The volleyball legacy at Eaglecrest High School is reflected in the election of the latest class to the school’s Athletics & Activities Hall of Fame.
Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Poulter and state championship-winning Sheila Olachea — both impactful on the volleyball program in their times at the school — are among five standouts elected to be part of the seventh class, as the Hall of Fame returns following an absence last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Poulter, Olachea, track & field star Danielle Williams, multi-sport standout Elijah Ross and Sarah Wire, an acclaimed member of the school’s newspaper staff make up the Class of 2021 were scheduled to be inducted in a dinner and ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at Heritage Eagle Bend.
(NOTE: Poulter and Wire are unable to attend the ceremony and will defer inductions to another year, while Class of 2016 member Zak Edwards will join this year’s ceremony)
Those eligible for the Athletic and Activities Hall of Fame must be graduated from Eaglecrest for at least five years and be nominated by a member of the community. The five additions this year will make 34 total members.
A brief bio of the five inductees in the seventh class:
Jordyn Poulter, volleyball (Class of 2015) — Unable to attend ceremony
Poulter has been a highly-decorated volleyball player while at Eaglecrest, then as a Division I standout at Illinois and in international play, which culminated with her gold medal performance with the U.S. women’s indoor volleyball team at the Tokyo Olympics. As a member of the Raptors, she started four varsity seasons and earned All-Centennial League first team honors in each of them and was a three-time All-Colorado selection, while she helped the program reach the Class 5A semifinals in 2013.
Sheila Olachea, volleyball (Class of 2008)
Olachea was a four-year varsity player as a libero in the golden age of competition for the Raptors and was one of the keys to the program’s undefeated and Class 5A state championship-winning season in 2006 under former coach Tanya Bond.
Danielle Williams, track & field (Class of 2012)
Williams won a Class 5A state championship in the triple jump, lost another by just an inch as a junior and in all placed in the top three in the event three times at the state meet, while she also ran on the Raptors’ runner-up 4×200 meter relay team in 2012. Williams — who also played volleyball for three years before she gave it up her senior year to run track indoors — earned Eaglecrest’s female Athlete of the Year honors in 2012. She went on to a standout collegiate career at Missouri and UNLV, where she competed in jumping events.
Elijah Ross, basketball/football (Class of 2015)
Ross was a standout at Eaglecrest in both basketball and football and earned significant accolades in both sports. On the basketball floor, he was a contributor to the 2013 team coached by John Olander that won the school’s first-ever Class 5A state championship, which it did with an upset over favored Denver East. Ross worked his way to be the team’s starting point guard and took those skills over to the football field, where he ran a hybrid, fast-break type offense to perfection. His 3,600 yards of total offense and 41 touchdowns in 2014 stand as school records. Ross went on to a four-year career in basketball at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, where he became the program’s all-time assist leader and also scored more than 1,000 points.
Sarah Wire, newspaper (Class of 2005) — Unable to attend ceremony
Wire was the editor-in-chief of the Eagle Quill newspaper as a senior and contributed to the paper for four years, launching a career in journalism that sent her to the University of Missouri and to her current post with the Los Angeles Times as a Congressional reporter. Wire was part of the Times’ team that won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the San Bernardino shooting.
From induction Class of 2016:
Zak Edwards, performing arts, Class of 2002
Edwards is another successful professional performer who made a big impact on the arts community at Eaglecrest before his graduation in 2002. Edwards participated in all performing arts at the school, serving as the lead in a variety of musicals while also singing in the choir and participating in the dance program. He was on the Student Council and was dubbed the Outstanding Senior for his class before going on to the University of Oklahoma. He graduated from OU near the top of his class and earned the F. Donald Clark Award for Excellence, an award given to one student in the College of Fine Arts every year based on academic and artistic achievement. Edwards currently performs in New York in Off-Broadway productions.
EAGLECREST ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
2021: Sheila Olachea (volleyball); Jordyn Poulter (volleyball), Elijah Ross (basketball/football), Danielle Williams (track & field), Sarah Wire (newspaper)
2019: Terrill Cameron (football/basketball/baseball), Lindsey Keller (Easton) (track, cheer), Jenny Potts-Baca (cheer, performing arts) and Jack Stephens (performing arts) — Bios
2018: April Thomas (cross country/track & field), Melissa Westhoff (soccer/cross country), Basil (BJ) Williams (football/basketball/track & field) and Gage Wooten (basketball) — Bios
2017: Sola Abolaji (boys soccer), Jasper Armstrong (football), Nick Harper (boys lacrosse) and Courtney Karst (volleyball) — Bios
2016: Aubrey Mable (softball/golf/basketball), John Green (coach/athletic director), Zak Edwards (performing arts), Doug Moreland (volunteer), Kevin Yu (tennis) and Jennifer Condreay (teacher/theater director) — Bios
2015: Ralph Gorton (volunteer), Lisa Roberts (Sprague) (softball, lacrosse, basketball), Kristen Schevikhoven (volleyball), Kimberly Tedder-Avalos (theater), Stacey Timberman (cheer) and Gregory Treco (theater, dance, vocal music) — Bios
2014: J.J. Billingsley (football/track & field), Damian Brown (football), Ben Baum (basketball), Tara Mendozza (DeCrescentis) (cross country, track & field) and Stacey Jennings (softball) — Bios