El Toro’s Speaker to Attend Columbia

Eric Speaker, a 6-foot 6-inch forward at El Toro High School, announced that he will attend Columbia University in the fall.

Speaker averaged 19.1 points and shot 51% from the field last season. He shared most valuable basketball player honors in the South Coast League with Capistrano Valley point guard Charles Lockard. He also was named to the all-tournament teams of the Walter Wong Invitational, the Tournament of Champions and the San Clemente-Kiwanis Invitational.

Speaker, who has a 4.17 grade-point average with honors classes, will play basketball at Columbia, a member of the Ivy League, which does not participate in the national letter of intent program.