When they are not on the field, court, pitch or pool, WSU’s student athletes are grinding in the classroom. There is a plethora of degrees that these Cougs could pick, but some athletes have chosen to study some… Earth Day related topics.
In honor of Earth Day, there is no better time to highlight the best “earthy” athletes in the classroom. Rylan Haider, Jonny Lester, Sawyer Yahna and Issabelle Parrish each are studying majors related to the environment, and each are standout athletes for the Cougs.
So, looking at their performances in the Crimson and Gray, who is the best Earth Day athlete for the Cougs?
- Sawyer Yahna – Swim – Environmental & Ecosystem Sciences
It is tough to stand out on the WSU swim team. Why’s that? Because Emily Lundgren and Darcy Revitt are two of the best swimmers in program history.
So far this year, she has not put up any standout performances. As an individual swimmer who competes in the 500 free and 100 fly, she has not really set herself apart from the crowd.
Her major does jump off the page, allowing her to sneak onto this list. However, it is hard to compete with the other athletes on this list, causing her to clock in at the No. 4 spot.
- Jonny Lester – Football – Biology
A football team is only as good as the five men on the line of scrimmage. One of those faces was Lester on the offensive line.
As a walk-on from Spokane, Lester has been working his way to a starting spot. This past season he started every game and backed up a Coug offense that outperformed opponents in almost every metric.
More passing yards, rushing yards, touchdowns, first downs, a better fourth down conversion rate and a better third down conversion rate. Lester and his fellow Coug linemen created a brick wall for Zevi Eckhaus all year long.
However, two factors knock Lester back to the No. 3 spot.
First, the Cougs offense allowed 22 sacks on the year along with 65 QB hits. While the offense overall was solid, the o-line did have a few cracks in the dam.
Second, while biology is an Earth Day related major, it is rather broad. Considering the difficulty of the other athletes’ majors, it would be hard to put Lester any higher than No. 3.
- Rylan Haider – Baseball – Earth Sciences
While he may not have any All-Academic selections, Haider is still a lockdown relief arm for Cougar baseball. The redshirt junior from Olympia was the No. 11 overall prospect back in 2022, and he has been showing why on the Palouse.
Although his first year was rough (posting an 11.25 ERA), he tightened up in his second campaign, leading the team for appearances and clocking in a 4.91 ERA.
He also struck out 26 batters while only giving up 17 walks. Game after game, Haider was called on late and slammed the door on opposing offenses.
This year, he is back to his old tricks. With 22 appearances already, he is continuing to be the Cougs’ go-to reliever. Without him, WSU would not be in its third place spot in the division.
- Issabelle Parrish – Swimming – Animal Sciences
This pick may surprise some folks, but it really is the obvious pick. WSU swimming dominated this year in the pool and in part because of Parrish.
While she does get outshined by Lundgren and Revitt, for obvious reasons, she was still a member of that four-woman relay team that blew opponents out of the water. Plus, you consider the fact that she is the only one on this list to receive All-Conference honors and it solidifies her at number one.
With the pressure of an animal sciences degree put on top of her, she still managed to help Lundgren and Revitt to a historic season this year. Truly, she stands alone as the best “earthy” athlete on the Palouse.
