Sports Stars Ink College Commitments

National Letter of Intent signing was held in the quad on November 12, a day after the signing period officially opened. 13 seniors signed binding athletic agreements, each committing to play for a single university in exchange for financial aid.

For boys’ water polo, 2013 and 2015 NCS champion teammates Nikhil Suri and Yurii Hanley committed to Harvard and UC Davis, respectively, and Cullen Jacuzzi signed with Bucknell. Alex Hanley signed with UC Davis for girls’ water polo.

Boys’ lacrosse star Austin Mello committed to Vassar College.  His lacrosse teammate Kevin Atkinson signed with DePauw University.  Alex Wahl, another lacrosse standout, committed to Ohio Wesleyan University.

Girls’ volleyball players Kirsten Sibley and Emma Johnson committed to University of Hawaii and Loyola Marymount University, respectively.

Madeline Young signed a letter of intent to participate in crew for the University of Southern California, and Sarah Cella, a track and field middle distance runner, committed to Tulane University. In baseball, Max Flower signed an NLI for UC Berkeley, and Myles Harris signed his commitment to the University of Utah.

According to the National Letter of Intent website, when a student signs an NLI, he or she is agreeing to attend the university for 1 academic year, and the university, in exchange, promises to provide that student athletic financial aid for 1 academic year.

As a result of the Veterans Day holiday on Wednesday, November 11, Campolindo’s NLI event was held the following day. The Cougar athletic department has been holding the lunchtime signing event for 10 years.

According to Principal John Walker, “The purpose of the event is to celebrate the accomplishments of Campolindo’s student athletes.” He added, “College athletics provides a valuable experience for student athletes and Campolindo is excited that so many students are pursuing their educational and athletic dreams.”

According to Mello, his worth to Vassar is proven by the fact that he has scored the most lacrosse goals ever scored by a single student at Campolindo. “I think that Alex Wahl, Kevin Atkinson and myself are trailblazers for Campolindo lacrosse. As far as I know, we are the first to play NCAA lacrosse from Campo, and unlike other sports at Campo, we had to fight a strong East Coast bias in the recruiting process,” he said.

Mello said the recruiting process with particularly tough for he and his teammates. “A lot of [other] players have high school and club coaches promoting them with college coaches. This was a luxury we [Wahl, Atkinson, and I] did not have,” Mello said.

“We are really proud of what we accomplished and hopefully our success can make it attainable for some of the younger guys at Campo to play college lacrosse,” Mella said.

Johnson, after committing to Loyola Marymount University for volleyball, said she considers LMU her dream school. She attributes her success not to luck, but to diligence. “Volleyball has been my passion for the past 6 years and because of that work that I’ve put in, it has given me benefits,” she explained.

Johnson described her athletic career as “years of hard work and choosing tournaments and practices over social events and balancing school with practice everyday.” With how her work has paid off, however, she “wouldn’t change a thing.”