Ari Krane, Lacrosse, Vassar College

by SOPHIE STONE

In July 2022, senior Ari Krane committed to play Division III lacrosse at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. In addition to playing on Menlo’s varsity team, Krane plays on ADVNC Lacrosse’s San Francisco, Northern California and national teams. Prior to being recruited to play at the collegiate level, Krane spent his past two summers on the East Coast for weeks at a time, where he competed in national tournaments in front of college recruiters. Krane started playing lacrosse at the age of five for the Firestarters, a 6-andunder program run by the Firehawks Lacrosse club. “I really enjoyed that, and I always kept playing because it was active and fun and I did it with some of my close friends at the time,” Krane said.

academics in college. “I kind of realized that the Division III experience would

Krane now coaches for the Firestarters program. Krane realized he wanted to continue playing lacrosse in college after COVID-19 prematurely ended his freshman season. “I was on the varsity team and got really close with a lot of [...] kids in that senior class of 2020 that were committed to play in college,” Krane said. “That inspired me to want to continue it myself, [...] and I realized that I wasn’t ready to let go.”

In addition to continuing his athletic career, Krane wanted to focus on give me more balance between academics and athletics. [...] The Division I lifestyle [...] didn’t seem like it matched my goals for the importance of academics,” Krane said. He began looking at schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, a Division III conference made up of schools with rigorous academic programs. Krane visited Vassar twice and loved both their lacrosse program and academic structure.“I went from not being able to pronounce [Vassar] to really being passionate about about everything the school has to offer,” Krane said.

During one of Krane’s visits, the practice got snowed out and he ended up talking to the coach in the locker room for two hours. “It was a lot of fun and I got to understand the team culture and everything that goes along with that,” Krane said. He also enjoyed the New England atmosphere and liberal arts education Vassar provides. “I fell in love with the campus and the academic opportunities,” Krane said. “I think [having] an open curriculum was really important to me,” Krane said.