Kamiakin’s Stapleton, Wa-Hi’s Lesmeister named top athletes

Honored and humbled.

Those were the words spoken earlier this week by Kamiakin’s Allison Stapleton and Walla Walla’s Mitch Lesmeister, the Herald’s All-Area Athletes of the Year.

One phone call to their coaches, and it is easy to see that as well as being good athletes, they are good students, good leaders and good people.

“He is a throwback athlete,” Wa-Hi basketball coach John Golden said of Lesmeister. “He played three sports and excelled at all three. To excel at the level he did was impressive, and to do it with the humility he did, that is a special kind of kid.”

Stapleton, the All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year, who also was a standout jumper for the Kamiakin track team, will be sorely missed in both sports.

“She’s a hard worker and we appreciated having her in the program,” Kamiakin volleyball coach Morgan Schauble said. “It has been great to watch her grow as a person and an athlete. I’m excited to see her grow in her next adventure.”

Leaping her way to success

At 6-foot-2, Stapleton has the perfect frame for volleyball. She dominated the floor in the Mid-Columbia Conference, leading the Braves to an 11-3 MCC record and a trip to the Class 3A state tournament. Kamiakin went 0-2 at state and finished 19-9 overall.

Stapleton piled up 279 kills while hitting .286. She added 311 digs, 37 blocks and served at 92.7 percent with 24 aces.

“My last three years, we have had really good seasons,” Stapleton said. “This year, we had to win three loser-out matches just to get to state. This is your season on the line. We were so excited to get to state.”

Though track is a big sport in her family — her dad Dave holds the men’s high jump record at BYU, and her sister Andrea just competed at the NCAAs in the high jump — Stapleton is staying on the court and will play volleyball at BYU, which offered her a partial scholarship.

“Besides her height and her athleticism, she wants to be great and she wants to learn,” BYU volleyball coach Heather Olmstead said. “We are excited to see her grow and learn. She is open to coaching. We can’t wait to see what she brings.”

Stapleton, who will major in photography, reports to BYU for volleyball June 27.

“I’m a little scared, but excited at the same time,” she said.

It was a bitter-sweet decision to give up track, but Stapleton said she does not regret the decision.

“I think it was a week or two before state,” she said looking back. “I have a box that I put all of my track stuff in. I was putting a bib number in and it hit me: It was over.

“It’s a bit sad, (but) I have played volleyball since I was little. I could play every day and not get sick of it.”

It might have been easy to give up the sport when she was younger. Being the youngest of six kids, her siblings would pound the ball at her during family games, but that did not turn her against the sport. Quite the opposite.

“I loved it,” she said.

She loves track too, so much so that the summer before her junior year, she was telling college volleyball coaches that she was doing track. And the BYU track coaches still would sign her in a heartbeat.

“We are going to miss her like crazy,” Kamiakin track coach Cheryl Schauble said. “She was fun to have out there. She is very smart and very coachable. All of this new stuff is going to happen for her. I’m excited to see how it turns out.”

Schauble already had Stapleton’s sister Andrea in the team when she arrived on the scene her freshman year.

“She came in her freshman year and we had this marvelous team — high caliber, best in the state,” Schauble said. “She trained with them everyday. Practice was high intensity, she never knew anything different. She was varsity from Day 1, she had that kind of work ethic.”

It wasn’t all fun and games for Stapleton being two years behind her sister.

“It was hard,” she said. “Once I started lifting weights and getting stronger, it got better.”

Stapleton finished her high school track career with second-place finishes in the long jump and triple jump at the 3A state championships in Tacoma. She also broke her sister’s school record (38-8) in the triple jump with a mark of 38-11 1/2 at the MCC/GSL Bi-District Championships on May 13.

Just competing was a feat in itself after she tore a muscle in her quadriceps playing club volleyball.

“We had to keep her reeled in with her injury,” Schauble said. “She did an awesome job. She got the triple jump record and that sealed the deal.”

Stapleton also shares a state record for combined high, triple and long jumps with her sister and former Kamiakin standout Lindsey Schauble, set at the Ram Relays in 2015.

