Decatur's West Signs with Navy

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur men's varsity lacrosse standout Logan West this week became the latest high school lacrosse player from the local area to take his game to the NCAA Division I level when he signed a letter of intent to attend school and play lacrosse next year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

West, who has been a solid leader on the lacrosse field and in the classroom for the Seahawks since breaking in as a freshman, will play next year at Navy, which has traditionally been one of the top programs in the country. West chose Navy from a huge field of top college lacrosse schools that courted him this year including Hopkins, Cornell, Brown, Army, Ohio State, Bucknell, Towson, Loyola, Delaware, Drexel, Lehigh, Lafayette and Villanova.

The prolific scorer and face-off specialist officially signed his commitment to Navy on Monday with his parents, coaches, teachers, principal and teammates on hand. West helped lead the Seahawks to a regional championship and the state's Final Four during his time at Decatur.

West saw his individual statistics steadily increase since his freshman year, during which he scored 13 goals and recorded 11 assists. As a sophomore, West scored 37 goals and 18 assists and last year as a junior recorded 38 goals and 17 assists. West has also won 76 percent of his face-offs.

His accomplishments on the field have not gone unrecognized. West has been named to the 2008 pre-season All-State team for Maryland, becoming what is believed to be the first public school player from the Eastern Shore on the prestigious team.

In 2007, West was a member of the Maryland Free State team, the Under Armor Underclassmen All-American team, the Hotbeds All-Star team and the Bucknell All-Star team. In 2006 and 2007, West was named to the Laxelite All-Star team and in 2006 he was named a Top Star Fabulous Forty All-Star.

West has, perhaps more importantly, gained a reputation as an unselfish team player at Decatur who always put his team's success ahead of his personal accomplishments, according to Principal Lou Taylor.

'You have to have a little bit of a swagger when you're a top athlete, but Logan is never arrogant or cocky,' he said. 'Whenever I talked to him about a game, he never said what he did, but always talked about what the team did. It's never been about him, and I think that's why Navy was so interested in him.'

For his part, West said he was approached by several big college lacrosse programs but decided on Navy because of the opportunities it presented.

'I've had a lot of great opportunities, and I owe a lot of the credit to my family, the coaches, teachers, my teammates and the whole Decatur family,' he said. 'This place has nurtured an atmosphere for success and I've been happy to be a part of it. I know I've made the right choice.'