Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — Eureka High School celebrated its senior student-athletes who will be moving on to compete at the collegiate level after graduation on Friday afternoon.

At least 10 Loggers will be taking their talents to the next level and six of them were on hand for a letter signing ceremony, along with Eureka athletic director Omar Khattab and some of the Eureka coaches.

Among the seniors who will be moving on, Mallorie Beauchamp will play basketball for Shasta College, and she will be joined in Redding by Cole Zeller and Robert Williams, each of whom will play baseball for the Knights.

Six Loggers will be staying closer to home and competing for College of the Redwoods, including Paige Rodgers and Lorena Hernandez, who will play soccer for the local community college.

Eureka’s Chayton Rose and Gavyn Haberman will both play football for CR, while Royce Olson and Michael Jewell will compete in baseball for CR.

And rounding out the list of Loggers who have committed their futures to collegiate programs, soccer standout Angelina Conant will play soccer for Folsom Lake College, the 2024 women’s JUCO state champions.

“To our seniors who are signing letters of intent to play at the collegiate level, this is your day,” Khattab told the gathering. “You’ve earned it.

“Playing at the next level, it’s no small achievement. It’s less than seven percent of high school athletes that go on to play in college.

“The statistic alone speaks volumes about your talent and tenacity.”

“You’ve shown character, leadership and deep commitment to your teams and to your community and for that we are incredibly proud of all of you.”

Khattab also praised the contributions of the athletes’ families and the school coaches, all of whom have played key roles on their path to success.

Some of these seniors enjoyed success on multiple sports fronts, none more so than Jewell.

The busy Loggers standout played four years of football, basketball and baseball and could have competed in any of those sports in college.

However, he chose to join a CR baseball program that appears to be on the rise under head coach John Downey after the team closed the spring season strong to carry some much-needed momentum heading into the offseason.

The addition of Jewell and Olson will be a boost for the first-year coach, who also was on hand on Friday.

Beauchamp, meanwhile, joins Shasta after enjoying some incredible success with the Loggers.

The senior standout played soccer, basketball and softball at Eureka, including four years in the latter two, and she was recently named the school’s 2025 Jay Willard Award winner.

“(Mallorie) kind of fits the mold of what it is to be a student-athlete,” Khattab said. “She gets great grades, she’s a superior human being. There’s not a teacher on this campus that doesn’t have incredibly positive things to say about Mallorie. There’s not a coach that she’s played under that doesn’t also have amazing things to say about Mallorie.

“She’s a great competitor, she’s a leader, she’s a winner, and I’m excited to see what she does next year too.”

Rodgers, Hernandez and Conant, meanwhile, will leave a legacy like no other student-athletes in the history of H-DNL sports.

The three senior standouts played four years of high school soccer together and remarkably won four consecutive North Coast Section championships, becoming the first athletes in league history to ever achieve that.

Olson also had a big impact with the Loggers and has been one of head coach Tommy Gale’s most important players on the baseball fields for the past few seasons.

This spring, Olson led the Loggers with three wins on the mound and had an ERA of 3.04.

Willians and Zeller also both left their mark on a Eureka baseball team that is sending an impressive four players onto college programs, which is a testament to the job Gale and his staff are doing.

Williams batted .403 this spring with 17 RBIs, each of which was second best on the team, and he showcased his power at the plate with seven doubles, four triples and two home runs, all of them team-highs.

Zeller also impressed for the Eureka baseball team and batted .304 with 14 RBIs and four doubles.

All four of the Eureka baseball standouts have the talents to succeed on the collegiate fields.

Rose and Haberman, meanwhile, will join a CR football program that is quickly establishing itself as one of the most consistent in the state.

Under the guidance of head coach Jason White and his staff, Redwoods has won back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the mid 1970s and Rose and Haberman will be expected to help continue that success as the local college program gets set to make the jump up to the more competitive National Division this fall.

Rose will play defensive end and is a “kid that has had a good offseason in the weight room,” according to White, while Haberman will play defensive back.

Both of them played big roles for the Loggers last fall and helped reestablish the program as one of the most competitive in the H-DNL after a few years of struggles.

“Congratulations to class of 2025 signees, this is the beginning of your next chapter,” Khattab said. “So now go chase those dreams and represent us with integrity and never forget where you came from.”