M-A players recruited for college water polo M-A players recruited for college water polo (November 23, 2005)

Two senior athletes from Menlo-Atherton High School have signed early-admission letters to play water polo at the college level.

In a ceremony at M-A on Tuesday, November 15, Menlo Park resident Kelly Eaton signed with Stanford University and Heidi Kucera of Atherton signed with the University of California at Davis.

Athletes sought out in this way are among the nation's top performers -- in this case, in women's water polo -- said Chris Rubin, who shares head coaching duties for girls water polo with Rick Longyear.

The letters are binding. Over the past five years, M-A has had about one athlete a year sign a letter of intent, said Athletic Director Pam Wimberly.

Kelly Eaton is an old hand at Stanford, having played for the girls water polo club there since the sixth grade. At M-A, she has been on the starting team for each of her four years and holds records for the 100-yard backstroke at both M-A and the Peninsula Athletic League, where she was just voted MVP.

During the 2004-05 school year, she was named PAL Swimmer of the Year and started as an All-American playing water polo in the National Junior Olympics.

Heidi Kucera began playing water polo in high school. She is an All American swimmer and holds the record at M-A for the 100-meter breast stroke, an event she also won at last spring's Central Coast Section championship, and where she swam the breast-stroke leg of the 200-meter medley.

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