EVERETT — As athletes, Anna Pischer and Jason Todd had remarkably successful high school careers.
But they were exceptional as students and citizens as well, and for all those reasons the two Jackson High School seniors received Dwayne Lane’s Athlete of the Year awards in a Thursday night ceremony at Everett High School. The awards each include $2,500 college scholarships.
Pischer was a track and field athlete for four years, and ran cross country in her junior and senior years after playing volleyball in her first two years. She earned six varsity letters while qualifying for state three times in track and field and twice in cross country.
At last weekend’s Class 4A state track and field championships in Tacoma, Pischer placed sixth in the triple jump and eighth in the 300 intermediate hurdles. She also has a cumulative 3.96 grade-point-average (ranking 10th in her senior class of 446) and was a two-time class president and four-year honors society member along with various other awards and activities.
“To have this honor is so amazing,” said Pischer, who will attend the University of California, Davis in the fall. “Thank you.”
Todd played two years of baseball at Jackson, but had his greatest success in basketball. A four-year starter and three-year captain, he was twice named the Gatorade Washington Player of the Year and was a McDonald’s All-America nominee as a senior.
In the classroom Todd has a cumulative 3.55 GPA. Away from school he was involved with youth sports program as a coach and mentor.
“I’m very humbled and honored to accept this,” said Todd, who is headed to the University of Portland on a basketball scholarship. After thanking event organizers, Todd said “the biggest thank-you in the whole world goes to my mom and dad. Without you, none of this was possible. I chose Portland for a reason and it’s because I’m going to be close to you guys.”
The other 10 nominees — two girls and two boys from each of the three Everett School District high schools — were similarly outstanding both athletically and academically. The other girls nominees were Cascade’s Makinlee Sellevold (varsity letters in volleyball, basketball and softball) and Emily Mallos (volleyball, basketball and tennis), Everett’s Emily Anderson (volleyball and golf) and Tenika Wentworth (volleyball, basketball and track and field), and Jackson’s Anna Johnson (volleyball and basketball)
The other boys nominees were Cascade’s K.J. Brady (football, basketball and baseball) and Patrick Chung (tennis and baseball), Everett’s Lucas Arnestad (football, basketball and baseball) and Pablo Yeo (football and wrestling), and Jackson’s John-Robert Woolley (football and track and field).
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