Edmonds School District honors Werner

Published 11:01 pm Wednesday, May 26, 2010

EDMONDS — The hardest lesson Sam Werner had to learn during high school was how to say “No.”

Once he learned how to do that, the senior scholar-athlete from Meadowdale found that achievement on the playing field and in the classroom was much more doable.

“I just had to say no to people,” Werner said. “It’s hard to say ‘no’, but that’s what you have to do. Once your homework is done then you can say, ‘yeah’ come over (to your friends).”

Werner, a 10-time letter winner in football, basketball and soccer, took achievement and leadership to the next level in his four-year career and Wednesday night was awarded the Edmonds School District’s highest scholar-athlete honor — the $3,000 Bryan Rogers Memorial Scholarship — at the district’s ninth annual recognition banquet held Wednesday at Edmonds-Woodway.

On a night when 17 students from the four schools in the district where honored for contributions in sports, school and the community, Werner stood out from an impressive group of soon-to-be graduates. He carries a 3.93 GPA; was a captain in all three sports his senior year; achieved first-team all-Wesco in football last fall and helped lead the basketball team to its highest finish in school history with a fifth-place trophy at the 2010 3A state tournament.

Basketball coach Chad McGuire called him, “the best male leader the school has seen in a decade.”

Early in Werner’s junior year, he broke his foot during football season, but that didn’t stop him from coming to every football practice for the rest of the season as well as a whole season’s worth of basketball practice even though he couldn’t play in the games.

“You can’t replace people like Sam or Conner Hamlett,” Maguire said. “We are going to miss them.”

Hamlett, a standout in football, track and basketball with a 3.8 GPA, was also honored Wednesday but was the only student who didn’t receive a monetary scholarship from the district. His full education has already been picked up by Oregon State where he will play tight end on a football scholarship in the fall.

Mountlake Terrace’s Corinne Pingul took home the second highest honor of the night — a $2,500 award, which she will put towards tuition at Whitman College in the fall where she plans to study science.

Over her four years, Pingul lettered in soccer and tennis but her best sport was basketball. She played four years of varsity on the hardwood and served as captain for the final three, winning the team’s hardest worker award her senior year. She was also active in link crew and won the Alexander Hamilton Citizen Achievement award among other accolades throughout her career.

For the previous three years Pingul volunteered at the district’s end-of-year banquet, dressing in black and white, setting up and serving meals. Seeing her peers get awards lit a fire that motivated her.

“I want that,” she remembers thinking. “I want to be the one that works that hard and I want to be the one that represents my school. It was kind of a goal that kept me going.”

Although neither won athletic scholarships both Werner and Pingul are considering soccer and basketball respectively at the next level, citing the structure that sports give a student’s schedule as a key to their successes.

Werner is sure he’ll be trying out for the Gonzaga soccer team.

“I love the school in general, so I’m going for academics,” Werner said. “But I really want to get on the team no matter what, and I think I can.”

If he shows the same work ethic as a Bulldog that he did as a Maverick, it’s a good bet to see Werner on the pitch in Spokane this fall.

Honored Coaches

Cari Wieben—Lynnwood Girls Swimming

Alberto Ramirez—Mountlake Terrace Boys and Girls Tennis

Andrew Streit—Meadowdale JV Boys Basketball

Deb Johnson—Edmonds-Woodway Dance/Drill Coach

Scholarship Winners

Mountlake Terrace

Teryn Bouche— Soccer, Basketball, Tennis $1,500

Wesley Dawn—Football, Track and Field $1,750

Corrine Pingul—Soccer, Basketball, Tennis $2,500

Chris Raunio—Tennis, Baseball $1,000

Ciara Rink- Cross Country, Track and Field $1,000*

*Sports Medicine Award

Lynnwood

Jessica Barlow—Volleyball, Track, Softball $1,000

Laycee Hill—Volleyball, Basketball, Track and Field $1,000

Rodson Ubungen—Football, Wrestling $1,500

John Vogan—Cross Country, Track and Field $1,500

Meadowdale

Julia Fjortoft—Soccer, Basketball, Track and Field $1,000

Conner Hamlett—Football, Basketball, Track and Field **

Shelly Koehn—Soccer, Cross Country, Track and Field $1,000

Sam Werner—Football, Basketball, Track and Field $3,000

**Already on full athletic Scholarship

Edmonds-Woodway

Katherine Amsden—Soccer, Track $1,750

L. Stefan Carlson—Wrestling, Cross Country, Soccer $1,500

Hannah Lauber—Volleyball, Golf $1,000

Sam Storino—Football Wrestling, Baseball $1,500