Megan Franza Wears Many Hats -- Cascade Boasts 4.0 Student And Top All-Around Athlete

LEAVENWORTH - One of the best schoolgirl athletes in state history will sell you a Bavarian hat in this oom-pah tourist town that pretends it is in the Alps but is really on the eastern slope of the Cascades.

Megan Franza, a senior at Class A Cascade High School, works in a hat store. Doing things well is getting to be old hat with her.

The 4.0 student and co-valedictorian is the state's best all-around prep athlete since Kelly Blair, who graduated from Prosser High School in the Yakima Valley in 1989.

Blair made national headlines last year by beating Jackie Joyner-Kersee to win the Olympic Trials heptathlon and then finishing eighth in the Olympics.

Franza didn't make it to the Olympics but she made it to the Olympic Trials. Her 6-foot, 1/2-inch high-jump in the state prep heptathlon championship, which she won with a meet-record score of 5,090 points, earned her a berth in the Trials although she didn't realize it at the time.

At the Trials, she failed at the opening height of 5-10 3/4 but just being there was a gigantic accomplishment for someone in high school.

Among the athletes she went out of her way to meet at the Trials in Atlanta was Blair, the "pride of Prosser."

"I'd heard so much about her," Franza said. "We talked about playing two sports in college."

Blair played basketball for two years at Oregon, then concentrated on track.

Blair, who lives in Kirkland and trains under Ken Foreman at

Seattle Pacific University, knew about Franza before the high-schooler introduced herself on a bus at the Trials.

"I'd heard a lot about her," said Blair, whose friends had told her about this phenom from Leavenworth.

Blair's answer to the two-sport question: High jumping in the spring in college shouldn't be a problem, but training as a heptathlete would swallow all available time.

Franza, who is 5 feet 11, 125 pounds, is headed to the University of Washington on a basketball scholarship but plans to do some high jumping and possibly the 100-meter hurdles.

She regards herself as a basketball player who happens to do track, not the other way around. She also plays volleyball, but isn't serious about it.

"I realize my times are better in track, but I enjoy basketball more," she said.

She was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Washington this winter after averaging 25.6 points and leading her team to a fourth-place finish in the Class A tournament. It was the third straight state appearance for the Kodiaks.

The Huskies are excited to have her.

"Megan Franza, what a diamond!" said June Daugherty, UW women's coach who began scouting Franza when she was Boise State coach.

"Megan is a fast-break guard who handles the ball well, sees the floor and is an excellent penetrator as well as a three-point scorer," Daugherty said. "She is a total package at the guard position. She can push the ball on the fast break. I see her playing more of the off-guard position for us next year.

"She's all about being the best and she's a kid of great character and I think eventually she will be a leader in our program."

Cascade Principal Bill Wadlington echoes every good thing said about Franza.

"She's so well-balanced," he said. "She has a strong home life and faith. She knows who she is and how she fits in.

"She's a good person and has worked hard. She seems almost embarrassed at times by the recognition that is thrown her way."

Franza will make a rare west-of-the-Cascades appearance Saturday at the Lake Washington Track Invitational at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. She won the 85-team meet for Cascade by herself last year by winning the long jump, high jump and 100 hurdles and placing second in the 300 hurdles. She scored 36 points, one more than eventual Class AAA state champion Mead.

This spring, Franza is the state leader for all classifications in the high jump (5-9) and 300 hurdles (44.1 seconds).

She may limit her events Saturday because of tendinitis.

At the Class A track meet in Cheney last May, Franza won four events for the second straight year and led the Kodiaks to the state championship, narrowly edging King's 75-71. She accounted for 40 of her team's points but the victory wasn't secured until her sister, Becky, and three other girls won the final event, the 1,600 relay. Becky, a 5-5 college basketball prospect, is a junior and was the starting point guard this winter for the Cascade basketball team.

The Kodiaks' track victory was even more impressive because the Cascade track seems to wash away every spring and the team practices without one. An all-weather track is scheduled to be installed this month.

At the Class A state meet, Megan won the high jump, long jump and 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles.

The lure of basketball over track may be genetic. Her father, Mike, who is principal of Leavenworth's middle school, played at Western Washington from 1969-73. He was the boys' varsity coach at Meridian High School, outside Bellingham, and Washougal High School, outside Vancouver.

"My dad always has had keys to gyms," she said.

Mike Franza coaches the girls' summer teams and knows the physical nature of the Pac-10 is something Megan hasn't encountered.

"She hasn't had her nose banged," he said.

Her boyfriend is Ryan Hansen, a 1996 Cascade graduate who holds the state's all-time scoring record for all classifications with 2,411 points. He played at Walla Walla Community College this season and plans to return there next year.

Megan likes Leavenworth and the town likes her.

"Megan Franza Day" was proclaimed last spring just before the Olympic Trials. She likes Leavenworth's small-town friendliness and outdoor activities such as swimming in the Wenatchee River.

"But I probably could be happy any place with a gym," she said.

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. Franza's best marks .

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. 100-meter hurdles 14.7 seconds .

. 300 hurdles 43.7 seconds .

. 200 dash 26.1 .

. 800 2:24.8 .

. High jump 6-0 1/2 .

. Long jump 18-5 .

. Shot put 30-8 1/2 .

. Javelin 103-10 .