Enumclaw High to add two names to its HOF

The event is tonight, Jan. 24, during the 7 p.m. basketball game against Federal Way.

A pair of Enumclaw High School classmates – Alison (Tubbs) Mandi and Ty Watterson – will be honored Friday night with induction into the EHS Athletic Hall of Fame.

Each was a 2002 Enumclaw High graduate and were dominant performers on the prep scene, taking their considerable talents to the collegiate level. The difference was in their athletic endeavors: Mandi gained national fame as a distance runner while Watterson did his work on the wrestling mat.

The two are No. 64 and No. 65 on the Hall of Fame roster and will be honored during halftime of Friday’s basketball game against Federal Way. The game begins at 7 p.m. in Chuck Smith Gymnasium on the EHS campus.

Watterson was a dominant force for the Hornet wrestling program, which was guided at the time by coach Lee Reichert, a 2017 Hall of Fame inductee. Watterson built a three-year record of 110-13, placing eighth at the state meet as a sophomore before establishing himself as one of the state’s best. As a 215-pound junior he battled to the Mat Classic finals and took runner-up honors; staying at 215 as a senior, Watterson proved unstoppable, putting together an undefeated winter season that was capped with a state championship.

From Enumclaw, he headed to Corvallis and the highly-regarded Oregon State University program. He capped his career with the Beavers by earning All-American honors in 2007 after placing fourth at the NCAA championships.

Mandi’s EHS career hit its peak during Star Track 2001, the state championships staged at Tacoma’s Lincoln Bowl. While winning the Class 4A 3,200 meter race by a whopping 48 seconds, the junior shattered the state meet record that had stood for 18 years. Even more impressive, her winning time of 10 minutes, 11.94 seconds was the No. 1 time in the nation for high school girls.

Also on her 2001 running resumé: she won the Great American Shootout in North Carolina with a time of 16:48, the fastest 5000-meter cross country mark in the nation that year; placed third in the 5000 meters against a nationally-competitive field at the Seattle International Track and Field Championships; and was second in the 3200 meters at the Nike Indoor Championships.

She missed the 2002 track season while rehabilitating an injury but signed with the University of Washington to run with both the cross country and track programs.