Sports of All Sorts: Greeley Lacrosse Standout Finds the Right Fit

Horace Greeley senior Hunter Bastian has known he's wanted to play lacrosse at the collegiate level for a while now.

That was the easy part.

Then came what happens next – the recruiting process.

"I got about 25 letters and calls from Division I schools and about 30 D-II and D-III schools," he said.

That's a lot of schools to consider. And Bastian did just that, weighing a variety of factors, including academics as well as athletics.

When the process was finally complete, Bastian found what he thinks is the perfect fit – Wittenberg University.

"I chose Wittenberg because of the education that it could offer and also an opportunity to compete for playing time as a freshman," said Bastian, who made college visits to Syracuse, Stony Brook, Providence, Stevenson and Ohio Wesleyan in addition to Wittenberg.

Bastian, a right-handed defenseman/long-stick midfielder, has the size and skills to make an immediate impact. He also has plenty of experience, too. He first started playing the sport in the fourth grade.

Wittenberg, located in Springfield, Ohio, is one of the most tradition-rich Division III programs in the nation. It has fielded a team since 1983.

Bastian was part of a highly regarded defensive unit at Greeley that also included Derek Katchis, Jake Jessup and Ben Litwak.

Katchis, who is playing a post-grad season at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, will play for Division I Colgate next season.  

Jessup, who, like Bastian, is 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, is a freshman at Division III Denison in Granville, Ohio. Since Denison and Wittenberg are both members of the North Coast Atlantic Conference, Bastian and Jessup will be reunited at the next level in 2011.

Litwak is a freshman on the lacrosse team at the University of Colorado, which competes in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association.

For his part, Bastian knows that he still has areas of his game to work on before making the transition to collegiate lacrosse.

"I will have to get much stronger and improve my stick skills," he said. "I also have to prepare myself for the speed of the game."

Bastian excels in several areas of the game that are crucial to success for a defenseman.

"I would say my strengths as a player are my takeaway checks and my clearing ability," he said.

Bastian lists former Syracuse University all-America defenseman Sid Smith as the player he has tried to emulate "because of the intensity he plays with."

Bastian helped Greeley advance to the Section 1 Class B semifinals last year, where the Quakers fell to four-time defending champion John Jay to finish the season at 10-8.

The Quakers and Section 1 teams start official practices for the upcoming season on March 9. Greeley has a crucial early season test when it visits Somers on April 13. Somers beat John Jay 14-9 in last year's Class B sectional championship game at White Plains High School.