SAN DIEGO – San Diego State interim head water polo coach Dana Ochsner announced the signing of two student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to compete for San Diego State starting in the 2023-24 school year. The announcement was made Thursday morning.
The pair are Sammi Byers of Yucaipa, Calif., and Makena Macedo of Newport Beach, Calif.
Byers is a right-handed attacker at Yucaipa High who as a junior was honored as a first-team All-CIF, first-team All-Citrus Belt League and second-team all-county designee. A three-year varsity performer, her team enters the 2022-23 school year as three-time Citrus Belt champs and last year Byers, in her second season as a starter, paced the squad with 100 assists and shared the team lead in goals with 98. After winning the Citrus Belt crown last season, Yucaipa went on to win the CIF Southern Section D2 championship and reached the Southern California Regional semifinal round.
Byers club polo includes seven seasons with Thunderbird/Sand Canyon Water Polo as well as competing for CHAWP 16U in 2021 where the team finished in eighth place in the platinum bracket at the Junior Olympics. In addition, she currently plays for CHAWP 18U which had a 14th place finish at the Junior Olympics also in the platinum bracket. As well as her success in the pool, Byers has earned academic honors in each of her first three years at Yucaipa High and is a three-time USA Water Polo Scholar Athlete.
Macedo, is a 5-6, utility, will graduate from Corona del Mar High in Newport Beach in the Spring, and is a three-year varsity letterwinner. Last season, she helped Corona del Mar to the Division I CIF Southern Section title totaling 48 goals, 32 assists and 61 steals on the campaign.
Competing for CDN Polo's 18U club team in 2022, she helped to secure a sixth-place finish in the Junior Olympic qualifier and then a 12th-place finish at the Junior Olympics. The year before, as part of SOCAL Water Polo, Macedo was part of the 16U SOCAL Black Team which earned a 13th-place finish in the Platinum Division at the Junior Olympics.
In each of the previous four years, Macedo, who earned academic all-America honors from 2019-21, has been part of the Olympic Development Program. In 2019, she was a member of the USA Water Polo's SoPac Development Zone Team and attended the National Team Selection Camp. In 2020, Macedo earned inclusion on the SoPac Cadet Zone Team and in 2021 reprised her SoPac Cadet Zone Team participation and was at the National Team Selection Camp as well. Last year, as part of the SoPac Youth Zone Team, she earned a fifth-place finish in the national championship.
San Diego State opens its 2023 season on Saturday, Jan. 21, against UCLA at the UCSB Winter Invite in Santa Barbara, Calif. It will be the first of four games over two days at the event for the Scarlet and Black.