The summer recruiting season kicked off with the annual Texas Top 99 (a.k.a. T99) lacrosse showcase in Dallas. The event signals the start of a busy summer of events for travel teams and players. These prospects seek to catch the eyes of the college coaches who attend these events to select players for their futures squads.
T99 was started by Norte Dame Assistant Head Coach Gerry Byrne as a way to showcase the growing talent level in Texas. Byrne has seen the explosion in Texas lacrosse from his days as a Houston high school coach in the early 90’s to his current position. Running more than a decade, over 300 T99 players have continued their careers in college.
Nearly 100 coaches, representing 29 Division 1, ten D2, 43 D3 and 15 MCLA schools descended upon the Metroplex to observe the players selected for this event. These college coaches also provide hands-on coaching and training and ultimately select those All-star players.
Several players, who all grew up playing lacrosse as Dragons in the Southlake Carroll Lacrosse Association earned All-Star honors. Lead by the strong defense effort of Ryan Thompson, a Varsity Junior defenseman and a two-goal, two-assist game of A.J. Van den Dyssel, a Varsity Senior midfielder, the 2017/2018 White All-Star team prevailed in the final.
The 2019/2020 bracket saw several other SCLA youth program alums earn All-Star designation including Harry Blake, who contributed last year as a Varsity Freshman Attack, Mitchell Gruenewald, a defenseman/long-stick middie, and rising freshman Drew Wasserman. Wasserman’s older brother Casey, a past T99 participant and attackman for the Varsity Dragons, recently announced his college commitment to play for Division 1 Towson.
This week, it’s the girl’s turn. Girl’s lacrosse also continues to grow in popularity and skill as evidenced by the C2C Showcase event. This event brings top-level girls to the area to develop skills and display their talents. This showcase gives these players the opportunity to improve their games, compete, and make impressions on coaches from some of the top programs in the nation.
The programs represented will include a wide-range of programs including Duke, Notre Dame, Maryland, Virginia, Georgetown, Princeton, Stanford, Wagner, Louisville, James Madison and Ohio State.
Expected to attend are three Lady Dragon players who were also selected for the upcoming national Under Armour Underclass Games. Representing the Southwest Highlight (2017/2018) Team will be Audrey Beam, a defensive midfielder and goalie Chloe Monroe, while defender Jordyn Harryman will be a member of the Command (2019/2020) team.
The Southwest Teams represents not only Texas but Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The teams were selected via tryouts during the months of May and June. These teams will now travel to Baltimore, MD and compete in the Under Armour Underclass Tournament, June 30th – July 3rd against 10 other regional teams.
On the boys side, Luke Leffingwell a rising-sophomore midfielder and face-off specialist for the Dragon Varsity team will represent the Southwest Command team.