4 JULY 1,2007
Smoke Signals
Tribal Member Breaks 45 Year-Old High School Record
By Toby McClary
Tribal member Alec Palanuk has
been competing in track and field
events throughout his high school
career. While competing, Palanuk
remained focused on one goal;
breaking the distance record in the
shot put event.
At a May event that took place in
Colton, Palanuk made his dream
come true. He tossed a record
breaking shot of 48 feet, 6 inches
breaking the previous record of
48 feet, 4.75 inches set in 1962 by
Denny Houston.
"He (Houston) told me that if I
ever broke his record, he would
give me his letterman sweater from
1962," said Palanuk.
Houston stayed true to his word.
At the spring sports awards ban
quet held in Willamina, Houston
presented Palanuk with the letter
man sweater to kick off the event.
"It was the first award presenta
tion of the night," explained Pala
nuk, "it was really neat."
Houston also had Palanuk's name
embroidered onto the sweater and
presented Palanuk with a $20 gift cer
tificate for Coyote Joe's Restaurant.
Since setting the original record
in Colton, Palanuk has gone on to
throw an even higher number of
49 feet, 10 inches, a distance that
Palanuk does not see anybody beat
ing for quite some time.
"As long as it's many years down
the road," said Palanuk, "I will give
the sweater to the person that beats
my record."
Palanuk has not only competed in
track and field all four years of his
high school career but also lettered
all four years. This year, Palanuk
placed fourth at the district meet for
discus and third at districts for shot
put. He went on to take second place
at the State Championship meet
with a throw of 49 feet, 3 inches.
Palanuk graduated from Wil
lamina High School on May 26,
2007. He plans to attend Cheme
keta Community College for two
years and hopes to then transfer to
Portland State University to study
computer tech. He wants to do a
partnership with Linfield College
so he can continue to compete in
track and field while attending
college.
"Eventually I would like to come
back to the Tribe and be a Com
puter Technician," said Palanuk.
Palanuk is the son of Tribal
member Rebecca Goeserich and the
grandson of Tribal Elder Hubert
Mercier.
Denny Houston presented
Tribal member Alec Palanuk
with his original letterman
sweater after Palanuk broke
Houston's 45 year-old shot
put record.
Alec poses for a photo with his mom Tribal member Rebecca Goeserich and his
grandfather Tribal Elder Hubert Mercier during his high school graduation this year.
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Above, K-1 2 Education Coordinator Molly Matthews (I) served some up to Tribal member Mary Lopez,
14, and below, Early Education Director and Tribal member Vikki Bishop (brown coat) and PreSchool
Administrative Assistant Sandy Bobb (red shirt) also helped serve.
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Above, Tribal members Sharona Jackson (I) and Mary
Lopez do the canoe dance in the Tribal gym. Youth
Education brought in the summer this year with a big
outside BBQ, with hundreds of chicken shish kebabs
cooked up by Tribal members Toby McClary and
Leslie Riggs and Bob McEWerry (Flathead), all Tribal
employees.
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Afterwards, the canoe family put on a performance in the gym. At left is Jeff
Martinez and Nick Atanicio doing the canoe family dance.