As we reach the end of the 2025 school year, we wish our seniors a great departure. Some of the athletes graduating this year have volunteered to be interviewed regarding their future goals and athletic and academic accomplishments throughout their high school career.
Starting off, we have Tven Syanouthai, a student-athlete who finished high school with exceptional grades and graduated from Columbia Basin College with his AA. He wants to prepare for a job, apply for scholarships, and finish college at WSU in Pullman. He played football and track for his athletic career, where he mentioned discipline as the biggest thing he learned.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who might be in your situation next year?
A: “Find friends first. Friends will motivate you to go and push yourself to be better, and without them, you lose the fun in sports.”
Q: What’s one memory you’ll take from the team?
A: “Senior night against Hermiston, I was never good at sports, especially football, but having the one small fire made me never forget how fun football was and why I loved Pasco High.”
Tven’s teammate and future dorm partner at WSU, Jon Wokojance, is graduating from Pasco High School and Columbia Basin College with his AA and will major in mechanical engineering at WSU. He chose engineering because it is the only career he’s ever wanted, which has been since he was 10 years old. Not only was he strong in his classes, but he was also strong in the weight room. He played baseball and football all 4 years, and one thing he wants the future people to know is not to take it for granted and value your friendships before they’re gone.
Q: How do you stay focused during long innings or slumps?
A: “I go back to the basics and remember why I’m playing baseball. It’s because I love the sport and know there are ups and downs. To get to the ups of baseball, like getting out of a slump, I have to go through the downs first.”
Q: How do you stay motivated playing such an under-respected position? (Offensive line)
A: “I remember that if I make one mistake, everything goes wrong. Remembering my responsibilities on the offensive line is important because it is highly competitive and takes the most strength out of every position on the field.”
Such a challenging sport as baseball requires natural talent and years of experience to learn. These things also apply to softball, which takes us to Bailee Peterson, a two-sport athlete who’s also going to Pullman to attend WSU. She’s going to study human biology, where she hopes to become a surgeon in the Air Force. She got her first anatomy lesson in third grade and has loved learning about the human body and helping people since then.
Q: What sport(s) did you play, and what lessons have they taught you?
A: “I played softball and pole vaulted. I learned many lessons, but the most valuable one would be how to lose. Especially in pole vaults, because your last vault at a meet is a failure. I learned how to use those failures as motivation and learning opportunities.”
Q: What position do you play for softball, and what do you love most about it?
A: “I am an outfielder as well as a first baseman! I love both positions so much. I love being in the outfield because I have to race the softball to ensure it doesn’t hit the ground. I love first base because it is constantly getting plays, and making those saving catches feels good.“
Q: Of all things, what made you pole vault? It’s not exactly something that translates from other sports.
A: “Well, my grandpa pole vaulted in high school, so I would look at old pictures and think it looked so fun. And then during the Olympics before middle school, I watched it and was like, “I want to do that.” I moved here and chose softball because I have been playing it since I was 6, but junior year, I figured I won’t ever get the chance to pole vault again, so I’m going to do it. And it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
Returning to baseball, we have a 4-year varsity player in Dakota Gillum. He averaged a 3.5 GPA throughout high school and chose to pursue excavation because of a job opportunity, and it seemed fun to him. Dakota suffered a torn hamstring on his way to first base on just his second at-bat of the season. He sat for the next 2-3 games, and with barely any time to heal, went back out there and fought. Dakota played a massive role in an important game against Walla Walla, going 3-4 at bat, 3 RBI’s and a double. He played the rest of the season on one leg and was awarded the most inspirational award, voted by peers.
Q: What made you decide to play through an injury like that?
A: “Because my team needed me, being the guy who puts in so much work, it would’ve sucked if I didn’t try to play through it but I also knew I’d be in a hell of a lot more pain. Sometimes you just gotta be strong for your brothers no matter the cost.”
Q: Do you regret it?
A: “Heck no, I feel like I even played better, I will never regret giving it my all for my last season.”
Another student who battled adversity this year regarding injury was David Ochoa. David Ochoa is a two-sport athlete who plays football and throws events on the track, including javelin and shotput. David missed most of his senior football season with a sprained shoulder, putting him at a big athletic disadvantage. He will be going to Gonzaga on a full-ride 4-year scholarship studying business. He chose Gonzaga because he’d like to stay true to religion, and he also wants to stay a bulldog, stating this has been the plan since his junior year.
Q: After a major shoulder injury at the start of the season, how did it feel to line up out there on senior night?
A: “It felt good to line up out there one last time at home with all my friends and teammates, it felt good to overcome an injury after a long-term recovery.”
Q: Was there a moment in that game where it all felt worth it?
A: “I got to line up on defense with Leo, me at defensive end and Leo at linebacker. We both jumped the snap, got through the line, and pressured the quarterback enough to force an incompletion. It was pretty cool considering he was the reason I played, he convinced me to play when I almost didn’t.”
Leo Salgado is known for his freakishly high numbers in the weight room, which helped him play football for all 4 years and gave him a strong role on the field. Among many lessons he learned, he mentioned the importance of taking accountability, having grit, working hard, and having heart.
Q: What’s your plan after high school, and what made you decide that?
A: “My plan after high school is to work mainly to try to become an electrician, and what made me choose that is the money.”
Q: And how long has that been your plan?
A: “It has been my plan for the last 4 months, I believe.”
As an athlete, Leo believes there’s much more to football than most people think. He mentioned he didn’t really have a favorite moment of the season, but just getting the opportunity to go out there with David and play his heart out was fantastic.
Q: What do you think the most challenging part of your position is that most people don’t realize?
A: “There are a few. You have to be able to adapt because you’re not always going to be in the same place. You gotta go against the guys up front. Pulling guards can blindside the hell out of you. And this last one is just for every position, film study. I’d preach that to some of the first things a player should learn, how to study film, and that a high school coach should also put in the effort to coach them.”
As these seniors leave our school, they are just few among many athletes and scholars who left a mark on our school. It is important to note, there are hundreds of seniors graduating this year who all play different sports. Although most of them don’t know each other, they all share some of the same traits, such as leadership, teamwork and work ethic, which couldn’t be taught any better way than playing sports.
