Lacrosse player named MVP at showcase

Douglas County High School’s Connor Jenkins is standout in role as defenseman

BY ALEX K.W. SCHULTZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Connor Jenkins is a lot like most other kids his age.

e 16-year-old enjoys gol ng, playing the guitar and hanging out with his friends.

Put a helmet on his head, cleats on his feet and a lacrosse stick in his hands, though, and Jenkins becomes very much unlike most other kids his age.

e rising junior defenseman, who plays lacrosse for Douglas County

High and the Denver Elite lacrosse club, was recently invited to participate in e Show in Wilmington, Delaware.

Only 192 high school players from around the country were invited to the high-pro le recruiting event, which unfolded June 3-4 inside Chase Fieldhouse.

Coaches from more than 30 Division I college and university lacrosse programs ocked to the event to get a closer look at the bounty of young lacrosse talent. Among the programs represented were perennial powers Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Princeton and North Carolina, which have combined to win 37 men’s lacrosse national championships.

Seventeen hundred miles away from home, Jenkins made the most of the unique opportunity, capturing one of the six most-valuable-player awards handed out at the conclusion of the two-day event.

“It was a di erent experience, for sure,” he said. “Everybody there is at your level or higher. You had to nd something to di erentiate yourself.” e players at the event were split into eight teams. After each team played three games, 50 players — one of which was Jenkins — were selected for an all-star game.

Jenkins’ plan to set himself apart clearly worked.

Jenkins’ coaches for the all-star game were from Brown, Lafayette and Loyola. After the all-stars squared o , positional and team

“Morning Roses” are probably really fragrant if one were to stand next to them in person ... while Sarah St. George presents tired roses: “Better Days.”

MVPs were named.

“I didn’t believe it when they called my name,” Jenkins said of when the MVP announcements were made. “… My goal is always to play a perfect game. I feel like I’ve yet to play one because there are always little things you can do better.” at pursuit of perfection is likely why Jenkins was invited to e Show, likely why he was recognized as an MVP and likely why be a surprise if Jenkins lands at a high-quality collegiate program. Several local players who spent time in the Denver Elite laboratory — including Jack Kiefer (Duke; Cherry Creek graduate), Eric Pacheco (Loyola; Valor Christian graduate), Grant Rodny (Lehigh; Air Academy graduate) and Jake Taylor (Notre Dame; Regis Jesuit graduate) — are now playing the game at a high level. Jenkins’ dream school? It’s right in his own backyard — the University of Denver. Jenkins grew up going to DU games and has long dreamed of playing for the Pioneers, winners of the 2015 national title and ve-time Final Four contenders.

Playing for a local team would also allow Jenkins to continue to play a role in slowly dismantling the narrative that lacrosse is a game reserved for elite East Coast programs.

“It’s de nitely cool knowing that I can be an ambassador for the sport,” summer blue sky with a river owing toward it, just at sundown in “Golden Hour” by Betty E erson.

Bouquets vary from E erson’s “Ending the Journey,” tired sun owers, to Tatsiana Harbacheuskaya’s perky “Sun owers on a Turquoise Tablecloth.” Julia Lesnichy’s pink

Sarah Blumenschein drew a stack of teacups and saucers that look like a visit to grandmother’s house, with cups from di erent sets, while Becky Johnson takes us to big sky country with her “Wyoming Road.”

Curtis Art Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.