College Lacrosse Shines at Vail Shootout

The 40th edition of the Vail Lacrosse Shootout took place out in Colorado the last few days and one thing is clear: In the elite division -- the tournament's finest collection of lacrosse players and all-star teams -- Division I collegians have the joint on lock.

Maverik Elite took home first place in the elite tournament, dropping defending champion Merrill Lynch in the final, 16-10. That wasn't the story of the weekend for college lacrosse purposes, though. No way, man. The real story was Division I lacrosse -- once again -- flexing its muscles and showing the kind of talent that exists not only at blue blood programs but also at some other programs that only get juice when something goes terribly wrong or right.

The following Division I tactical nuclear weapons (that will return in 2013) took home high honors with Men's Elite All-Tournament heat:

Offensive MVP: Peter Baum (Colgate)

Defensive MVP: Brian Megill (Syracuse)

Attack: Alex Love (Hobart)

Midfield: JoJo Marasco (Syracuse); Peter Schwartz (Harvard)

Short Stick Defensive Midfield: Josh Hawkins (Loyola)

Defense:Scott Ratliff (Loyola); Ryan Kilpatrick (North Carolina)

Goalie: Niko Amato (Maryland)

Then, of course, there was Rob Pannell. Pannell -- in his first real action since blowing a flat tire in Cornell's second outing in 2012 -- failed to take home any official Certificates of Merit in the Field of "Doing Lacrosse Things," but he did manage to do this:

I think that The Sasquatch is going to be just fine in 2013.