First published in the Dec. 1 print issue of the Pasadena Outlook.
CONTENT AND PHOTOS PROVIDED BY FLINTRIDGE PREP
Flintridge Preparatory School recently held a special College Signing Day ceremony to celebrate the three student-athletes in the Class of 2023 who signed to play sports at Division I universities.
Ashley Chea signed with Princeton to play basketball, Natalie Leung signed with Cornell for fencing and Chayse Ying signed with Notre Dame to play soccer.
“We at Flintridge Prep are very proud of our student-athletes that will be making the jump next year to play sports at the Division I level,” Flintridge Prep Athletic Director Sean Beattie said. “It has been our pleasure to watch them grow and mature as athletes and as young adults. We want to wish them the best of luck once they begin the next chapter of their student-athlete experience in college.”
Chea was a four-year varsity player and won Rookie of the Year, All-CIF, and first team all-league. She played for one of the top-ranked 17-and-under teams in America, Cal Storm Team Taurasi EYBL, since the 8th grade. Being out her entire sophomore year and having a short season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, coming back was hard but in her junior year she averaged a double-double with 31.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game when she was selected the Prep League’s MVP.
Leung started epee fencing in 2016 at Swords Fencing Studio under coach Tigran Shaginian. She is an A-rated fencer and part of the All-American team, and she won gold in the Junior Olympics team event. For the past three years, she represented the USA by competing in the international circuit in Grenoble, France and Budapest, Hungary. At the Cadet (16-under) World Cup in France, she placed in the top 20 out of 225 fencers. Most recently, she placed top 10 in the Cadet event at the Junior Olympics and top 15 in the Juniors (18-under) event at Summer Nationals.
Ying played multiple sports growing up but ultimately committed to soccer. During her career, she was in USYNT 17-and-under pool and was called up to the Philippines National Team. She has been playing for Flintridge Prep’s girls soccer program since 7th grade.
