Four former Brooks teammates honored as collegiate All-Americans

While hundreds of Brooks School alumni returned to campus for Alumni Weekend on Saturday, June 12, four young alums celebrated their own mini-reunion that same day at the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's All-American banquet in King of Prussia, Penn.

Former Brooks lacrosse stars Jenn Russell ('06) and Liz Bruno ('08) of Andover, Amy Campbell ('06) of North Andover and Katie Herter ('08) of Topsfield were all honored as All-Americans.

"It felt awesome seeing so many familiar faces at the banquet," said Bruno. "Having four of us from Brooks there was really exciting and is a testament to the quality of the Brooks' women's lacrosse program and the dedication of the coaches."

The foursome were among 128 honored nationally in Div. 1 and Div. 3.

"It's amazing to think that all these kids were on the field together," Brooks lacrosse coach Randy Hesse said. "Once you get a few players like that, it can be self-sustaining. There's no question that these four players, with the legacy they created, have had a lot to do with the success Brooks is having today. Jenn and Amy helped mold Liz and Katie into the players they are now, just like Liz and Katie taught and inspired the seniors that graduated this spring. In that sense, they have an impact that might never go away."

Here are capsules of each ex-Brooks star:

Jenn Russell

The association named Russell, who recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Div. I First Team All-American for a second time, as did womenslacrosse.com. The Tar Heels tri-captain was also selected to play in Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division I North-South Senior All-Star Game for a second time, along with just 40 other athletes, in the Champions' Cup on June 12.

"I leave with immense gratitude for Carolina, my coaches and teammates," Russell said. "Individual honors do not come without the hard work and success of the whole team. It was an honor to be named a First Team All-American for a second year and even more so to be on a list with other players with whom I have great respect and admiration. Ending my four years with the honors that I did was a great way to finish my college career, although obviously a championship would have been far better."

While Russell made the initial list of 25 candidates for the Tewaaraton Trophy last year, this year she was one of five finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top male and female Division I lacrosse player.

She was one of four finalists for the Honda Award this year; womenslax.com also named her defensive player of the year and she was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team member.

"It was fun to see my old teammates at the All-American banquet," Russell said. "I am very proud of them and their accomplishments. I will always be appreciative of my time at Brooks, both academically and athletically. I don't think that I would have had the success that I did without the help of my teachers, coaches, teammates, and friends from Brooks."

Ironically, lacrosse was Russell's third sport when she arrived at Brooks, with soccer and basketball being her stronger suits.

It was All-Americans like Kate Lombard '03 and Whit Hagerman '05 who apparently showed her the ropes, Russell responding explosively on the field, Hesse said.

Some connections never fade; Russell is living and working with Lombard this summer in Columbia University's Athletics Department, where Lombard is the school's assistant director of sports information and media relations.

Russell is thrilled to be acclimating to life in New York City and is crossing her fingers that the summer gig might turn fulltime. She also plans to continue to play on the U.S Women's Lacrosse team, for which she's played the past two years.

"In my opinion, Jenn is the most dominant athlete, male or female, that I've coached in any sport," Hesse said. "She has strength, speed, quickness, skill, vision, intelligence and character: the total package. At the high school level, she was as close to unstoppable as one player can be; she could pretty much have her way on the offensive or defensive end of the field. It's been fun to watch her emerge at UNC as such a dominant defender. She gets assigned to mark the best offensive players in the country and she's up to the task."

Liz Bruno

The association named Bruno, a Trinity College sophomore, a Division III All-American, as did womenslacrosse.com. She was also named this year to the All-NESCAC and All-New England teams after a tremendous season, in which she scored 15 goals and had the team-high of 53 ground balls and 27 draw controls.

"It was a really great honor to receive All-American this year. It truly makes you appreciate all the hard work that each and every player has put into their seasons," Bruno said. "Making it to the Elite 8 was the furthest Trinity's women's team has ever been, which was very exciting. I think next season will bring just as much or more success for our Trinity team as this past season."

Hesse noted that he's never seen an athlete work so hard to recover from an injury as Bruno did after blowing out her knee at Brooks. And despite being nowhere near 100 percent during her final year on the field, it didn't matter: she could still take over a game at just 85 percent healthy.

"Liz would defend the net like a lioness defending her cubs," Hesse said. "I'm a big believer in defense and coaching a player like Liz was a dream come true for me. Everything we preached, she would put into practice with amazing intensity. I saw good attackers, even great ones, who I'd swear were just plain afraid of Liz when she established her presence in a game."

Amy Campbell

Both the IWLCA and womenslacrosse.com named Amy Campbell '06 to Division III All-American Second Team for a second year in a row. She was also named to the 2010 Division III New England Women's Lacrosse All-Stars First Team.

Campbell scored 50 goals and 19 assists this season, ranking first in overall points (69) and first in total goals in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. She finished her college career with 171 career points, 90 career draw controls and 69 groundballs.

"There was no doubt in my mind that Amy was still getting better when she left Brooks," Hesse said. "She had so much potential: great quickness, a really deceptive stick and the stamina to run all day. She just had a knack for finding the back of the net. We needed her to play as a two-way midfielder, but in college she got to focus on developing as a pure scorer. She was a tremendous student and was just starting to figure out how to use her intelligence on the field to supplement her physical skills."

Campbell cites being Independent School League champs three of her four years at Brooks, as well as being undefeated during her sixth-form year, as highlights of her high school athletic career. She noted that playing tough games in the ISL every week helped prepare her for the high level of competition in the NESCAC. But it was her Brooks teammates that Campbell treasured the most.

"We always had really good chemistry and a ton of fun together on and off the field," Campbell said of her Brooks teammates. "I loved dressing up in the same outfits with our kilts on game days and eating chocolate chip muffins with Jenn Russell at team breakfasts.

"My personal highlight this season was making it further in the NCAA tournament than any Colby lacrosse team ever has," said Campbell, as the team made it to the Elite 8 with a win over Cortland. "We graduated an amazing class in 2009 and people thought that this would be a rebuilding year. So it felt good to prove that we were the same Colby team as always and that we still had incredible talent and drive."

Katie Herter

The association also named Bowdoin College sophomore Katie Herter Division III All-American Third Team after scoring 33 goals and garnering 7 assists.

"Katie was just pure guts, determination and heart," Hesse said. "Whatever you needed on that particular day, that's what she would give you. Defense, scoring, ground balls, leadership — whatever it took to fire up her team and get the win, that's what Katie would deliver. I never doubted she would be successful at the college level; what's astonishing is that she can perform at such a high level in three sports. Katie is a real throwback, in the most positive sense of that word."

Herter also captured a team-high 35 draw controls and 24 ground balls this past season, when her 10-6 team reached the NESCAC Quarterfinals.

"You can say what you want about facilities, coaches or tradition, but in the end, it's great players that make a great program," Hesse said of coaching the four All-Americans. "Once they're on the field together, they make each other better and they raise the play of everyone around them. They push each other in practice and they mentor each other on and off the field."

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