Decision To End Lakeside Coaching Career A Difficult One

The announcement that Brian Dunn was hired to head football at Lakeside High School brought to a reluctant close the coaching career of Glen Payne.

Payne, who doubles as athletic director, wasn’t ready to quit coaching football after three straight playoff appearances.

The athletic director’s job at Lakeside is to become a full-time administrative post, which means the next coach couldn’t fill Payne’s role.

“This particular year we had four teaching openings,” Payne said. “I’m going to retire the following year.”

So Payne made the decision to step down early.

“It is absolutely going to kill me,” he said. “It will be tough to live with.”

The next hire, he said, would be someone with the ability to maintain Lakeside’s current success.

It could have been an assistant, such as Payne was when Oroville took a chance and hired him out of Medical Lake. He subsequently took that team to state for the first time.

“If he’s established, he has to have the ability to get teams to a playoff,” said Payne. “That’s where we’ve been and where we expect to be.”

Dunn, for five years the coach at Naches Valley, has had two state qualifying teams.

Following one more year at Lakeside, Payne said he will retire near Kellogg, Idaho, where he can pursue his love of snowmobiling. He doesn’t rule out the possibility of coaching again one day.

“I don’t want to get out of football, I absolutely love it,” he said. “This was not the right decision for Glen Payne. It was the right decision for Lakeside.”

Catching up:

The 1997 school sports year came to an end with five North Side state champions and Mead High winning its 17th Greater Spokane League All Sports trophy in 18 years, the last 16 in a row.

Panthers Brett Kaiser and Torrey Gambill teamed up for the school’s first State AAA tennis championship.

Gonzaga Prep pole vaulter Ryan Turner, Deer Park distance runner Jaime Stone and St. George’s javelin thrower Whit Spencer were state champions respectively at the State AAA, State A and State B track meets.

They were among the more than two dozen North Side tracksters who earned state medals in four classification track meets.

Included was Mead’s Jason Fayant whose distance running career came to an end with second places in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meter distance races.

Teammates Joe Collier, one of numerous University of Washington-bound football players who placed at Star Track XV, the combined AAA and AA state meets, and Chris Callahan, also finished second.

Collier, a state wrestling finalist, threw the discus and Callahan threw the javelin.

They helped the Mead track team to second place at state.

And now the “great experiment” begins at Mead.

In winning this year’s GSL All Sports trophy, the Panthers totaled 283 points and finished first or second in 14 of 18 sports. Included were championships in football, girls soccer, boys cross country, girls basketball, baseball, boys and girls track and boys tennis.

Next year, the school splits with the opening of Mount Spokane High.

Everyone will be watching to see where change takes the district.

Other noteworthy efforts

During one busy day, Riverside senior Jon Ashcraft finished his career by placing fifth in the high jump and sixth in the 1,600 meters in the State AA track meet.

He also ran a leg in the preliminaries of the 1,600 meter relay.

Ashcraft was this year’s district AA cross country champion and as a sophomore led Riverside’s State A third-place team finish.

Next year the Rams move back into the re-christened Northeast A League, now AA by new state classification standards.

It will become the Great Northern League and include other former Frontier League teams Pullman and Colville.

They will tax this year’s league All Sports champion Lakeside.

The Eagles completed their spring with Bobby O’Brien’s share of 26th place in the State A/B golf tournament and four state-placing tracksters.

Included were discus throwers Amber Reardon and Craig Downey who placed third and fourth respectively.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: STATE MEDALS WINNERS

Deer Park Jaime Stone, state champion, 1,600 and 3rd, 3,200.

Gonzaga Prep Ryan Turner, state champion, pole vault; Lisa Bradley, 6th, 100 hurdles, and Kara Laney, 8th, 800.

Lakeside Amber Reardon, 3rd, discus; Craig Downey, 4th, discus; Mark Smith, 7th, 400, and Korrie Nightingale, 8th, 200.

Mead Jason Fayant, 2nd, 1600 and 3,200; Joe Collier, 2nd, discus; Chris Callahan, 2nd, javelin; Morgan Thompson, 3rd 3,200 and 7th, 1,600; Jamie Wakefield, 3rd long jump; Ali Bailey, 3rd, triple jump; Ryan Wiser, 4th, 800, and April Gallagher, 5th, discus.

North Central David Sandberg, 4th, shot put, Brett Jordan, 7th, shot put.

Riverside Jon Ashcraft, 5th, high jump and 6th, 1,600, 1,600 relay team of Ryann Alderson, Abbey Wood, Nicole Lamarche, Christy Mease, 8th.

Northwest Christian Chris Clinton, 6th, 400 and 8th, 200, Pat McCabe, 7th, 800.

Shadle Park Oliver Cook, 3rd, javelin, Sam Glanzer, 7th, triple jump.

St. George’s Whit Spencer, state champion, javelin; Girls 4x100 relay, 5th, Zach Blume, 8th, 1,600.