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Mid-Atlantic Prep League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mid-Atlantic Prep League, also known as the MAPL, is a sports league with participating institutions from prep schools in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area in the United States. The league is comprised of schools known for their academic rigor, but the quality of play in all sports is fairly high. MAPL schools are allowed to have a limited number of post-graduates (student-athletes who have already graduated high school but are taking a prep year either to gain recruiting interest from college coaches or improve their grades) on their rosters.
Schools competing in the league include:
| School | Location | Team Name |
| Blair Academy | Blairstown, New Jersey | Buccaneers |
| The Hill School | Pottstown, Pennsylvania | Blues |
| Hun School of Princeton | Princeton, New Jersey | Raiders |
| Lawrenceville School | Lawrenceville, New Jersey | Big Red |
| Mercersburg Academy | Mercersburg, Pennsylvania | Blue Storm |
| Peddie School | Hightstown, New Jersey | Falcons |
Since its inception, the MAPL has been an extremely competitive boys' basketball league, regularly producing Division I talent, and even several NBA players. Professionals Luol Deng, Charlie Villanueva and Royal Ivey all played basketball in the league, for Blair Academy.
The MAPL has also become a pipeline for Ivy League basketball programs. During the 2005-2006 season, there were seven former players from the Mid-Atlantic Prep League in the Ivy ranks. Columbia and Penn both have two players from the league, while Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton each have one. At least four MAPL players have committed to play for Ivy League teams next year.
An other example of the MAPL's basketball excellence is the 2003-04 Lawrenceville team that went 23-4 and beat national powerhouse Saint Benedict's Preparatory School of Newark, New Jersey. All five of Lawrenceville's starters on that team went on to play Division I basketball: David Whitehurst (Penn), Joakim Noah (leading scorer for Florida), Craig Moore (Northwestern), Andrew Morrison (Bucknell) and Kashif Sweet (Columbia).
In the 2005-2006 season, Noah led Florida to a 73-57 win over UCLA for the school's first NCAA basketball title, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
In the past two years, two former Lawrenceville players have walked on to major Division I programs: Mike Lepore (Wake Forest) and Nicky Sutton (Duke).
Mercersburg's recent basketball alumni include Stephane Pelle (Colorado) and Wes Miller (North Carolina), while Hun's include Noah Savage (Princeton).
In recent years, varsity baseball in the MAPL has seen a rise in competitiveness, with several former players now playing in college and professionally. Former Peddie standout Fernando Perez was drafted in the 7th round of the 2004 amateur draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, after playing for Columbia. Nick Francona (Lawrenceville) was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Most recently, former Hun School pitcher Steve Garrison was selected in the 10th round of the 2005 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Notable football alumni from the MAPL
- Myron Rolle (Florida State)
- Ben Pooler (Maryland)
- Devon Ramsey (Boston College)
- David Caldwell (William & Mary)
- Keith Hill (William & Mary)
- Taji Morris (Boston College)
- Derek Benson (Purdue)
- Luqman Abdallah (Miami)
- Shea McKeen (South Carolina)
- Samuel Richmond (Blair Academy, University of Colorado - Boulder)