Nov. 13, 2024, families and friends gathered to celebrate as four stellar senior athletes signed contracts to attend their chosen universities, marking a significant step toward their futures. These students are: Adam Anderson attending University of Oklahoma playing Men’s Golf, Brady McHchenry attending University of Texas Tech playing Men’s Golf, Kayalily Penn attending California State University of Fullerton playing Women’s Soccer, and Mariah Moon attending California State University of Fullerton playing Women’s Basketball.
Kayalily Penn kicks the ball further and further, creeping closer to the net as she runs towards the goal. One last hard kick sends the ball flying to the back of the net, she scores! Her team cheers, and she feels a sense of accomplishment wave over her.
“Helping my team win is why I love playing soccer,” Penn said.
Penn started soccer at the young age of 5 and she has practiced almost every day since the 6th grade. Before trasnsferring to Buena, She won CIF her freshman year. She is also apart of the Legends Football Club. Support from her coaches and family has helped her along the way to further grow her interest and love for soccer. Penn signed to California State University, Fullerton and plans on majoring in Kinesiology.
“[Getting to sign to a college] feels like a big accomplishment,” Penn said, “that’s what I’ve been working towards since I decided I was going to college.”
Adam Anderson is a spectacular golf star who was signed to be a Oklahoma Sooner. Anderson has played golf since he was young and has since found an unexplainable love for the sport.
Anderson is a three-time Patrick Cantlay Series champion and is a top 100 player in the 2025 class. On top of these outstanding accomplishments, Anderson was named the Ventura County Junior Golf Association Player of the year and was a California state amateur quarterfinalist.
Anderson shows up to every practice, tries his hardest and stays motivated because he knows what it takes to carry your athletic career through college. Anderson’s talent and dedication is how he got to where he is today.
Mariah Moon is a plays basketball and also signed to CSU Fullerton. She plans on majoring in psychology and hopes to become a sports psychologist. Moon’s interest in basketball started at age 5. She started playing at a young age, from a sudden liking of basketball and immediately fell in love with it. She started playing on varsity freshman year and went on playing ever since.
“I love the team and the leadership part [of basketball],” Moon said. “The beauty of [basketball] is that you improve everyday, there’s always something you learn.”
Moon grew up watching the National Basketball Association (NBA), Lamelo Ball and Kobe Bryant became her biggest inspirations. After watching them put in the work and seeing both improve over time, Moon knows she has to push herself to be her best. But her younger self motivated her the most.
“The love [my younger self] had and the love [I still have] for the game pushes me to become the very best version of myself,” Moon said.
Brady McHenry is the 4th athlete who signed to University of Texas Tech for golf. Texas Tech’s men’s golf team is extremely talented, being ranked number five nationally. McHenry, similar to Anderson, has been playing since he was young.
McHenry has proved to be a successful player with his impressive accomplishments including playing on the Southern California PGA Junior Tour, where he was named the 2023 player of the year.
“He has elite speed and a beautiful golf swing. Brady is just scratching the surface with his potential, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for him at Texas Tech,” Texas Tech’s men’s golf head coach Greg Sands said in an article on University of Oklahoma’s sports website.
Overall, each athlete worked their hardest to get to where they are today and their hard work really paid off. The hours of late practices, hard losses and great wins have shaped these four athletes into talented people who have great futures ahead of them.
