Bickford to play soccer for UC Santa Barbara

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Chandi Bickford, the state high school long jump and triple jump champion last year, has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UC-Santa Barbara — but the only thing she will be jumping for is a soccer ball.

Bickford will graduate next month from King Kekaulike High in Pukalani, Maui. Her signed scholarship agreement arrived in Santa Barbara Monday.

Although she made first-team All-Maui Interscholastic League soccer as a striker, Bickford will be tried first at defender by the Gauchos, UCSB coach Paul Stumpf said.

"We are looking to get a little bit of depth in our defenders," he said. "She is a great athlete, a very physical type of player. We needed some of that bluecollar-worker mentality," Stumpf said.

Stumpf got a close look at Bickford when she attended UCSB's summer camp. "She's very mature and patient and most important, she wants to be here," he said.

Bickford said that the half soccer scholarship, academic scholarships (she has a 3.81 GPA and a 4.1 fall semester) and other financial aid will cover all but $9,000 of the $32,000 annual cost of attending UCSB. She wants to be a pediatrician or a physical therapist.

Another King Kekaulike senior, soccer marking back Daniel Scott, has been invited to join his Hurricanes club teammate, sweeper Ian Ichimura of Baldwin, as a walk-on for tryouts at Gonzaga in Washington.

Scott's brother, Zach, was a starting defender for Gonzaga and now plays for the professional Seattle Sounders.

TRACK AND FIELD

MACDONALD

Macdonald will be trying to win her fourth straight state 800-meter championship on May 10 and would like to end her career by breaking the state meet record of 2 minutes, 13.23 seconds set by her sister, Eri, now a senior at Oregon, in 1998.

Pippa's career best is 2:15.72 at last year's states. Only Eri, who ranks 18th in NCAA Division I this season, has run faster in Hawai'i.

Macdonald chose Cal over Washington after official visits because she liked the Berkeley community better. Also, UW invited her to walk on, while Cal "offered me something, which is a lot more than I expected," she said.

Macdonald qualified academically with her 3.7 grade-point average.

FOOTBALL

• Basham accepted by E. Washington: Ali'ikea Basham, a wide receiver for Campbell, has been accepted at Eastern Washington as a Prop. 48 student, meaning he can attend classes starting in September but is not eligible for football until he passes 24 units.

Basham, who is 6 feet 2 and 180 pounds, earned second-team O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference honors last season.