Indian Lake High School has long honored its athletes who have earned all-state honors by placing their picture on the walls of a hallway adjacent to the gymnasium.
But former Indian Lake cross country and track standout Rachel Watt was left off the wall despite earning first-team all- Ohio honors in cross country in 2008.
The mystery of why that occurred was recently solved, and Watt (who is now Rachel Clark) is rightfully represented with her picture on the wall.
She was presented with her Hall of Fame photo by current IL cross country coach Justin Metzer at his team’s recent fall awards banquet.
“This has been a long process to get the picture on the wall,” said Metzger. “I was the assistant cross country coach in 2008 when Rachel was selected firstteam all-Ohio. I realized in 2017 when I started teaching at Indian Lake that her picture wasn’t on the wall.
“After talking to current Indian Lake Athletic Director Jeff Courter he thought it was probably missed between his and the former athletic director’s transition. Images (the photography studio used by IL schools) had deleted her head shot off their database. We were able to find the picture from Aaron LaBatt at the Examiner in his old records. Images cropped and printed the photo and we put it up today.”
Watt placed 15th at the state cross country meet in 2008 to earn first-team honors. She is second in program history with a PR of 19:13.
Also in 2008, she was ninth at the state track meet in the 1,600.
She finished 15th in the 1,600 at the state meet in 2009. Watt was the valedictorian of her class of 2011 and was involved in numerous school clubs and groups.
She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University and a master’s degree from The Ohio State University. She is currently an acute care nurse practitioner.