Slater Still Weighing His Options

One of the fastest, most acrobatic athletes in Southern California still hasn’t finalized his college choice.

For months, Matt Slater of Anaheim Servite High has been weighing his options: Ivy League vs. Pacific 10 Conference.

Last week, he broke his silence, telling friends that Dartmouth was his likely choice. But he quickly made a strategic retreat, letting it be known that UCLA is still in the running.

He knows that within weeks a final decision must be made, but he’s not apologizing for his meticulous search for the right college.

“Once I go somewhere, I don’t want to transfer,” he said. “I want to stick it out for the next four years.”

Slater is one of the most sought-after unsigned athletes because he’s only 17 and his body is still changing, allowing him to become faster, stronger and more durable.

As a wide receiver in football, he caught 38 passes for 707 yards. In track, he has run the 100 meters in 10.70 seconds and the 200 in 21.88 seconds.

He is 5 feet 11, 185 pounds, and people who see him racing down a straightaway can’t believe he’s the son of Jackie Slater, who played 20 years in the NFL as an offensive lineman.

“My body is maturing,” Slater said. “I’m getting naturally faster, and thank God for that. I think I grew between football and track season.”

Slater’s father made the Pro Bowl seven times and played in 259 games for the Rams. He was a 6-4, 277-pound tackle who found out he couldn’t beat his oldest son in a race by the time Matt reached age 11.

“He said he let me win,” Matt said, “but I told him, ‘Think anything you want, dad, we can race again,’ but he hasn’t won since.”

The biggest impression Jackie and his wife, Annie, have made on Matt involves education. All his life, academics has been a top priority, helping him achieve a 3.8 grade-point average at Servite and inspiring him to consider an Ivy League school.

“My dad said he saw a lot of guys come and go from the game,” Slater said. “There were two types of guys, those who got their degrees and were optimistic what they would do and the guys who didn’t graduate who were scared to death what they would do. I know eventually the game is going to come to an end.”

Everyone raves about Slater’s work ethic and friendly personality.

“He’s incredibly polite,” track Coach Richard Gibbs said. “He’s inquisitive, he works hard, he comes prepared. The joke is he goes into a phone booth, takes off his glasses, and there’s an ‘S’ on his uniform but it really stands for Superman instead of Servite because he becomes a totally different kid.”

Slater gets along with almost everyone, and it’s part of his commitment to his church to make the effort to understand those who are different.

Despite his famous father, Slater has kept a low profile, with his family choosing to protect his privacy.

“I’m not big on having my name in the paper,” he said.

But his athletic reputation is spreading because his speed and instincts give a clear indication that he’s someone with a bright future.

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Al Bennett, the golf coach at Lake Balboa Birmingham, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

He was on the 11th hole at Cascades Golf Course in Sylmar last month waiting for the mother of freshman golfer Colby Sills to arrive and take her son home.

She eventually showed up, except she wasn’t driving a car.

“It was amazing,” Bennett said. “She was riding a horse and holding the reins of another. I took his clubs and he rode off into the sunset.”

Colby rode his horse, Indi, back to the stables on a 90-minute trail ride. “It was fun,” he said.

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Pitcher Billy Spottiswood of Reseda Cleveland had quite a week. He allowed no hits for 6 2/3 innings against Granada Hills and gave up no earned runs in six innings against West Hills Chaminade. There was one problem though: Spottiswood violated the state rule that limits pitchers to 10 innings per week. Cleveland will have to forfeit its Saturday victory over Chaminade.

After winning the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races at the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday, Xavier Carter of Palmetto (Fla.) Palma Bay took an unofficial recruiting visit to UCLA on Sunday. Carter, a 6-4 junior receiver, said the Bruins are the only school on the West Coast he’s considering.

Kenyon Churchwell of Los Angeles Loyola is a sophomore athlete on the rise. He went a personal-best 45 feet 3 1/4 inches in the triple jump during the day portion of the Arcadia Invitational. He’s also a promising 6-6 basketball player. His brother, Robert, played for Georgetown in the 1990s.

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].