Eight locals named to the 2020 US U19 Men’s Lacrosse National Training Team

Five from Calvert Hall’s 2019 MIAA A Conference title team have made the cut

Following a three-day tryout last weekend at US Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md., the US Lacrosse Men’s U19 National team have named the 32 players selected to its 2020 U19 national training team. The group includes eight Baltimore area prep stars, including five from Calvert Hall.

Rising high school seniors Cole Herbert (North Carolina) and Daniel Kelly (North Carolina) as well as 2019 graduates Grant Mitchell (Ohio State), VSN’s 2019 Offensive Player of the Year, Connor Mitchell (Ohio State) and Jacob Snyder (Ohio State) were all named to the training team off the Calvert Hall roster which just won its third consecutive MIAA A Conference title and finished No. 1 in the nation in most national polls.

In addition, St. Mary’s BJ Burlace (Yale), VSN’s 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, McDonogh’s Jackson Bonitz (Navy) and Boys’ Latin’s Brendan Grimes (Johns Hopkins) also made the cut. Burlace and Bonitz graduated in the spring, while Grimes is in the class of 2020.

More than 100 players were invited to the initial national team tryouts and that group was reduced to 50 for last weekend’s tryout camp, which concluded on Sunday.

“It was an incredible three days, more than we could have asked for as coaches,” said U19 national team head coach Nick Myers, the head coach at Ohio State who also led the 2016 U.S. U19 team to a gold medal at the last world championship. “The men gave an outstanding effort and they all really helped cement the foundation of this team. We, as staff, are grateful for how open the men were to being coached and challenged to chase Team USA standards.

“The process of narrowing the roster gets tougher and tougher every time we get together. We impressed upon the men that this 50 would truly play a big role in developing our team identity and they most certainly did. We feel strongly that the training roster selected is a talented group of men that understand the mission and appreciate the work that lies ahead. We are excited to get back after it in November and take on our first outside competition.”

A total of 104 players attended the initial tryout for the team in June and 50 players were invited to the most recent round of tryouts. The roster will eventually be pared to 23, the maximum number allowed for international competition under World Lacrosse rules.

The training team will hold a camp at Ohio State in November for its final event in 2019. There will be additional training camps in 2020 leading up to the World Lacrosse Men’s U19 World Championship from July 9-18 in Limerick, Ireland.

The 32 players on the training team come from high schools in 12 different states and represent 16 different college programs (enrollment and verbal commitments).

The United States is the only nation to have won the World Lacrosse Men’s U19 Championship, having rallied to beat Canada 13-12 in 2016 on Ryan Conrad’s game-winning goal with just eight seconds remaining. Conrad was a star at Loyola Blakefield and the University of Virginia. That was the eighth straight world championship for the U.S., which also won gold medals in 1988, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2008 and 2012.

Below is the entire 32-man US U19 Men’s Lacrosse National Training Team roster:

Pictured above: The Calvert Hall five – (from left) Connor Mitchell, Grant Mitchell, Daniel Kelly, Jacob Snyder and Cole Herbert have all been named to the 32-man 2020 US Lacrosse Men’s U19 National Training Team roster.

2020 U.S. Men’s U19 Training Team