Jackson’s Kingma signs with Oregon
Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Three years ago, Brett Kingma stood in the Jackson High School library and happily watched his older sister cement her plans to play college basketball in the Pacific-10 Conference.
On Wednesday, Kingma returned to the same room in Mill Creek where his sister, Kristi Kingma, signed with the Washington Huskies in 2007. This time, he took a huge step — the biggest one yet — toward realizing his own Pac-10 hoop dreams.
By signing and submitting an NCAA National Letter of Intent, Jackson High senior Brett Kingma officially became an Oregon Duck.
“When I committed it was a relief,” said Kingma, who considered numerous Division-I men’s basketball scholarship offers before picking Oregon over Brigham Young University and Arizona State University in late September, “but (after a verbal commitment) you never really know — things can happen. But now that I’ve signed and it’s official, it feels good to have it over with.”
Surrounded by several dozen supporters (family, friends, coaches and teachers), Kingma signed at 2:18 p.m. Wearing an Oregon sweatshirt, he was all smiles before and after the signing, which took place on the first day of the NCAA early signing period for several sports, including basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball.
Kingma, a 6-foot-1 guard, is the first Jackson High athlete to accept a Pac-10 men’s basketball scholarship, Jackson coach Steve Johnson said. With his signing out of the way, Kingma can focus on the upcoming high school season. Practice starts on Monday.
“I want to try to be a leader and do what it takes for us to win a state championship,” said Kingma, the season-leading scorer for Jackson’s 2009-2010 team that reached the Class 4A state title game.
Kingma grew up idolizing former Oregon guard Luke Ridnour and said he hopes to eventually make a similar impact for the Ducks, who are guided by first-year head coach Dana Altman.
“They want me to be a scoring point guard and be versatile,” Kingma said. “They play with four guards, so it will be fun.”
“He’s a good shooter, but (more than that) he’s a good basketball player. He wanted to be here, which is always great,” coach Altman said about Kingma on Wednesday in an interview with Bob Clark of the Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.).
Connor Miele, another Jackson High senior, signed at the same ceremony as Kingma on Wednesday. Miele, a golfer, inked a Letter of Intent with The Master’s College (Santa Clarita, Calif.). Also, on Wednesday morning Jackson’s Leigh-Ann Haataja signed with the Portland State University women’s volleyball team right before catching a bus to the Tri-Cities, where second-ranked Jackson is considered a contender to win the 4A state volleyball tournament in Kennewick.
In Snohomish, a few miles from Jackson High, Glacier Peak High’s Payton Pervier signed with the Northwest Nazarene University (Nampa, Idaho) men’s basketball team. Pervier, a 6-11 center, is Glacier Peak’s first-ever male college hoops recruit.
Meanwhile, further south along the I-5 corridor two Edmonds-Woodway High student-athletes signed at a combined ceremony: Derek Callahan (Gonzaga University baseball) and Sydney Donaldson (Western Washington University women’s basketball).
To find out which other local recruits signed, check out the list above.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam and follow Cane on Twitter at MikeCaneHerald.