“All the stars had to align,” coach Schauble said. “They all had to get a mark in each event. Andrea had the best mark in the high jump, Allison in the triple jump and Lindsey in the long jump. That is a record they will hold for a while.”

Leaving a lasting impression

It will be a long time before Walla Walla High School sees the likes of another athlete like Lesmeister, who is the first Wa-Hi athlete to win the award, male or female.

He quarterbacked the football team, was the second-leading scorer on the basketball team and played his way to the MCC Player of the Year in baseball.

“He is the ultimate team guy,” Blue Devils baseball coach Keith Gradwohl said. “When he was a sophomore he played second base. When he was a junior he played third base. This year, he played shortstop because that’s where we needed him. No. 9 will be tough for us to replace. He was good for us all year.”

Lesmeister, who will play baseball at Central Washington University, hit .466 with 34 hits, one home run, nine doubles, three triples and 25 RBIs. He also scored 20 runs, had 16 stolen bases, and struck out just twice in 73 at-bats.

“He had the respect of the MCC coaches as player of the year,” Gradwohl said. He is extremely humble, but he is a leader. He’s not a ‘rah-rah’ type, but he leads by example. He demonstrates leadership by how he carries himself on and off the field.”

Summer ball and working take up most of Lesmeister’s time these days, but he still likes taking a look back at the Blue Devils’ season.

“It was a really fun season,” he said. “The senior guys came together and had good leadership for the younger kids. We had a nice playoff run (advanced to the state quarterfinals) but came up short. Safeco would have been fun, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

While baseball is Lesmeister’s chosen sport, he still has great love for football and basketball.

“I grew up playing all three and wanted to do all them as long as I could,” said Lesmeister, who will study pharmacy. “I have been playing basketball since the third grade. It used to be my favorite. I did AAU and thought I’d go to college for basketball, but that didn’t happen. I will miss football. I’m glad I did all three — you build friendships and make long-lasting relationships.”

On the football field, the 6-1, 190-pound Lesmeister was an All-MCC honorable mention pick at quarterback, a stacked position in a league that had teams play for the 3A and 4A state championships. He also played defensive back.

He completed 115 of 224 passes for 1,587 yards and 17 touchdowns and was the second-leading rusher in the MCC, with 1,261 yards and 16 touchdowns on 156 carries. He led the MCC in total offense with 2,848 yards.

But it would have meant more with a couple more wins.

“He is the consummate team player,” Blue Devils football coach Eric Hisaw said. “He doesn’t care who gets the credit, he just wants to win. That’s what makes him special. I wish there were more kids like him at our school, in society.”

But the icing on the cake came Oct. 14 when he surpassed Drew Bledsoe for career passing yards at Wa-Hi.

Bledsoe, a former No. 1 NFL draft pick and a Super Bowl champion, had the record of 4,060 yards that had stood the test of time since 1989. Lesmeister finished his career with 4,793 yards.

“I didn’t even know at the time,” Lesmeister said. “Then Hisaw told me. It didn’t sink in for a couple of days. I hope the younger generation looks at me as a good role model.”

After hearing Lesmeister broke his record, Bledsoe sent the Walla Walla senior a congratulatory message on Twitter: “Congrats Mitch!! Well done man. I hope the rest of the season goes well. Go Blue Devils!!”

“He is the kind of kid the former record holder would be proud to have him break his record,” Hisaw said. “He is honorable. For Drew to reach out says a lot about his character. You know the next kid to break it is in the same mold.”

There were no records broken on the basketball court, but Lesmeister averaged 9.8 points, 4.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game. He was the team’s leading rebounder.

“Mitch’s athleticism, hustle, work ethic and leadership will be sorely missed,” Golden said. “To see the success he has had in all three sports has been fun. He puts in the work in the classroom too. It will be fun to see what he does at the next level.”

To top off his senior season, Lesmeister was named an MCC Scholar Athlete and was awarded the Brown Trophy as the outstanding male athlete at Walla Walla.

“He has all of these accolades, and the first thing everyone says is, ‘It couldn’t happen to a nicer kid,’ ” Gradwohl said.

This story was originally published June 17, 2017 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Kamiakin’s Stapleton, Wa-Hi’s Lesmeister named top athletes."