Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse Eagles track and field team displays their awards from the Culminating District Meet in Ritzville. From left, is, front row, Ashlynn Archer (jr), Sophie Larsen (jr), Ellie Tollett (sr), Zoey Bailey (sr) and Brooklyn Bailey (jr); back row, Pedro Moline (soph), Ryan Anderson (jr), Rory Maloney (soph), Matthew Logen (jr), Kameron Greenhalgh (sr), Landen Miller (fr) and Julia Guske (fr).
RITZVILLE — St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse boys and girls both took first in the 18-team 1B District track meet in Ritzville on May 7
"I felt like we had a chance in both the boys and the girls if things had gone our way," said second-year Coach Paul Johnson.
Senior Kameron Greenhalgh won the shot put and discus for the boys and senior Ellie Tollett got first in the girls' pole vault, setting a new school record at 8-feet for a sport brought back to St. John by Johnson after a 15-year absence.
Matthew Logen took second in the 110 high hurdles. Ryan Anderson took second in the 300 hurdles and the boys' 4X400 team of Logen, Rory Maloney, Pedro Molina and Anderson earned second as well.
For the girls, Sophie Larsen finished second in the pole vault at 7-feet as did Brooklyn Bailey in the shot put throwing for 32-feet, 1.5-inches. Ashlyn Archer took second in the discus and the girls 4X200 team of Larsen, Zoe Bailey, Julia Guske and Archer.
Eagles' girls added four third-place finishes for more team points.
The district meet was the third of the season for the Eagles and just the second for half of the kids. At their first meet on March 31 at Pomeroy, the boys and girls teams finished first.
On April 14, the bus left St. John again for another meet at Pomeroy before the announcement was made to send all students in the St. John-Endicott districts back to remote learning for 12 school days -- after COVID-19 spiked in the area.
Still clear to compete that afternoon only six Eagles made the trip, as others stayed back because some had tested positive for COVID.
The pause was lifted on May 3.
The team reconvened for four practices – back to running on painted routes on the streets, and the sprinters, hurdlers, throwers and jumpers gathered at the football field.
St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse has no track.
Johnson came over in 2019 from Stanwood, north of Everett, where he retired in 2010 after 33 years of teaching and coaching.
He applied in St. John at the behest of a late friend.
Dan Logen, an OBGYN doctor and the grandfather of the Logen kids, was a jogging partner of Johnson for seven years before Logen died of cancer in 2016. Johnson had taught Logen's three children.
"One of the last things he said to me was to take care of his kids and grandkids," Johnson said. "Eventually, I decided that meant to come to St. John and teach Spanish and coach track."
With no state meet this year, Eagles' athletics now head to basketball season.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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