Volume 68, Issue I
By Eli Karp
Three student-athletes signed their National Letters of Intent (NLI) on Wednesday, November 8. Two pitchers on the Bears Varsity Baseball team, Jack Ryan and Quinten Cooleen, will be playing the same sport at the next level. Ryan will play at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. William & Mary competes in the Colonial Athletic Association, a Division I conference. Cooleen will take his talents up the TaconicParkway to the University at Albany. UAlbany competes in the America East conference. Ryan and Cooleen were two of the key cogs who lead the Bears to an 18- win season and the number one seed in the 2017 Section 1 Class B baseball tournament.
The NLI is a binding agreement between a school and student- athlete that the student-athlete will attend that
school. It is only applicable to Division I and II schools. Signing the NLI is a voluntary decision, meaning no prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign it.
While Rachel Lim never played for the school, most students knew she was serious about tennis and she would likely play collegiately. Lim, a Blue Chip recruit, is ranked second in New York on Babolat’s recruiting lists, according to tennisrecruiting.net. The lefty, also ranked 17th na- tionally in her USTA age group, committed to play at Harvard. Ivy League schools, which are unique in that they do not give athletic scholarships, also do not have their prospective recruits sign NLIs, but a “likely letter,” which is roughly the Ivy equivalent.
These Bears are not the only student-athletes that will be playing collegiately. As mentioned above, signing the NLI is an optional decision, so there still could be other Bears who will play Division I sports. Division III athletes cannot sign the NLI and the recruiting/committing process is different. All BHS student-athletes playing collegiate sports will be recognized at the eighth annual NCAA Recognition Event in April.
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