For many high school athletes, receiving an athletic scholarship is dream come true. For fencer Caitlin Buteau and girls lacrosse captain Tegan Warren, it is now reality. Both Warren and Buteau signed their letter of intent this week to play at Bucknell and Duke respectively.
Warren has been verbally committed to Bucknell since sophomore year, noting that she chose Bucknell because, “[She] really love the coach. She has so much energy and love for the game that it makes the sport that much more fun and exciting… all the girls on the team are so close and have so much fun together and I definitely wanted to be apart of a team like that.”
Tegan, a four year varsity lacrosse team member, was born and raised into lacrosse. Her mom played at Boston College and many of her extended family members played lacrosse at Duke, Georgetown, Hobart, and Colgate. Her sophomore brother, Jack, is heavily involved in the recruiting process himself.
Warren said that during her freshman year, she, “had a lot of different school approach [her]” including Brown. She continued, “towards the end of my sophomore year I decided between between Brown and Bucknell.”
Buteau has been fencing for most of her life, and when she finally had to make a decision between a plethora of schools (most notably Stanford, Penn, Princeton, and Yale), she felt that “Duke felt like the best fit. I want something challenging, but something where I could also have time to relax and practice and enjoy hanging out with my friends.”This “work hard, play hard” environment, and their successful fencing team led her to choose to be a Blue Devil.
While Warren was born into lacrosse, Buteau’s fencing background is much different. She started fencing because, “one of my sister’s friends from softball started an after-school program at Bernardsville Middle School. I had tried fencing at a camp with my sister and brother the previous summer, and then the Coury family started Somerset Hills Fencing Club the following school year.” Buteau watched some of her sister’s practices and then began to take private lessons. She added, “after two years, I switched to a club in New York where I am now and I train with Olympic athletes and coaches six days a week for over four hours a day.”
