NCHS '20 Recruited D-3 Athletes
James Ragusa — UMass Amherst — Diving (Division 1)
New Canaan High School is recognizing members of the class of 2020 who were recruited athletes to Division 3 colleges.
District officials for a number of years “have been thinking about trying to do something” similar to a formal signing ceremony held annually for student-athletes heading to D-1 schools, according to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan.
“For Division 3 athletes, they put a lot of time and effort into what they do and they are legitimately recruited athletes, though they are not receiving any financial aid like those other kids,” Egan told NewCanaanite.com. “So we have thought about it for a while and were planning to do a separate signing day because a Division 3 day was developed, but we could not do it because the date has passed.”
The commitments from D-3 schools typically come in April, so Egan and the Athletic Department has created and is sharing profiles of the student-athletes through social media and other online means (see gallery above).
“Kids make decisions based on what is the best fit for them, and a lot of these kids are taking the best fit of athletics and academics and marrying that together rather than just looking at the teams that recruit them but don’t meet all of their needs,” Egan said.
The NCHS class of 2020 recruited athletes are:
- Sophie Curcio—Springfield College (cross country, track)
- Kyle Russell—Franklin & Marshall College (lacrosse)
- Ryan Lytle—Babson College (cross country, track & field)
- James Ragusa—UMass Amerst (diving) *Division 1
- Jackson Camporin—Trinity College (diving)
- Henry Pohle—Colby College (basketball)
- Emily Knight—Johns Hopkins University (field hockey)
- Elizabeth DeMarino—Colby College (lacrosse)
- Drew Guida—Tufts University (football, lacrosse)
- Andrew Symon—Swarthmore College (lacrosse)
- Andrew Morse—Washington & Lee University (football)
- Alex Gibbens—Carleton College (basketball)