Men’s recruit: Hill School senior defenseman Walker commits to West Point

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, posted 1/12/10

The Hill School senior defenseman Gabe Walker has committed to play Division I lacrosse for the US Military Academy at West Point.

Walker, of Mercer Island, Wash., has been a regular since his sophomore year at The Hill and helped Twist Black reach the quarterfinals of Champ Camp last summer.

Walker said he did not consider attending Army at first and had an offer to join Hill teammate Tyler Himes as a recruit for Providence College. But he did not want to commit early and eventually took a closer look at Army.

“It was funny because at my last main (summer) recruiting tournament I was about to commit to Providence,” Walker said. “An Army coach (defensive coach Mike Murphy) was sitting next to my dad at one of the games and asked my dad who his son was.

“He pointed to me and then he (Murphy) sent an e-mail out to me. I ended up talking to him that weekend and he had seen me play in Blue Chip camp. Providence kind of asked me in August and wanted me to make a decision, but I wasn’t ready to commit anywhere.”

Walker, who also has played long stick midfield, said he will consider Engineering, Economics or Architecture at West Point. He also would like to minor in Psychology.

“The military academy wasn’t the place I ever thought I’d fit into when I started,” he said. “Even when they were recruiting me, I was like, ‘Yeah, right.’ But after I went up there, saw the beautiful campus layout and thought about the benefits for my type of personality, I really thought I could benefit from that. I am not sure what I want to study, but going into the military gives you a whole set of options.

“I like playing call of duty and am always doing perfect push-ups in my room,” he added.

Walker has been giving himself more options since coming to The Hill as a freshman hockey player. He decided to try lacrosse and fell in love with the sport while also playing hockey (forward and defense) in the winter.

“This summer I lived on the East Coast with (lacrosse) teammates and went to a lot of camps,” he said. Walker played on Twist’s team with Himes and teammate P.J. Mara (committed to Connecticut College).

Walker will play a key role for a young team at The Hill this year.

“We have a lot of young guys,” he said. “But coach (Ned) Ide does a great job of developing young guys and we’ll grow as a program.”