EVERETT — Lucas Sontra may not be a perfect student athlete, but he may be as close as it gets.
The graduating senior from Everett High School took home the Everett School District’s 50th Annual Walsh Platt Athletic Scholarship, named after Walsh-Platt Motors (now Dwayne Lane’s Auto Centers), Thursday night at a ceremony at Cascade High School.
During his four years, Sontra lettered in baseball, basketball and football, while maintaining a 3.978 grade point average.
For those doing the math at home, that means in four years at Everett he received just a single ‘B’ grade.
“It’s funny because biology is what I’ll probably major in and that’s what gave me my ‘B’,” Sontra said.
The rigorous honors biology class his sophomore year was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record, but that isn’t stopping Sontra from tackling a pre-med degree at Pacific Lutheran University in the fall. He will play football for the Division III Lutes, who do not offer athletic scholarships, so the Walsh-Platt award of $2500 will go nicely with the $16,000 Dean’s scholarship he already earned for his academic performance.
Humbly, Sontra didn’t see the award coming on a night when 12 student-athletes — four from each of the district schools — were recognized.
“I honestly had no idea because there’s some phenomenal athletes here and a lot of achievements that they have,” Sontra said. “State titles and state record holders. I’m just really honored.”
Equally surprised was the night’s top female honoree, Jackson’s Leigh Ann Haataja.
Haataja lettered twice in basketball and four times in volleyball. She helped turn around the Jackson volleyball team that went from winning four games her sophomore year to being the captain on the 4A state champions in her final season.
“It’s amazing just to get that final award and be recognized,” Haataja said. “It feels amazing. At the beginning of my high school career I wouldn’t expect to be here and I’m just so happy that I am.”
Haataja will attend Portland State in the fall on a full volleyball scholarship and thus cannot accept the financial part of the Walsh-Platt-award. The money will be awarded to one or more of the other female honorees upon a determination by the judging committee.
Though she hasn’t picked out a major for college, Haataja knows what she wants to do after she is done with her playing career.
“My dream is to coach,” she said. “I want to be what the coaches were to me.”
Past winners of the award include Terry Ennis of Everett, Cascade’s Grady Sizemore, and Travis Snider and Kristi Kingma of Jackson.
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