Peninsula High lacrosse player Ortiz-Bustillos posting impressive year for school, club and country

On so many levels, it’s been a busy lacrosse season for Julieta Ortiz-Bustillo.

Ortiz-Bustillos, a to-be senior for Peninsula High School, played for the Peninsula School District team (a joint team with players from Gig Harbor and Peninsula) in the spring, plays on the Tacoma LadyHawks club lacrosse team in the offseason and then made the cut and played for Team Washington in a national tournament in Stony Brook, New York, in late May.

Recently, the 17-year-old made the Team USA lacrosse team and will represent her country Aug. 6-15 in England and Scotland. Not bad for a player who didn’t pick up lacrosse until she was in the seventh grade.

“It’s so exciting,” Ortiz-Bustillos said of her recent experiences. “When I made Team USA, my parents freaked out. They started crying. They came from a more disadvantaged life and have always pushed me to work hard, push and keep excelling.”

Ortiz-Bustillos plans to play lacrosse in college, and has talked mostly with the University of Arizona coaching staff.

Last weekend, he team won the Rose City Lax Showdown tournament in Portland, Oregon, where multiple college coaches were scouting. Also on the Tacoma LadyHawks team are PSD teammates Anna Elligsen, Lauren Garnaas and Angie Ortiz.

“We played really well on Sunday,” she said. “Something just clicked. We just started winning and got to the finals. It was so much fun, made everyone feel more upbeat. We were scoring goals, playing amazing on defense and our draw control.”

Ortiz-Bustillos, who describes herself as family-oriented, first and foremost, said she’s been pleased to see the growth with the Peninsula School District team, and lacrosse in the Gig Harbor area in general.

“I’ve seen so much growth,” she said. “Every year, we do captain practices, which the captains lead. Rather than having mandatory practices, it’s more of a team bonding. On the field, you have more of a connection. It’s a family environment. It’s just a really happy feeling when everyone is together.”

Eventually, the goal is to have separate teams for Gig Harbor and Peninsula, although the current participation level isn’t quite sufficient enough.

“We just wanted to show the sports community and the Peninsula School District that we have a really good team and we want to make this a bigger sport and eventually create separate teams,” Ortiz-Bustillos said. “I’m trying to help make it bigger in our area.”

Ortiz-Bustillos hopes to see the PSD team continue to grow.

“We’ll accept you — come play with us,” she said, making her sales pitch. “We’ll try to get you in the best shape possible to be a lacrosse player.”

Ortiz-Bustillos will play in a tournament in Snohomish July 28-29 before getting ready for the international trip with team USA.