Three North County high school senior student athletes signed National Letters of Intent Thursday.
St. Joseph basketball star Jincho Rivera is headed to NCAA Division I Chicago State on a full-ride scholarship; Lompoc’s Stephen Espinoza will continue his baseball career at Division I New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and Katie Magni of Pioneer Valley will run cross country and track at Division II South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City.
Rivera averaged a double-double of 19.6 points and 11.1 rebounds for a 2019-20 St. Joseph team that went 25-8.
“Chicago’s a great city and Chicago State is a great school. That’s why I wanted to go there,” said Rivera. “Chicago State was always my first choice.”
The 6-foot-5 Rivera showed his versatility all over the floor for the Knights last season.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be a shooting guard or small forward at Chicago State,” the San Juan, Puerto Rico native said. “I don’t know yet if I’ll red-shirt a year or try to break into the lineup.”
Espinoza said he had conversations with Nevada and St. Mary’s, among others, but was sold on New Mexico State after talking to Aggies baseball coach Mike Kirby.
That conversation convinced Espinoza that New Mexico State “was the place I needed to be,” he said.
A pitcher and third baseman for Lompoc, Espinoza said he’ll be going to New Mexico State as a third baseman.
Magni was the top runner for the Pioneer Valley cross country team during her junior year.
She said the academics at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology made the difference in her decision.
“I was researching the school’s academics and I really liked their civil/environmental engineering program,” Magni said. “I want to be a civil engineer who works on the environment.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Espinoza did a virtual tour of New Mexico State. Rivera didn’t even get to do that much when it came to Chicago State.
Magni was able to visit SDSMT.
“I visited the campus about a month ago,” she said.
The Rapid City school was named by College Factual’s rankings as the No. 1 engineering school in the country for return on investment.
Magni said her main event in college track will be the 800, just as it is in high school.
She is back working out with the Pioneer Valley cross country workouts, preparing for competition in January.
“We run twice a week,” said Magni.
She and Rivera both said they have been in touch with their future collegiate coaches, Lance Irvin at Chicago State and Steven Johnson at SDSMT.