LYNN — English senior Juan Avelino, a valuable contributor to the Bulldogs’ 10-1 football team last fall as well as a standout sprinter and jumper both in the winter and spring, has committed to UMass-Lowell, a Division I-level school, for track and field.
Avelino, who hopes to major in exercise physiology while playing for the Riverhawks, signed his letter of intent in English principal Tom Strangie’s office Wednesday afternoon.
“I just liked the program,” Avelino said. “It seemed like it was a second family up there, and I liked the coaches (head coach Gary Gardner and assistant Mike Rutt.
“Also, it’s an up-and-coming program,” Avelino said. “I really liked the place, and I feel like it’ll be a good fit for me.”
Avelino, who lives with his mother, Yoselin, said the campus’ proximity to Lynn was also a selling point.
“It’s close to home,” he said, “which means I’ll be close to my mother.”
Avelino’s place in English athletic lore is secure. In the Bulldogs’ only football loss last fall — the Division 3 North title game — he caught a 47-yard scoring pass in which he outsprinted the Redmen defense. It was that speed that led then-coach Peter Holey to recommend that he run track. And he’s been a big success there, said winter track coach John Walsh.
“He’s always there, and he’s always working to get better,” said Walsh, adding that Avelino was eighth in the all-states in the high jump.
“He’s a good leader, a good role model,” said Walsh. “I’d say he’s probably more mature than some of the other kids. I know I’m really going to miss him.”
Avelino ran the 100, 55-meter hurdles and did the high jump over the winter.
This spring, Avelino has already qualified for the states in the 4×00 relay and the 100 dash, and he’s hoping to make it in the high jump too.
English is 4-1 thus far this spring, after having a successful winter.
“We have a lot of good guys on our team,” he said.
Avelino said he wants to major in exercise physiology after seeing former trainer Mario Fernandez tend to the athletic teams’ needs.
“He was great,” Avelino said. “That’s the kind of work I’d like to do.
He said he wants to start out as a physical therapist, but “at some point I’d like to open my own gym, like Velocity Sports Performance.”
