Athletes Sign Letter of Intent

Every fall and spring students and staff gather in the gym to celebrate the athletes that are continuing their athletic journey at the college level. 

Aliso has had their share of successful athletes with past players going on to becoming professional MLB players, All Americans, and National Champions. Commitment day is a symbol of achievement for the young athletes that have been working their whole lives towards this goal. 

This year we had a variety of athletes commit to a wide range of schools across the country.

From the water polo team after earning a league title in their final year at ANHS, Ethan Cooney is going to Cal State Fullerton and Tanner Stagner is going to the University of Redlands. They had a successful last season at Aliso, placing first place in the South Coast League and both of them earning All League titles. 

 For swimming, Aaron Graff is going to DePauw University. He finished his senior year off qualifying for CIF and competing in State in the 400 relay. 

Twins Vincenzo Benenati and Luciano Benenati are going to Missouri Valley College for wrestling. 

Continuing with indoor sports, Raul Papaleo will continue his volleyball career at Purdue For Wayne University. As the starting setter on Aliso he helped earn his team third in the South Coast League and make it to the quarterfinals of CIF. 

Staying in California, Shanna Brown will be playing basketball at Chapman University after leading her team to the quarterfinals of CIF and breaking 3 school records. These include: most career points, most points in a game, and most career rebounds. 

Another player staying in California is Dom Gonta who was a two team varsity athlete playing lacrosse and basketball at Aliso. Gonta will be continuing his lacrosse career at University of California, San Diego. At his time at Aliso he was a two time CIF Finalist and 2022 CIF Champion.

CJ Besuzzi, another two sport varsity athlete, was the lacrosse team’s starting goalie and played alongside Dom Gonta. He is committing to play football at Benedictine College in Arlington, Kansas.  

After helping lead his team to a CIF championship, Hayden Orrill is committing to play baseball at Cal State University Monterey Bay. Another Cal State commit is Brianna Salerno who is joining the dance team at Cal State University San Marcos. 

Rounding out the 2023 commits is Aline Le. She is committing to play golf at Vanguard University. She was a four year varsity athlete at Aliso and earned multiple All League titles and qualified for CIF multiple times.