Vic Made - Jake Mannix, Mars Hill University

About this series
Vic Made is a Lacrosse Victoria series featuring Victorian players who have taken their lacrosse overseas, to high schools and colleges across North America. Every path looks different. Some players go through recruiters, some contact schools directly, some build highlight reels for years before a door opens. There is no single way in. What these players share is that they went looking for the opportunity and found it. This series exists to show the next generation of Victorian players that the opportunity is real, and that it might look different for each of them too.

Meet Jake Mannix

Jake Mannix plays his lacrosse with Williamstown Lacrosse Club in Melbourne, where he has been playing since primary school. Before heading overseas, he represented Australia in the U20 Men's national team, bringing serious international experience with him to North Carolina.

He is now a freshman attacker at Mars Hill University, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The Mars Hill Lions compete in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) at NCAA Division II level, finishing the 2025 season with a record of 8 wins and 8 losses and clinching the No. 4 seed in the SAC Tournament. Jake led the team in points in his first season.

Jake's path to Mars Hill came through a combination of highlight reel footage and the support of Platform Sports Management, a New Zealand-based recruitment agency with Will Clarkson, Australian GM. Working with a recruitment agency is one way players navigate the process of getting noticed by college coaching staff, helping with everything from evaluation to building relationships with programs. It comes with a cost, but for some players the guidance and the connections are worth it. It is just one of the many roads into college lacrosse that Australian athletes can consider.

The highlight reels were filmed and edited by Jake's dad, Kane Mannix. Quality game footage is a running theme through the Vic Made series, and if you are looking for someone to capture and cut your own footage, Kane runs a business doing exactly that. Find his work at @sportlaxoz on Instagram.

In his own words

How much game time did you get in your first season, and what did you have to do to earn it?

"I started every game this season, leading the team in points. I think doing extra work outside of practice, for example extra film sessions, helped build the coaches' trust in me and my skills."

What surprised you most about the level of training and competition when you first arrived?

"Playing teams like Wingate and Newberry really surprised me with the skill and super high level of competition at a D2 level."

What has been the highlight of your time overseas so far, on or off the field?

"Probably the relationships I have made with people and the experience of living in a different country for the first time."

How did you get on the radar of Mars Hill?

"I got on the radar of schools through highlight reels my dad has filmed and through Platform Sports Management with GM Australia, Will Clarkson."

Is there anything you wish you had known before committing?

"Nope."

How do you manage the balance between study and lacrosse?

"It is really simple, just stay on top of tasks and you will be okay."

What is one piece of advice you would give a junior player in Melbourne who wants to play college lacrosse one day?

"Just keep working hard and everything will come."

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Vic Made is an ongoing Lacrosse Victoria series. More stories coming soon.

Are you a Victorian lacrosse player currently studying or playing overseas? We would love to feature you. Get in touch via Instagram.

Playing in an overseas camp or tournament this year? We want to hear from you for the second instalment of the series.

Already committed to a school overseas? Congratulations. We want to share your story in instalment three. Please reach out via Instagram.