Women's Lacrosse Standout Anna Menke ’12 Headed to Princeton

New Hampton School senior Anna Menke ’12 made her college destination official this week. Menke was accepted early decision to Princeton University where she will enroll next year and play lacrosse for longtime Princeton coach Chris Sailer.

 
"We are very excited to have Anna Menke join the Princeton Women’s Lacrosse Team next year," Sailer wrote in an e-mail. "There is so much I like about Anna as a player – her size, her skill and finesse, her scoring ability and her game sense, to name a few.  But more importantly, I have been so impressed by Anna the student and Anna the person.  Through all of her challenges and adversity, whether it be a grueling IB curriculum or rehabbing from two ACL injuries, Anna’s positive mental outlook and her disciplined approach have seen her through. These characteristics will help Anna be successful in all phases of life at Princeton, where she will become part of a lacrosse program with an incredible tradition and significant promise.  We’re looking forward to all that she will bring to our team over the next four years."

Menke was recruited by numerous Division-I schools, but made a verbal commitment to Princeton in February of her junior year. Ivy League student-athletes do not sign letters of intent because there are no athletic scholarships, but Menke signed her enrollment agreement, joining eight other New Hampton School athletes that have made their college destinations official.

 

“I visited a lot of schools throughout the recruitment process, but Princeton was definitely the one that best fit the three things I was looking for,” said Menke, who at 5-foot-11 is a rangy athlete with exceptional stick skills. “I was looking for a school with a strong athletic culture and academics, and a good lacrosse team. Also, I really liked the coach and all the girls on the team.” 

 

One of the top women’s players in New England, Menke scored 68 goals and dished out 30 assists to lead the Huskies to an 11-1 record and a Lakes Region Championship during her sophomore season. Her junior season was cut short by an injury to her knee—her second torn anterior cruciate ligament in less than a year—but Menke finished with 36 goals in seven games, including two nine-goal games. She has been an All-New England selection and was the recipient of the Skip Howard Scholar-Athlete award her sophomore year at New Hampton.
 

The road to a college lacrosse career has not been easy given two major knee injuries that have sidelined Menke for consecutive seasons of soccer, her other sport of choice.

  

“There have been a lot of highs and lows,” said Menke, who also played for the Granite State Elite club lacrosse program. “I opened my email on September 1, of my junior year and there were a lot of recruitment letters and emails, asking me to come for a visit. But at the same time I had just torn my ACL and I was going to miss soccer season. That was really frustrating for me.”
 

New Hampton second-year head coach Jenna McCabe, who was a standout player at Boston College, believes Menke has all the attributes to have a successful college career.

 

 “Anna is an extremely passionate and hard working athlete. She is incredibly coachable and works great with her teammates,” said McCabe. “I expect Anna to have a successful college career. Her work ethic will set her up to strive for success and be the best she can be.”

 

An International Baccalaureate Diploma student and the student body president, Menke believes New Hampton has prepared her for the academic and athletic challenges she will face in college.

 

“New Hampton has really prepared me for college,” said Menke, whose father has been the Head of School for the last seven years. “The IB program is really rigorous and requires me to be independent and ask teachers for help. It’s definitely encouraged me to be more curious, ask more questions, and take control of my own learning, which I think will definitely benefit me in college. So I’m prepared for the classroom at Princeton even though it’s going to be really tough.”

 

Menke thinks living so close to the athletic facilities has been a huge boost, too. She has spent countless hours tossing a lacrosse ball against the gym wall.

 

“I’ve had a chance to use all the facilities here—the weight room, the gym, the turf. It’s something not every high school student gets,” Menke said. “Every single day I want to play I have the opportunity to play. I've spent a lot of time on my own working on my game.”