By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Someday they may hang a picture in the halls at Cheney High School that defines what it means to be a Blackhawk athlete.
When they do, that picture could be of seniors Keith Parker and Amanda Swenson. Talk to their coaches, and they'll tell you the Cheney Free Press 2007 Male and Female Athletes of the Year embody all the best qualities of athletes, and of individuals.
Leadership, positive attitude, goal-oriented, yes, they have those. But both possess a desire to excel that brings not just individual success, but success for their teams as well.
Their coaches will also tell you that neither are the most naturally, physically talented athletes to come through the halls at CHS.
Where their talent does come from is their heart – hearts continually pumping them to be the best they can be.
For both athletes, and like many others, those sports started young and were numerous.
Swenson said she started in second grade, playing soccer first, and then shortly after, basketball, competing in Cheney Parks and Recreation and Spokane Youth Sports Association leagues. Track followed in sixth grade through the Cheney Track Club as her parents encouraged her to do more.
“My dad is a fanatic about sports,” Swenson said.
Parker's athletic career began a little earlier.
Around age 2, Parker said his parents got him dribbling a basketball in the backyard at their home in New Mexico. Once they moved to Cheney, he started down the same path as Swenson, Cheney for basketball, SYSA football and wrestling with the Cheney Mathawks.
Parker said he also played baseball, and at one point, was rushing to three practices a day.
“Just because I had way too much energy and it was the only thing that would get me tired and able to sleep,” he added.
Encouraged by coaches to play in about every sport, Parker narrowed it down in high school to track, football and wrestling – the latter being somewhat controversial.
“That really made my mom mad because she loved basketball and hated wrestling,” he said. “With wrestling, there is more individual success.”
And while mom may not have liked it, CHS wrestling head coach Wade Schlotter said Keith once told him he thought he made the right decision.
The decision eventually led to four varsity wrestling letters, third-place finishes this season at districts and regionals, and a 2A state seventh-place medal at 160 pounds at Mat Classic XIX in February. Parker was also picked to the All-GNL team as an honorable mention.
“He's a high energy kind of kid,” Schlotter said.
“Once he decides that's what he wanted to do, he stepped up and did it.”
Swenson also made a similar commitment upon entering high school, playing soccer, basketball and track. And while her favorite sport is soccer – she's a four-year letter winner – she feels she is better at basketball.
“I can use my speed a lot in basketball, shorter distances,” she said.
In fact, her speed and tenacity led her Lady Hawks teammates to bestow her with a nickname – “The Rat.”
“We gave her the name ‘The Rat' because she's running around out there and driving people crazy,” Cheney girls' basketball head coach Hal Sautter said. “She has an incredible work ethic and she drives herself so hard to get better.”
Sautter said he told Swenson during summer league play two years ago that she was going to be his point guard.
She responded playing on two Lady Hawks summer teams, just to get the time.
The work paid off. A three-year letter winner in basketball and the team's offensive MVP in 2006, Swenson's work ethic crystallized this season, being named to the All-Great Northern League's second team as well as selected as the Lady Hawks' defensive MVP, leading the team in steals with 77. To put that number in perspective, Sautter said the next highest player had 29 steals.
And, it was one of those steals, capped by a Swenson layup that helped the Lady Hawks rally from a nine-point, late fourth quarter deficit to beat the former No. 1 team in the state, Pullman, 45-44 and send Cheney to the 2A state tournament. Swenson said it would stand as one of her fondest memories.
“We were screaming out the (bus) windows all the way back (to CHS from Eastern),” she said.
A four-year letter winner in track, Swenson was also selected to the All-GNL's first team as a member of the 400- and 800-meter relay team's that placed sixth and eighth at the 2A state meet, May 25-26.
For Parker, that fond memory comes from football – specifically last fall's Oct. 13 home game against GNL rival West Valley. After falling behind 14-0 early, Cheney scored 31 straight points for a 31-14 win, with Parker rushing for 142 yards and one touchdown in the game.
“Shutting them down after that was just awesome,” he said.
But that West Valley game also produced a moment that defined Parker's never-quit character. About half way through the first quarter, he hobbled off the field with a leg injury.
“It wasn't horribly painful, but I knew something was wrong,” he said.
It was wrong all right. It was broken, something Parker didn't find out about until undergoing an MRI at the beginning of wrestling – and after he scored not only a second-quarter TD against West Valley, but two more TDs in the Blackhawks season-ending win over Medical Lake three weeks later.
A three-year letter winner in football, Parker formed a solid, one-two offensive punch with teammate Jesus Fregoso, rushing for almost 700 yards and six TDs and being named the team's offensive MVP and an All-GNL first team selection. Parker was also a four-year letter winner in track.
Both seniors have plans after graduation. For Swenson, it's a relaxing trip to Europe, followed by pursuing a career in cosmetology at the Community Colleges of Spokane. She has also received an invitation to play soccer for the Lady Sasquatch.
Parker plans on majoring in athletic training, with a minor in teaching at Whitworth College. He also plans on playing football for the Pirates, either at running back or wide receiver, and once finished with college, hopes to pursue a coaching career as far as he can go – even as high as the National Football League.
Parker and Swenson said they take fond memories with them from CHS, but will miss a few things as well.
Most missed will be the fans whose cheering and enthusiasm have inspired them to play as hard as they can.
What Blackhawk athletics will miss about the pair will not only be their work ethic and drive, but maybe even more importantly, their leadership.
“He's everything you want in a football player, everything you want in an athlete really,” head football coach Jason Williams said of Parker.
A good student of the game, Williams also said Parker worked hard to achieve his success, and as a leader in the locker room, was perfect.
“If you had 11 of those guys you'd have a pretty good football team,” Williams added.
It's a sentiment girls' soccer head coach Marissa Sheldon applies to Swenson as well.
Surgery prevented Sheldon from doing much coaching this season, handing the reins to assistant Robyn Smith, a move she said some girls resisted.Not Swenson, who not only embraced the move, but played as hard as ever.
“She puts the team first, and then Amanda does what she needs to do to keep the team up there,” Sheldon said.
In the end, the Lady Hawks achieved one of Sheldon's season goals by making it to the 2A state Final Four, placing third overall, helped by Swenson's drive and commitment that Sheldon said infected the whole team.
“She is an incredible person. If there is anybody I'm going to miss a lot, it's Amanda Swenson,” Sheldon said. “To her I say thanks, especially this past year.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected]
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