TOWAMENCIN – The presentation was only a brief interruption of North Penn’s Senior Night festivities after Friday’s lacrosse game against Pennridge.
Senior co-captains Alyssa Culp and Lauren McDermott presented a bouquet of red roses as well as a card to coach Jami Wilus in recognition of the fact that Wednesday’s 12-5 win over Hatboro-Horsham was the 100th win of a remarkable coaching career for the Maidens’ lacrosse coach.
Almost reluctantly, Wilus stepped to the microphone and said, “The wins wouldn’t be possible without having great players.”
Talk to anyone associated with North Penn’s program, and they’d be quick to tell you that the 100 wins wouldn’t have been possible without Wilus, who at 29 might well be one of the youngest coaches ever to reach the prestigious 100-win milestone.
“She basically taught us everything,” Culp said. “She’s really intense, and she guided us all the way up to now. We wouldn’t be where we are today without her.
“Wilus knows exactly what she’s talking about.”
“She’s never wrong - ever since I’ve known her, she’s always been right,” said McDermott, who has accepted a lacrosse scholarship to LaSalle University. “She helped me a lot with the recruiting. She knows a lot of people, and a lot of people know her.”
Assistant athletic director Melanie Seeders had an opportunity to watch Wilus play in high school when she officiated some of the three-sport star’s games.
“Jami was very aggressive, very competitive and extremely focused as a player, and it’s not different as a coach,” Seeders said. “I have told some of my colleagues that she is one of the best high school athletes I have seen.
“She’s only 29 years old, and to accomplish this at such a young age – we’re proud of her.”
There were some who second guessed the decision by North Penn’s administration to hire Wilus as a head varsity coach right out of college after a stellar career at LaSalle. She turned those doubters into believers in short order, establishing a system that turned North Penn into one of the district’s most respected programs.
“I think the toughest part was getting kids to buy into what you’re selling – if you work hard and if you practice hard and do the right things on and off the field, success will come,” she said. “It wasn’t instant.
“We had some bumps along the road, but getting them to buy into that and going outside the area and playing tougher teams – in the beginning, we lost those games. In the beginning, we weren’t even close, and now we’re beating some of those teams.”
The Maidens boast a 14-0 record and on Friday clinched sole possession of the SOL Continental Conference crown with their 16-5 win over the Rams. This season, they already have wins over perennial district powers Boyertown, Conestoga and Ridley.
“These past couple of years we have really been able to have kids stay with the program and just provide great leadership,” Wilus said. “Kids are coming through the middle school and are looking forward to playing North Penn lacrosse. That’s what I wanted. The wins and losses are great, but I wanted the kids to come to our games and say, ‘I want to play for this team someday.’”
Wilus takes steps to ensure they will and runs a summer camp for area youngsters.
“I knew what was in the future and how we could build at North Penn through getting kids involved at a younger age,” she said.
North Penn’s players start young, and they don’t want to stop after high school. Over the past five years, 20 former Maidens have gone on to compete at the collegiate level.
“I don’t want to force it upon them, but I have always been there to help them out if they wanted to pursue lacrosse in college, whether it be at the Division 1, 2 or 3 level,” Wilus said. “I think sports in general provide you with so much more in terms of leadership, and when you go into the ‘real world,’ you learn a lot just from being competitive and participating in activities and sports.
“This year we have a number of kids going on, but we have three spectacular players in Alyssa Culp, Caley Britton and Robyn Dalton who are going to play club lacrosse in college. It’s that love for the game you hope to instill in them, and it’s nice after they’ve been away at college to see them come back and watch games. That’s the stuff you really care about.”
Assistant coach Megan Shisler was a junior when Wilus took over the helm seven years ago.
“It was a big change from what we were doing,” said Shisler. “I remember a practice early on in the season. We were standing there passing, and she said, ‘Everyone use your left hand,’ and we were shocked by that.
“That’s such a small thing, and it’s something everyone does now. She started introducing us to the right way to play lacrosse. She built a system from the ground up.”
The Maidens were 10-7-2 in Wilus’ first year as head coach. The following year they were 17-3. Wilus, who is in her seventh year at the helm, has an impressive 101-32-3 career record.
“I’m so impressed with the way new girls come onto the team knowing her system and knowing the way they have to act without having to learn it their first year,” Shisler said. “People come in knowing you have to be disciplined, you don’t miss practice, you work your hardest every day at practice, and she really built that herself.
“You don’t realize it doesn’t just happen overnight. She started right from the beginning and got it to where it is now.”
At North Penn, lacrosse is a year-round sport. There are summer leagues and then fall ball, which includes two practices a week and one day of conditioning. Winter includes morning practices and shooting practices several afternoons.
“It’s tough, it’s hard work, but it makes the wins all that much better,” McDermott said. “When we were in middle school, we came to watch a game. We saw the high school team warm up, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, they’re crazy. They’re so good. There’s no way,’”
“The first years are the hardest,” Culp said. “That’s when you’re doing the most learning. Now it’s our fun year, it’s our time to really enjoy it because we know how to play it.”
Although lacrosse is serious business at North Penn, McDermott and Culp laugh easily and often when they talk about their coach, who – they say - loves American Idol and country music and has instilled in her players a love for the sport that is her passion.
“Every year we strive to do something more, be a little bit better, but coaching is a process,” Wilus said. “Sometimes you have great years, and sometimes you have some not so great years, but it’s a lot more than what happens on the lacrosse field.
“You’re teaching them to hopefully grow up, and they do – they grow up right before your eyes.”
One hundred wins are in the record book for Wilus with many more undoubtedly still to come.
“This is a tremendous milestone,” she said. “You don’t get here without having great players, great family support as well as support from the school. I just hope we can keep it going.”
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