SANTA ROSA — For a brief moment on Friday, the city of Santa Rosa stood still as one if its most admired and talented high school athletes put pen to paper and secured his future.
For months, the anticipation had been growing as rumors began to spread of possible college destinations for the Warriors’ Leo Lara.
On Friday, all was revealed as Lara signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Texas A&M University-Commerce this fall.
“Having everybody come out to witness my signing today means a lot to me because I’ve been here for four years and I love the great support system that they have,” said Lara. “I’m going to remember all my friends and the fans cheering when I would make buckets.”
Johnny Cipriano, Santa Rosa’s longtime basketball coach and recently named athletic director, was extremely happy for his prized cager.
“Leo’s a great, humble kid,” he said. “He’s the type of person that never lets his accomplishments overshadow who he was. His parents have done a great job of keeping him grounded and letting him know where he needs to go and where he needs to stay away from.
“I’m going to miss him a lot, but I know that’s part of life and he needs to move on. I just hope that he can move on and achieve his goals because I know he’s set some high goals. But I know they’re going to take care of him where he’s going.”
During his four years as part of the Warriors’ varsity hoops team, Lara helped lead his squad to four straight district titles, guided the Warriors to the Region IV-3A finals as a junior in 2016 and, last but not least, got the team into the UIL Class 3A state semifinals this season.
However, over the course of his high school career, Lara was also an all-around athlete in other sports, including football, track and baseball.
It is because of this sports diversity that Coach Cipriano believes Lara has an opportunity to reach a new level in his basketball game.
“Leo kept asking me ‘do you really think I’m going to get better’ and I would always tell him ‘I know you are because you have never specialized in any sport and now you will,’” said Cipriano.
“When he starts weight training and specialized training for basketball, the sky’s the limit for him because he’s done what he’s done to help despite limited practice since he was always getting ready for the next sport.”
The Commerce Lions compete in the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference. Last season, the Lions went 19-11 overall and 10-8 in conference action.
