From Sumner to Princeton: two-sport standout set to play Ivy League football and baseball

Jay Mentink has spent countless hours making plays on both fields situated just east of Sumner High School.

A two-sport standout for the Spartans, the Princeton-bound senior has spent fall seasons hauling in catches and interceptions at Sunset Chev Stadium, then spring seasons crushing pitches on Sumner’s baseball diamond located on the other side of the fence.

During his high school career, Mentink has been key in helping the Spartans reach the state playoffs in both sports.

He’s a three-time Class 4A South Puget Sound League first-teamer in football — as a special teams player his sophomore and junior seasons, and at defensive back last fall — and was a TNT All-Area selection in 2022 following Sumner’s run to the 4A state quarterfinals, during which he played wide receiver and safety, and was a key contributor on special teams.

Mentink also earned 4A SPSL first-team honors and TNT All-Area honors last spring, playing outfield for a Spartans baseball team that advanced to the 4A state quarterfinals. Sumner is in the postseason mix again this season — the 4A West Central/Southwest district playoffs begin next week — with Mentink again playing a central role in center field.

“He’s truly amazing,” Sumner football coach Keith Ross said of the Spartans’ two-sport star.

“He’s very well-rounded,” Spartans baseball coach Casey Adcox said. “He’s well-rounded in life. He’s well-rounded on the field. It’s just who he is.”

Mentink has always played baseball growing up. His dad, Justin, currently an assistant on Sumner’s staff, played at Washington State. His aunt, Angie, played college softball at Washington, and is known by fans across the Pacific Northwest for Mariners coverage on ROOT Sports. He also currently plays alongside his cousin Jaxen, the Spartans’ catcher, at Sumner.

“It’s kind of just been in the family,” Mentink said. “I’ve been playing since I was like 4.”

He found football later, joining the Spartans in high school. After playing his first season at Sumner, and then 7-on-7 in the offseason, Mentink decided to continue on in his high school career with both sports.

“Then I kind of took on both sports at once,” he said.

“What I saw was he ended up really loving football, and loving what football can do for you — the camaraderie and just the atmosphere football can produce, it’s big-time, and he fell in love with it,” Ross said.

Mentink has excelled in both sports since, becoming a top performer in the 4A SPSL in one of the state’s toughest leagues each season in football and baseball.

“He’s playing in two sports that you have to practice each sport year-round,” Ross said. “That’s what’s amazing.”

In football, Mentink has been a versatile playmaker for the Spartans, and impacted all three phases his senior season, when he hauled in 32 catches for 390 yards and five touchdowns, piled up 62 tackles and three interceptions in the defensive backfield, returned punts and kickoffs and had a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

“He can play wide receiver, he can return punts, kickoffs, he can play safety,” Ross said. “He can do a lot of things.”

On the baseball field, too. Mentink enters the 2023 postseason with a .293 career batting average, 10 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 40 RBI and 16 stolen bases, and there’s a lot that sets him apart, Adcox said.

“Speed. Great instincts. Very good hands. Very fast hands,” Adcox said. “ … He has a mix of the ability to put the ball in play and hit for power. He uses all fields.”

Football and baseball offer some similarities — Mentink’s skill set playing center field also applies well to playing safety, he said, but he also noted the benefits of the differences the two sports offer.

“As the year goes on, developing both sides of like my athleticism, it helps a lot and it keeps me as a well-rounded athlete,” Mentink said.

Both Ross and Adcox noted Mentink’s ability to find balance. Beyond starring in two sports, Mentink excels in the classroom and is involved in school leadership. He has also performed in several productions through the years, and sang the national anthem at the Spartans’ senior day celebration last spring, and again in March, when Sumner played Highline at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

“He’s a phenomenal athlete. He’s highly intelligent. He is cerebral. He’s just so calm,” Ross said. “ … He’s just focused on his diet, his meditation, his schoolwork and his sports.”

“He is just able to stay centered,” Adcox said.

When Mentink arrives at Princeton, he plans to study philosophy, continue singing and beyond college hopes to pursue working in sports management in the NFL or MLB.

He is also set to continue on as a two-sport athlete in the Ivy League, having signed on with both the Tigers’ football and baseball programs.

“I wanted to go a place where I could play two sports, and Princeton has a great baseball and football program, so it was kind of just the perfect fit for me,” he said.

Mentink, considered a three-star recruit by 247Sports, is projected as a safety, and will join longtime football coach Bob Surace’s team at Princeton, as well as defensive backs coach E.J. Henderson, who played at Lincoln and Central Washington.

He is projected to play outfield for longtime Tigers baseball coach Scott Bradley, who played for the Mariners for parts of seven seasons from 1986-92, giving Mentink further ties back to the Pacific Northwest as he heads to the East Coast.

As he prepares to join rare company in being a two-sport athlete at the Division I level, Mentink is ready for the challenge.

“Going from one season to the next, from one sport to the next, I think it will keep it fresh and fun,” he said.