By Scott Brinton
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, 7 million young people compete in high school sports. Fewer than 200,000 make Division I or Division II squads. Put another way, just 2.85 percent of high school athletes go on to play in the top two college divisions.
Of the athletes who make Division I or II teams, half receive athletic scholarships, often partial rides that cover a quarter or a third of their expenses.
So, in many ways, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District is having a banner year, placing seven senior athletes on Division I teams and one on a Division II squad next year -- all of whom were awarded either full athletic or athletic/academic scholarships.
"The chances of playing Division I are so slim, so it's truly remarkable to play Division I," said Saul Lerner, Bellmore-Merrick's athletic director. "We're striving hard to improve the level of coaching, which improves the level of play, and we've been fortunate to have a number of great athletes. In the last couple of years, a lot of our programs have gotten better and better."
At Calhoun
Megan Vasquez, basketball
Megan Vasquez, a straight-A student at Calhoun High School, will play Division I basketball for Yale in Connecticut next year. Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but rather award grants to players like Vasquez.
She recently became the first Calhoun athlete to have her jersey retired, after scoring a record 2,000 points for the Calhoun Colts. She began playing varsity basketball for Calhoun in seventh grade, and is arguably Nassau County's best female high school basketball player this year. She also played goalie for the Calhoun girls' soccer team. Vasquez chose Yale, she said, because she wanted to balance athletics and academics.
Brian Winterfeldt, lacrosse
Brian Winterfeldt will play Division I lacrosse for SUNY Albany next year. Winterfeldt has played varsity lacrosse for Calhoun since 10th grade, earning All-Conference honors in his first year with the squad and All-County honors in 11th grade. He was also an alternate on Long Island's Empire State team, and played varsity football as well. He began playing lacrosse at age 9 in the Bellmore-Merrick Police Activity League. He earned a 75 percent athletic scholarship and plans to major in business next year.
At Kennedy
Jordan Ashley, cross-country
Jordan Ashley played youth basketball, but switched to cross-country and track in high school. Next year he will run for The Citadel in South Carolina, an elite military academy, on a full athletic scholarship. Ashley recently won the county title in the 1,000 meters run with a time of 2:36. He has the ninth-best high school time in the nation in the 1,000 this year, 2:33.36. He also won the county outdoor title in the 800 meters as a junior. He can run the 800 in 1:56 and the mile in 4:30. Last fall he finished 11th in the Nassau County Cross-Country Championship, earning a place at the state meet.
Ashley plans to study phys. ed. and exercise science in college.
Amanda Halstrom, tennis
Amanda Halstrom, a ranked player in the U.S. Tennis Association, won the Nassau County singles title as a junior and placed second in the county and third in the state in doubles as a senior. According to the USTA, she is among the Top 20 players in the Eastern Section.
Halstrom, a member of the math, science, Spanish and national honor societies, is now taking six Advanced Placement courses, including physics and calculus. She will play Division I tennis at the University of Delaware in the fall on a partial athletic, partial academic scholarship. She plans to study pre-medicine.
Andrea Samlin, tennis
Andrea Samlin played with Halstrom on the doubles team that took second in the county and third in the state last fall. She also earned a gold medal in singles at the Pan Am Games in Argentina.
At Kennedy, she is a member of the national and Spanish honor societies, as well as Athletes Helping Athletes. She will attend Towson University in Maryland on an athletic scholarship next year. She plans to study phys. ed. and sports management.
Brandon Perrotta, lacrosse
Brandon Perrotta will play Division II lacrosse for Molloy College next year on a partial athletic, partial academic scholarship. He has played varsity lacrosse for Kennedy for three years. He is also a member of the National Honor Society and Kennedy's site-based team. He is taking Advanced Placement English, government and environmental science.
At Mepham
Danielle Ippolito, soccer
Danielle Ippolito will play Division I soccer at Loyola College in Maryland next fall. Ippolito, a goalie, began playing the game with the East Meadow Soccer Club at age 4. She later transferred to the Albertson Soccer Club. She also plays for the Long Island Fury, a semi-professional team.
A member of the National Honor Society, Ippolito loves math and science. Her favorite classes are pre-calculus and physics. She plans to study mechanical engineering next year and hopes to go into the aerospace industry after college.
Zach Kupfer, soccer
Zach Kupfer received a full scholarship to play soccer for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas next year. He is a member of the Albertson Soccer Club's elite Academy Program. He plays center midfield, and scored 51 goals for the Mepham soccer team over the past four years.
After college, Kupfer hopes to play soccer in Europe before beginning a career in hotel management. He dreams of owning a hotel-casino one day.
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
