Cross country

Arizona high school runner of the year Juan Reyes of Carl Hayden High has decided to remain close to his 12 brothers and sisters and spend his college career at Arizona State University. Reyes, the 1999 Arizona high school champ in the 3,200-meter race, started out thinking he would sign with ASU, but after some memorable visits - to 1999 NCAA cross country runner-up Wisconsin, NCAA champion Arkansas and tradition-rich Oregon - he began having second thoughts. Not until he took his last visit to the ASU campus did he make a final decision.

Reyes, who is considered to be among the top 10 high school harriers in the nation, has said that running for a team with a chance at winning a national championship was important. The ASU men are coming off their first trip to nationals this past fall.

Another highly recruited runner, Magdalena Sandoval of Los Alamos High (Los Alamos, Calif.), also announced college plans. Sandoval, who is the daughter of marathon great Anthony Sandoval, chose Rice University in Houston, Texas, over Stanford, Cal-Berkley, Oregon and Seattle-Pacific. Sandoval, who visited all of those schools, won the state cross country championship as a junior and state titles at 1,600 and 3,200 meters in track as a senior.

Basketball

Kimmery Newsome of Pearl-Cohn High in Tennessee has signed a scholarship offer from Kansas State University. Newsome averaged 18.2 points for the Firebirds this past season and led them in assists.

The long, roller-coaster-ride recruitment of McDonald's All-American Darius Rice of Lanier High (Miss.) came to a fitting end this week when the 6-foot-9 forward signed with coach Leonard Hamilton and the University of Miami. Many observers thought Rice, who is the nephew of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice, would stay close to home and go to Mississippi State. But after Rice, who averaged 24.5 points and 7.8 rebounds this past season for Class 4A state runner-up Lanier, canceled a press conference in which he was expected to announce he would attend Kentucky this fall, no one seemed to know where the teen was heading.

Without having taken any official visits, 6-foot-11 junior center Channing Frye of St. Mary's High in Arizona has verbally committed to the University of Arizona. Had the top-50 junior taken visits, it would have likely been to the schools on his final list, which included North Carolina, Connecticut, Notre Dame, UCLA and Stanford. By landing Frye, Arizona may be laying the groundwork to land Frye's St. Mary's teammate, junior point guard Jason Fontenet. Frye averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks as a junior.

Lucas Romine became the third player from Goodpasture High in Tennessee to sign a college basketball scholarship when he announced this week he will attend Berry College. Romine, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 14 points last season, joins teammates Albert Hacker, who signed with Liscomb, and Dean Miller, who is headed to Lindsey-Wilson. Hacker and Miller announced earlier this week.

Jabari Maddox, a 6-foot-2 point guard from St. Joseph's High (Westchester, Ill.) signed a letter of intent with Bowling Green earlier this week. Notre Dame and Bradley were reportedly among his final three.

Louisville landed 5-foot-10 point guard Bryant Northern of Jeffersonville High (Jeffersonville, Ind.), and Vanderbilt scored Georgia gem Brendan Plavich of Dalton High (Dalton, Ga.), months after he was released from his commitment to Georgia Tech. Plavich wanted out of Tech after the departure of Yellow Jackets coach Bobby Cremmins.

Football

Brad George, a 6-foot-2, 280-pound offensive lineman from Harpeth High in Tennessee, signed with Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., last week. He was a three-year starter at Harpreth.

One of Tennessee's most sought-after junior football players, Montgomery Bell Academy quarterback Ingle Martin, is trying to narrow his list of colleges down to a workable number. A strong showing at last week's Nike Camp in Athens, Ga., probably didn't help, as more schools jumped on his bandwagon.

Martin, who connected on 66.4 percent of his passes last season for 1,450 yards and 14 touchdowns, has made unofficial visits to Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, among others. He's reportedly planning additional unofficial trips to Virginia, North Carolina and Duke, and has recently added Stanford to his list.