WATERVILLE SUPER ACHIEVERS

The first of our Waterville Super Achievers is actually three people. They are the children of Dick and Sandy Stoddard. Trisha, graduated in 1989. Tod graduated in 1992 and David in 1997. The subject is Track and Field. I chose track because it never has been on of Waterville's most popular sports. When I came here in 1949, there was none at all. Our first track was build with volunteer labor in the early 1970s.

In 1988, Trisha gave us our first ever individual championship in her 400m race. The 400 meter relay team added another first and Lori Schneider won the long jump with a state record. What a day! In 1989, Trisha struck gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m races. The results vaulted the team to 2nd place in the team championships. She did all that with a very sore ankle!

In 1992, Tod took his turn winning races. He only won two. Only? He won the 100m high hurdles and then won the 300m hurdles with a new state record! That was the boy's very first state record of any kind, ever! Along with other team members doing well, Waterville had its first team state championship to go with Tod's great achievements. Sounds like a little sibling rivalry going on.

Now, I have to ask you. If you were the skinny little brother, what could you possibly do to top that? Well, David had 5 years to think about it. He graduated in 1997. He must have done a lot of thinking while eating his Wheaties those 5 years, but his turn finally came. He not only won the 100m high hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles, (hang on Tod) but while doing it, he broke Tod's state record by more than a full second! David's record still stands after 11 years. If you were lucky enough to see that race, you saw the fastest 300m hurdle race by any high school runner in any class that year in the state of Washington!

David was not through yet. He went to college and excelled there also. His last two years were in Cheney, where he capped off his winning ways by winning the Big Sky 400m hurdles championship in Missoula, Montana. Wow, that is big time track! You can follow his college and high school career by browsing the links below. Congratulations, parents and children. I, for one, enjoyed it all!

By the way, track wasn't the only thing they did. All three excelled in other sports as well. All you had to do is watch Trisha check a guard trying to bring the ball down the court in a basketball game and you knew she was something special.