star Game which was played last month in San Jose.

Doherty started playing volleyball in fourth grade. Her club teams have competed at the highest level at the Junior Nationals for the past six years. In 2010, she was selected to the U16 NCVA High Performance International Team. In the past four years with Menlo-Atherton, she has helped the Bears win two PAL championships and the CCS Division I title (2012). This past season, she was co-captain of the team and team MVP. She was the 2012 PAL League MVP and named to the MaxPreps California All-State Division 1 Second Team.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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