In the classroom, high school students grind until the very last day of their senior year, aiming to elevate their test scores and GPAs to perhaps land an academic scholarship.
But in the increasingly competitive world of college sports recruitment, it has become common for teams to sign top student-athletes when their time in high school is barely even halfway over.
The summer between sophomore and junior year is a pivotal stretch for students looking to land athletic scholarships, as many Rye High School sports standouts can attest.
In the school’s 2025 graduating class, 38 student-athletes are going on to play a college sport, including 30 in Division I. Twelve committed to rowing teams, followed closely by 11 in lacrosse, two sports that frequently assemble recruiting classes as athletes enter their junior seasons.
All five of the boys lacrosse players who will play in college committed in the opening weeks of their junior year: Matt Giannetti to Princeton, Tucker Hess to Villanova, Chris Iuliano to Notre Dame, Tyler McDermott to Princeton, and Ty Ramachandran to Georgetown.
Division I hopefuls attend summer lacrosse showcases like Main Stage, which hosts the nation’s top rising juniors every July, and Showtime Lacrosse, an invitation-only showcase in June for elite rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors. These types of events, along with club team tournaments and prospect days hosted on university campuses, give college coaches plenty of chances to watch “targets” outside of the high school regular season.
“When you’re in the heat of recruiting, you have probably three showcases, on top of prospect days, where you’re probably going to two,” McDermott said of the months between his sophomore and junior years. “So, it stacks up to a lot of events. My recruiting summer was definitely a lot, but definitely worth it.”
After visiting and talking with different schools throughout the summer months, athletes and club coaches gauge interest as best they can to anticipate who will reach out when the window opens on Sept. 1 for college coaches to make contact.
“Your club coach tells you who you should expect to be hearing from, but there’s definitely some surprises,” McDermott said. “Pretty much as it hit 12 a.m., I got a text from Princeton’s offensive coordinator saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to call you.’”
The process moved quickly from there; McDermott took his official visit on Sept. 9, where he made his verbal commitment, and signed his national letter of intent (NLI) in the fall after he was officially accepted into the Ivy League university academically.
The recruitment process heats up around the same time in rowing, the most popular sport among 2025 Rye High School sports recruits. Mia Padovano, one of 10 Garnet girls who will row in college, committed to Stanford during the first semester of her junior year and said female rowers typically commit sooner than males because of their faster physical development.
“I started talking to Stanford as soon as recruitment opened,” Padovano said. “I went on an unofficial visit over the summer in August and then I got my offer in November when I went on my official visit, and then committed in December …. Everyone’s process is a little different.”
Rowing recruiters value metrics like erg score (how quickly a rower can complete a 2000-meter distance on an ergometer), race results, and personality and attitude, which are especially significant for a sport that isn’t determined by individual performance.
“At official visits, I think of it as a multiday interview, where (recruiters) want to see if you’re going to fit in with their team culture,” Padovano said. “If the rowers don’t connect, then they might not be as successful, even if they’re individually, really strong athletes. Our coach, Ivan (Ostojic), always says, ‘There are no stars in rowing.’”
Like Rye’s lacrosse program, which is widely recognized as one of the best in the Northeast, the success of RowAmerica Rye (RAR), the local program for athletes ages 12 to 18, also attracts attention from recruiters nationwide. In this June’s U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships, RAR’s boys Varsity Eight won a third straight national championship, and the girls Varsity Eight won their second straight, considered to be the most competitive rowing event at the youth level.
“I think it’s very much drilled into us by our head coach, Marko Serafimovski,” Padovano said. “Whatever standard that we set last year is the minimum requirement for the year following.”
Many schools don’t have 12 students in their entire graduating class play college sports, let alone 12 from one sport. So, what sets Rye apart? McDermott and Padovano agreed the culture, winning tradition, and continued success of their respective sports in Rye all worked in their favor.
“People see that one person can do it, so there’s that belief that maybe I can too,” McDermott said. “Seeing that it was possible in Rye helped me to kind of have that peace of mind.”
“I think, at RAR, it comes down to our team culture,” Padovano said. “It’s super competitive, but everyone is also just really excited to be there and loves what they do. I think that’s what brought us our success.”
Now 38 Garnet student-athletes, many of whom made their college decisions well over a year ago, are ready to get to work with new teammates, cultures, and regimes at the next level.
“I’ve committed, I’m going to be on the roster, but now, how can I make that impact?” McDermott said. “It will be much harder than club ball, much harder than high school ball, but hopefully that work ethic will pay off and you can match that level of competition come spring.”
(Editor’s note: Rocklan Boisseau committed to throw javelin at Indiana University after this article was published, bringing the total number of 2025 commitments to 39.)
