Casa lacrosse star finds Whittier a good fit

“We want our players to go somewhere where it feels like a fit,” says Casa Grande High School lacrosse coach Ben Hewitt.

For senior Dylan Guth, that place is Whittier College in Southern California. With friends and family looking on last week, Guth signed a Letter of Intent to continue his lacrosse and academic career at the Division III school.

Whittier College is a four-year private liberal arts college located between Los Angeles and Orange County.

Whittier coaches discovered Guth at a club tournament in San Diego and invited him to a school prospect game. They like what they saw, and made an effort to bring him south.

It didn’t take much effort on the coaches’ part.

“I liked the coaches and the atmosphere of the college,” Guth says. “It also allows me to stay in California and close to my family.”

He says he plans to be a part of the Whittier team sooner than later.

“I will definitely play, but I’m going to have to work for it,” he says.

Working is no problem for Guth.

“He is really a hard worker, not only on the field but also in the weight room,” Hewitt says.

Guth is a long stick midfielder (one of the most demanding lacrosse positions) and defender, depending on the matchups.

Like many Petaluma youngsters, Guth started his sports career hooked on baseball.

In about the fifth-grade, a group of his buddies talked him into giving lacrosse a try. “Once I picked up a stick, I never put it down,” he says.

Many of those friends who got him involved in the first place, now play with him on the Casa Grande High School team.

When he says he never put the stick down, he means it almost literally. When he isn’t playing with the Gauchos, Guth plays and practices with 101 Lacrosse where he is coached by Sonoma State University head coach Panchito Ojeda, who was on hand when the senior officially signed his Letter of Intent.

Guth will study kinesiology at Whittier.

The player is the son of Dan and Joanne Guth, who are proud of their son, and say his chance to play at the college level didn’t just happen.

“He has worked hard to get here,” explains his mother.