Costa Mesa honors six at its signing day

Costa Mesa High celebrated and honored six student-athletes on Tuesday during the Mustangs’ signing day. It turned out to be a very special day.

The six athletes signified that it has been a great year at Costa Mesa. In addition, volleyball standout Mason Tufuga was an early signee who committed to Stanford. Many schools in Orange County held their signing day ceremony last week.

Grady Conner (Vanguard, baseball), Paige LaBare (Biola, track), Ivan Shikhelman (Chapman, water polo), James Barton (Providence Christian in Pasadena, baseball), Kevin LeCours (Air Force Academy, diving) and Christian Chavez (Concordia, track) were featured during a signing ceremony at Costa Mesa.

“I don’t think we’ve had anybody sign for the past two years,” Costa Mesa Athletic Director Sharon Uhl said. “This is exciting to have six now. And we had Mason Tufuga as an early signee. A total of seven. And there might be more.”

Uhl said the ceremony included the players’ families and coaches.

LaBare, who is undefeated in the 100-meter race in Orange Coast League meets this season, said she was excited to be honored with her classmates.

“It was great,” LaBare said of the ceremony. “I really liked it. It was nice to see my name be recognized with all my achievements and with other athletes. It was really awesome.”

— Steve Virgen