Senior player narrows down choices for where to play in the fall

Hayden Evans, Staff Reporter
Originally published March 30, 2018

Max Ramstad has been playing lacrosse since third grade, and has been a valuable member on the varsity team all four years. He knows he wants to play in college, and has received offers from multiple coaches.
“I had an offer to play at Colorado College, I had an offer at Ohio Wesleyan University, MIT, Middlebury College, multiple East Coast schools,” Ramstad said. His top choices at the moment, however, are the University of Michigan and Duke University.
“They’re a good mix of academics and sports. Duke is really good at lacrosse and they have great academic programs, and same with Michigan,” Ramstad said. Academics is still the priority for Ramstad, who wants to major in engineering in college. “I would like to play Division 1, if possible, but it really comes down to academics, because that’s priority number one.”
Ramstad is currently waiting to hear back from admissions at Duke and the University of Michigan. In the meantime, he is making the most of his final high school season. Last year, the varsity team competed in the Metro Division 2, which includes teams like Garfield and Franklin. This year, they’ve moved up to Division 1, where they’ll face tougher opponents like Bainbridge and Eastside Catholic.
Last year, the team had a very successful season with an overall record of 20-2. This year, they’ll have to work a lot harder to achieve that same record. Although the team started out with two losses, Ramstad thinks they’ll do a lot better towards the end of the season.
“We’re growing as a team, and a lot of our players are freshmen, so we can really get a lot better over the course of the season,” Ramstad said. The team’s goal is to make it back to the playoff semifinals, where they lost to Bellevue last year.
Ramstad also plays lacrosse for three select teams: Seattle Starz, West Coast Starz and Tropics. Ramstad finds playing for these teams extremely competitive. West Coast Starz is widely considered to be the best high school boys lacrosse team in the Western United States. Every player on the team is committed to a top Division 3 college or a Division 1 school.
West Coast Starz often fly long distances to compete in tournaments, where college coaches are often in attendance looking for potential recruits. This past summer, the team competed in a tournament in Pennsylvania and came third overall. They did, however, manage to beat the top ranked high school boys team in the country.
No matter what jersey he’s wearing, Ramstad enjoys playing lacrosse and loves to compete against strong opponents. After three years of listening to older captains, he’s ready to be a leader on the team and help direct the younger players during practices and games. Next year, Ramstad could be playing lacrosse for Duke or Michigan, but for now he’s making the most of his last high school season.