Three Delaware Tech Athletes Named NJCAA All-American

For the first time in over a decade, Delaware Technical Community College had three athletes in one season named to NJCAA All-American teams.

Softball player Macey Myers was named to the 2022 NJCAA Division II Softball All-American Third Team. She is the first Delaware Tech softball player to receive this honor since 2012.

Men's lacrosse players Jack Dennis and Conor Christie were named to the 2022 NJCAA Men's Lacrosse All-American Second Team. They are the first Delaware Tech men's lacrosse players to receive this honor since 2018, and just the second and third players to receive this honor since 2014.

Macey Myers
In two years at Delaware Tech, Macey Myers has put up back-to-back years of astounding statistics. In 2021, Myers batted .494 with 39 hits, 44 RBI, and 9 home runs. She followed that up with a 2022 season where she batted .460 with 58 hits, 59 RBI, and 6 home runs. It's not coincidental that Delaware Tech won the region and district titles and qualified for the national tournament both years.

Myers, a Milford High School graduate, said she didn't really have any expectations or goals set for herself when she joined the Delaware Tech team.

"I just wanted to have two solid years and keep my grades up," Myers said. "I always thought about going to the national championship, but I never expected to go there once let alone twice."

Myers has played softball since she was little and her love of the game kept her playing travel ball, high school ball, and now college ball.

"It has always been fun to me," she said. "It has kept me in shape, and my teammates keep it fun. Plus, I always had a goal to play in college so that kept me going."

After she put up big numbers in her first season at Delaware Tech, Myers knew she needed to make improvements at the plate because things would get harder in the second year.

"I've worked on hitting the outside pitch," Myers said. "Obviously I like inside better, but when your name gets out there pitchers know you and they don't throw that to you. So I've tried to improve on the harder pitches."

Not only was Myers named NJCAA All-American this year, she was also named NJCAA Region 19 Softball Player of the Year. And due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Myers has a third year of eligibility to play at Delaware Tech and finish her legal studies degree. She is hoping for one more solid season and a third straight trip to the national tournament.

"I never really expected all of this and I've been so thankful for everything," she said. "I'm really thankful that I've been able to play at Delaware Tech and all that it has brought me."

Jack Dennis
The road to playing lacrosse for Delaware Tech was a little bumpy for Jack Dennis.

Dennis graduated from Cape Henlopen High School in 2019 and originally enrolled at Salisbury University to play men's lacrosse. But he didn't enjoy the environment and not only left the college, he also packed away his lacrosse equipment.

"I honestly wasn't planning on touching any of it again until I had kids," Dennis said.

He enrolled in Delaware Tech's diesel technology program and thought about playing men's lacrosse. The quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic caused him to pick up a lacrosse stick again and consider joining Delaware Tech's team. But a broken collarbone prevented it from happening in 2021.

Finally, 2022 was Dennis' year to get back to his sport.

"It took me a little bit to get back in shape," Dennis said. "I still had the stick skills, but after a few weeks of conditioning and once I was back to it, I was ready, the muscle memory never went away."

Dennis grew up in Maryland and moved to Delaware in 2016. He started playing lacrosse when he was 5 years old and always found that the game came naturally to him. That natural talent was on full display when Dennis finally took the field for Delaware Tech.

Dennis finished the 2022 season with 56 goals and 83 points, both second-best in the nation, and 27 assists. He was a driving force that propelled the team to 10 wins and an NJCAA Region 19 championship.

"I just wanted to have fun and be the best I could be," Dennis said. "I knew I was going to be a big part of the offense, but not that much.

"I went into each game with a positive attitude thinking we were going to win each time and I gave it my all the whole time."

Besides being named NJCAA All-American, Dennis was also named the 2022 NJCAA Men's Lacrosse Region 19 Player of the Year.

"It's a pretty nice feeling, but I wasn't too worried about any of the awards," Dennis said. "I kept playing my game and I figured I'd get some recognition."

Conor Christie
Conor Christie comes from a family of lacrosse players – his dad and two older brothers all played the game. He’s known the game since the day he was born, when his dad put a mini lacrosse stick in his crib at the hospital.

Growing up in Milford and graduating from Milford High School, Christie started playing lacrosse exclusively just as the sport was gaining popularity.

"Playing a sport that was in my family for so many years and having my friends join in was a really fun experience," Christie said.

Milford High School won the Henlopen South conference and qualified for the state tournament each year while Christie was there. Initially, he thought about attending a four-year university right after high school. But, as the COVID-19 pandemic started, he felt it was better to stay closer to home.

"I knew Delaware Tech was rebuilding the program with a new coaching staff and a lot of new players, and I knew a couple of the players and that really interested me," Christie said. "Plus, I wanted to build my confidence and I wanted to get better at my off-hand and a few other little things.

"When I was coming out of high school, I was nowhere near the player I wanted to be."

After two years at Delaware Tech, Christie said he is a much more confident player, he isn't in his own head as often as he was in high school, and he feel more comfortable with the ball. All of those improvements are evident in the amazing statistical numbers he recorded in two years.

In 2021, Christie had 29 goals, 20 assists, and 49 points in 8 games and was named NJCAA All-Region. He followed that with a spectacular 2022 season where he led the nation in scoring with 58 goals, set a new school record for points in a season with 89, and tied the school record for most goals in a single game with 8. Along with Dennis, Christie was a driving force behind Delaware Tech's region championship in 2022.

Christie was named NJCAA All-Region for the second year in a row and is headed to Wilmington University in the fall to continue his collegiate lacrosse career.

"I would say I definitely accomplished all of the things I wanted to at Delaware Tech," Christie said. "Being named all-American at any level is definitely an honor and it's always been a personal goal my entire playing career. When I found out that Jack and I made it together, it was just an awesome feeling."

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PHOTO:
Delaware Tech men's lacrosse players Jack Dennis and Conor Christie, and softball player Macey Myers, were named NJCAA All-American in their respective sports for the 2022 season.