This year’s National Letter of Intent Ceremony was full of heartfelt speeches from athletes talking about sports journeys and the continuation of collegiate sports legacies, along with some epic swag worn by each of the ceremony’s participants.
On Wednesday, April 30, nine Campo athletes were recognized for their high school athletic achievements and were celebrated for their commitments to play their respective sports in college at the Spring National Letter of Intent (NLI) ceremony.
Senior Gaetan Avicolli, who is committed to play lacrosse at Southwestern University in Texas will be reuniting with his brother, Dante, who is a freshman on Southwestern’s Division III lacrosse team. “It’s something that not a lot of people get the chance to do so I’m very grateful for this opportunity,” said Avicolli. In his NLI speech, Avicolli noted that “Campo lacrosse has taught me what it means to be a great teammate and friend on and off the field.”
Senior Sloan Pullen committed to California Lutheran University for swimming. California Lutheran is a Division III school in Thousand Oaks. Pullen started swimming competitively for Campo in her junior year. “My high school athletic journey has not been straightforward, but I’ve been fortunate enough to have an amazing support system,” she said in her speech. Despite only having two years of competition behind her, Pullen managed to break the Campolindo Cabana Club record for the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 35.01 second, which clearly grabbed the attention of college coaches.
Senior Boden Rasmussen committed to play lacrosse at Northwest Nazarene University (NNU), a Division II school in Idaho. Leading up to his senior year, Rasmussen knew he wanted to play college lacrosse, he just didn’t know where at the time. “I got together a bunch of DII and DIII schools, and I just sent out emails to all their coaches,” he said. After that, Rasmussen started talking to the coaches at NNU, who invited him out for an unofficial visit where he got to practice with the team. A week after that visit, NNU offered him a partial athletic scholarship and Rasmussen committed soon after. “I liked the small school feel; I like all the people on the team. I just wanted to maximize my ability to play sports for a little bit longer.”
Rasmussen’s childhood friend and women’s basketball superstar Ali McCauley was also a part of the NLI ceremony. McCauley, also a senior, committed to Lewis and Clark College, a Division III school in Portland, Oregon. McCauley was on the varsity team for all four years of high school and was selected as her team’s MVP for each of those seasons. Notably, McCauley’s commitment makes her the third of three McCauley sisters to go from Campo to play collegiate sports. Her two older sisters play Division I lacrosse at UAlbany and at UC Davis. So, the McCauley family is familiar with the student-athlete life.
As these Campo athletes transition to play their sports in college, we are all so excited to see them at the next level and hope for nothing but pure success from them.
Other athletes that were celebrated at the ceremony but are not quoted in this article were Elsie Ceridono (Claremont McKenna lacrosse), Aislinn Comerford (Swarthmore track and field), Sean Mungunshagai (Chapman soccer), Emma Shane (Tufts swim and dive), and Avery Jules (Bowdoin rugby).
