Los Gatos High Junior Named Lacrosse All-American

Bryce Grijalva-Hylbert, a junior boys lacrosse goalie at Los Gatos High, has been selected as a 2011 High School Underclassman All-American and has been named to the Northern California-West Regional Team that will take part in the 2011 National Lacrosse Classic held in Germantown, Maryland on July 5-8.

The Wildcats netminder was one of two goalies selected when the 18-man team was announced last week. The final roster will have 25 players, including two goalies.

The National Lacrosse Classic brings the top high school lacrosse players in the country to one venue, where regional teams compete to become the 2011 USA champion.

“I showed up early to the tryouts for the team and was a little intimidated,” Grijalva-Hylbert said. “There was probably 75 people who showed up to tryout and everyone could really play.”

The tryouts took place at Palo Alto High where the prospective Northern California team members took part in several drills and scrimmages during the evaluation process.

“With my high school team, we spend so much time together it’s easy to have good chemistry,” Grijalva-Hylbert said. “None of the players there really knew each other, but we all blended well together. As a goalie my job is to instruct the defense. The guys were willing to listen and we played really well as a team. It was an amazing experience.”

John Weinschenk is the head coach of the NorCal team and will bring his third group of budding lacrosse stars to the East Coast next month.

An East Coast native, Weinschenk has watched the NorCal all-star team improve little-by-little each year.

“There’s some very talented players on the West Coast,” Weinschenk said. “It’s not really a tournament as it is a lacrosse recruiting jamboree. Around 75 to 100 Division I to Division III college coaches are at the tournament evaluating players that could help their programs.”

Teams from Texas, Long Island, Philadelphia, the West Coast and more gather in Maryland for the weeklong event.

The NorCal team finished right around .500 in the competition two years ago and narrowly missed the playoffs in 2010.

“Bryce played very well during the tryouts,” Weinschenk said. “He was very vocal. In lacrosse, it’s all about communication. He’s our top goalkeeper. I’d obviously like to keep improving the team and make the playoffs this year. We were just one win away from making the final eight last summer.”

Several past NorCal team members have gone on to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. Former team members have played at the University of Denver, a men’s lacrosse Final Four participant in 2011, St. John’s University and Cal Poly to name a few.

Tournament play begins on July 5.