He stays after practice to shoot on the net. It’s all he wants to do. He loves lacrosse. Even before school he’s in the weightroom focusing on getting bigger, stronger. He’s 100% at practice, trying to get faster, more skilled, and also trying to encourage the younger guys to go as hard as he does.

Senior lacrosse star Tanner Culleton has committed himself to lacrosse and over the years has seen great success.

“I just always try to put work in outside of practice and everything just trying to shoot on goal, and hit the wall,” Culleton Said. “I’m always trying to be like a good role model.”

Culleton started his lacrosse playing career playing in third grade. At that  point it was just something he did for fun, and he enjoyed it. But seeing his older brother play made him realize that lacrosse was what he loved, so  in middle school he started to take the sport more seriously.

“I thought that it looked so fun,” Culleton said, “So I started to play with him.”

Culleton started to obsess over the sport and work hard to eventually one day play in college. He would first start his high school career at Seckman where his hard working habits began. Here Culleton would find great success as his freshman and sophomore years he would be the leading goal scorer for Seckman’s lacrosse team. Eventually his junior year he would decide to leave for De Smet.

“I was at a summer tournament with Jack [Littauer] and Graham [Labonte] and we were going to dinner every night and they kept talking to me about De Smet,” Culleton said, “I started to think about it and it was the right decision both academically and athletically.” 

At De Smet Culleton would continue to work hard, getting to school early to lift, staying after practice to get faster and more skilled. All this work would soon become routine for him. All this hard work would help him lead De Smet to their first title since 2002 and their seventh in school history.

“It was probably the greatest experience I’ve had through high school,” Culleton said, “it was such a great experience to do it with the team.”

Culleton, and the rest of the Lacrosse team are not satisfied, though Culleton aims to lead De Smet to another state championship in his final year at the school while using his experiences from last year.

“When you get that taste of winning a state championship,” Culleton said, “you kind of want another one so I’ll work harder to get another.”

Culleton’s other goal as a lacrosse player is to become a better leader and role model for younger players on the team. He wants to excite them and help them be the best players that they can be.

“The whole year, with the younger sophomores and freshmen on the team he has really encouraged us to work harder for more team success,” Sophomore Leo Moffat said, “He is a really great role model for us younger guys.”

Recently, Culleton committed to the University of Indianapolis to continue his career in lacrosse.

“It just seemed like the right fit for me,” Culleton said. “Just seemed like they wanted me to be there, I like that part of it.”

Culleton’s hard work on and off the field to not only be a better player, but a better example for the younger guys has helped him in his career. This has made him a massive part of the De Smet lacrosse team so far this season.

“Just always try to be like a good role model,” Culleton said.” I’m always trying to set a good example for the younger kids on the team.”