Notebook: Downey’s Rush signs with Dartmouth, leading eventful continuation to signing day
Downey High student athlete Camden Rush had choices.
The football, basketball and baseball player for the Knights was good enough to be recruited by multiple Division I institutions on the diamond but couldn’t shake the feeling he belonged in the Ivy League.
He had his doubts, but on his visit to Dartmouth College in September, Rush felt at ease.
“I was almost a little hesitant about not fitting in there,” the shortstop said. “It’s such a prestigious school. There’s not many kids from Modesto going there, so I was just a little hesitant at first. But meeting the players made me realize that it’s a bunch of people who are working for the same thing I am. It really comforted me.”
Rush committed to Dartmouth the same month he made his visit and on Thursday, Feb. 2, made it official, signing his letter of intent.
“Everything there was just telling me to just do it, just go for it,” Rush said of his decision to commit. “I was ready for it from the start. Once I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s amazing.’”
Coaches saw potential from the start. He joined the Downey varsity baseball and basketball teams as a freshman.
“We saw him come out and we saw the skills, and my assistant coach and I were talking and we just made the decision that he is our future,” baseball coach Justin Schwitters said. “We knew we had a D-1 talent at the shortstop position and so we said, let’s just do, let’s just do it and get him working there and let’s just roll from there.”
Football coach Jeremy Plaa called on him one year later, pulling him up to varsity as a sophomore.
“At the time, I was super scared going into it, especially in basketball,” Rush said. “I didn’t know anyone, it was just a weird thing at first, but fitting in with people and meeting people is super important. I was kind of scared to do that. Looking back on it, I’m just super glad that I was around those people, because they shaped me into what I am.”
Being a three-sport athlete is hard. Rush has had to have strong time management skills since he was a freshman. He maintained a 4.35 GPA and is leaning toward majoring in engineering.
He made it a point to make it to as many off-season workouts for every sport he could. He went to football 7-on-7s and baseball travel tournaments. Sometimes, Rush missed a travel baseball event to attend events with the Downey High football team.
“It really just came down to I don’t want to leave my high school hanging,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s my school, I want to represent my school. I don’t want to just just go ditch them to do my own thing.”
Sometimes one sport had to take priority over the others, and when it was time to pick baseball events over football and basketball, Plaa and basketball coach Mitch Evans always understood, even if it meant being late to a team event at times.
“Coach Plaa and coach Mitch knew that I was prioritizing baseball and they’ve always been like, ‘Yeah, it’s fine, I get it.’ I think that’s really attributed to what I’ve accomplished. It really helped out and it kept it fun. I got to do my baseball stuff, but also I got to go play football and basketball.
Pitman High student athletes sign letters of intent: Four Pitman High student athletes will continue their respective sports in college as girls wrestlers Lillian Avalos and Alana Ontiveros, volleyball player Lauren Hamilton and cross country runner Maci Day signed letters of intent.
Avalos, the No. 1 wrestler in the 121 pound weight class according to TheCaliforniaWrestler, is expected to lead a stacked Pride girls wrestling team this postseason. Last year, she finished second at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters and at the State Meet. She signed with Vanguard University in Southern California.
Ontiveros is the fourth-ranked wrestler in the 142-pound weight class and signed with Menlo College. Last season, she finished first at the section Masters and third at state.
On the volleyball court, Hamilton will attend Utah State Eastern. The All District middle blocker helped lead the Pride to their best season since 2016. She finished fourth in the state in hitting percentage and was named the CCAL’s Offensive Player of the Year. On the track, Day will attend Utah Tech University.
Patterson two-way player commits: Patterson High running back and linebacker Lolo Mataele announced his commitment to UC Davis on Feb. 3. The All District selection finished his senior season with 1,510 yards and 23 rushing touchdowns and led the team with 79 tackles and 14 tackles for loss.
Escalon junior commits to play college softball at Nebraska: Escalon High School three-sport athlete Macie Vickers found her next school. The volleyball, basketball and softball player announced in a Feb. 4 social media post that she will play Division I softball at the University of Nebraska, which plays in the Big 10 Conference.
Modesto Youth Soccer teams win NorCal Cup Championship: The Modesto Youth Soccer 2010G and 2010B teams won the State Cup in the top division over the weekend. After the wins, both teams will advance to the State Cup where they will play the top team from Southern California in the coming months.
