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Two Cooper athletes earn top 200 spot in national tryouts
  
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Special to the Villager
Two middle School athletes from The John Cooper School, eighth-grader Alex Dunlap and seventh-grader Jake Jarvis, were selected to participate in the final tryouts for USA Baseball’s National Team.
The duo was selected for the 14 and under (14U) age category, meaning they are among the nation’s top 200 players in their age group. The national team participates in a COPABE PanAm qualifier tournament in Guatemala in late November. COPABE (Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol) is the governing body of baseball within the Americas.
“Although neither Alex nor Jake was selected to the final national team roster, they were certainly honored to be recognized as two of the best players in the country in their age group,” said Dennis Dunlap, Alex’s father.
“Both boys performed very well. On a different day either might have been chosen,” said Roger Jarvis, Jake’s father.
The tryouts for the 14U National Team followed a three-step process to select candidates from all over the nation. The initial evaluation stage took place locally last summer with open tryout camps, followed by a second round of invitation-only tryouts in late July, where players participated in two days of workouts and round-robin game action. From the local and regional tryouts, 10 regional squads and two national at-large teams of 18 players each were selected for the final tryouts.
Over Labor Day weekend, Jarvis and Dunlap participated in one of two simultaneous final tryouts held for the national team. One tryout was held at Major League Baseball’s Urban Youth Baseball Academy in Compton, Calif., while a second group competed in Jupiter, Fla.
Each of the locations hosted six teams of 18 players each, a total of 216 candidates, vying for the final 18 roster spots on the 14U national team. Jarvis was a member of the Texas Stars team and Dunlap was named to the USA Stars team. Both athletes attended the tryout camp in California.
“It was a good experience because you met players from all over,” Jarvis said.
Dunlap agreed, adding that it was the farthest he’d ever traveled to play baseball. Both boys have been playing baseball since the age of six. Dunlap was a member of Cooper’s middle school team last spring and Jarvis will try out for the team next spring.
“To have two players considered in the top 200 in the United States come from a small school like Cooper is certainly unique,” said Brent Landrum, the varsity baseball coach at Cooper. “Alex and Jake are two very talented baseball players and that bodes well for the future of Cooper baseball.”
Two middle School athletes from The John Cooper School, eighth-grader Alex Dunlap and seventh-grader Jake Jarvis, were selected to participate in the final tryouts for USA Baseball’s National Team.
The duo was selected for the 14 and under (14U) age category, meaning they are among the nation’s top 200 players in their age group. The national team participates in a COPABE PanAm qualifier tournament in Guatemala in late November. COPABE (Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol) is the governing body of baseball within the Americas.
“Although neither Alex nor Jake was selected to the final national team roster, they were certainly honored to be recognized as two of the best players in the country in their age group,” said Dennis Dunlap, Alex’s father.
“Both boys performed very well. On a different day either might have been chosen,” said Roger Jarvis, Jake’s father.
The tryouts for the 14U National Team followed a three-step process to select candidates from all over the nation. The initial evaluation stage took place locally last summer with open tryout camps, followed by a second round of invitation-only tryouts in late July, where players participated in two days of workouts and round-robin game action. From the local and regional tryouts, 10 regional squads and two national at-large teams of 18 players each were selected for the final tryouts.
Over Labor Day weekend, Jarvis and Dunlap participated in one of two simultaneous final tryouts held for the national team. One tryout was held at Major League Baseball’s Urban Youth Baseball Academy in Compton, Calif., while a second group competed in Jupiter, Fla.
Each of the locations hosted six teams of 18 players each, a total of 216 candidates, vying for the final 18 roster spots on the 14U national team. Jarvis was a member of the Texas Stars team and Dunlap was named to the USA Stars team. Both athletes attended the tryout camp in California.
“It was a good experience because you met players from all over,” Jarvis said.
Dunlap agreed, adding that it was the farthest he’d ever traveled to play baseball. Both boys have been playing baseball since the age of six. Dunlap was a member of Cooper’s middle school team last spring and Jarvis will try out for the team next spring.
“To have two players considered in the top 200 in the United States come from a small school like Cooper is certainly unique,” said Brent Landrum, the varsity baseball coach at Cooper. “Alex and Jake are two very talented baseball players and that bodes well for the future of Cooper baseball.”
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