1 week Ago By Max O'Neill
LAMOURE, N.D. — The state of North Dakota is full of athletes playing two sports at the high school level, but there are very few who are playing three in the same season while also getting their pilot's license.
LaMoure/Litchville-Marion senior Owen Lesko is one who fits that bill, though. This spring, Lesko is playing for the Loboes baseball and golf teams and running and throwing for the track and field team. ADVERTISEMENT “I love them all.
I haven’t played spring baseball in school yet, school baseball so far, I play every summer,” Lesko said. “I love playing golf and doing track as well. It’s awesome to do all three, at the same time I never really gave it a thought beforehand but I’m definitely glad I am doing it now and I wish I would’ve done it sooner to be honest.
” As of Wednesday, April 23, Lesko has participated in two meets, running in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, the 4-by-100-meter relay and the sprint medley relay and throwing the shot put. His best time in the 100-meter dash came on April 11 when he finished in third with a personal record time of 11.51 seconds, while his season record time of 24.
52 seconds in the 200-meter dash came on April 15. That same day, he ran the second leg in the 4-by-100-meter relay and helped his team finish first, and he finished first in the shot put with a throw of 48 feet, 6 inches. In three games this season, the center fielder and pitcher is hitting .
667 with one triple, four RBIs, four runs, two walks and six stolen bases. Lesko said his best sport out of the three is track and field. “It’s the kid’s work ethic, he’s got a great attitude, he works hard, determination too.
He’s very passionate about what he does but he’s got a very good family and comes from a long family of hard workers,” Loboes baseball head coach Gaige Dunn said. “..
. He’s not shy about working hard, he loves golf and he’s very good at it, he loves track and he’s very good at it, he loves baseball and he’s very good at it.” One of the most important things that Lesko said allows him to be a tri-sport athlete is his communication with his coaches.
He said he plans his schedule out up to two weeks in advance and has to be flexible with any weather-necessitated changes that might come up. Dunn said he, Lesko and the other two coaches talk every week and get an understanding of what Lesko’s plan is for that particular week. Lesko gives credit to his parents for helping him with advice and travel to and from events.
Because of Lesko’s busy schedule, Dunn said he and other coaches around the district are more than willing to stay after practice to help Lesko get some extra baseball work in if needed. ADVERTISEMENT “We try and communicate with him often and be flexible with him,” Dunn said. “At the end of the day, he’s still a kid and we need to let him be a kid.
” This spring, Lesko has not had to make a decision to miss one team’s event to participate in one of the other two sports. However, he said when it comes time to make that decision this spring, he will choose track over baseball and golf. After helping the Loboes football team make it all the way to the state title game in the fall, Lesko missed his entire basketball season thanks to getting surgery to repair a labral tear in his left shoulder.
While he missed being on the floor with his teammates during the basketball season, he said he was proud of how well the team did in his absence, making it all the way to a state qualifying game. “I think the physical rest was definitely a huge help, football season, it was a long season, very fun but it was also very physically challenging,” Lesko said. “So getting that time off in between .
.. the fall sports and spring sports is definitely a big help.
” Since December, Lesko has been working on getting his commercial pilot's license after spending time in the air with a friend. “I thought it was a cool career and a cool thing to do,” Lesko said. “ .
.. I talked about it one day with my parents and my mom was like, ‘Yeah, why don’t we go ahead and give it a whirl.
’ I went and flew with a buddy of mine. ..
. He flew me around a little bit in LaMoure and then I fell in love with it after that and decided to pursue it.” While he has been practicing with a 1960s model Piper Warrior plane, Lesko said he has been flying into and out of the unmanned landing strip in LaMoure.
Before he can officially get his pilot’s license, Lesko said he needs to get approximately five more flight hours, fly into and out of an airport with a tower, pass a flight test and a verbal test. ADVERTISEMENT While flying a plane and playing the three sports might not seem to have a lot of skills that would translate to his three spring sports , Lesko pushes back on that notion. “I mean, organization’s a huge thing.
I think that goes a long ways to whatever you’re doing, especially with a busy schedule,” Lesko said. “For flying you always have to keep all your documents in line or keep prior knowledge into your system so always staying up to date with information and then staying organized and manage your time well.” In addition to the three sports and his work in getting his pilot's license, Lesko also helps out his parents at their hardware store and antique store when he has time.
“I do have, it’s called a work co-op class, where I get to go and work there during the end of the school day,” Lesko said. “I’ve been also busy so I can talk to them and they direct me on where to go. I haven’t been the best at attending that but I work there throughout the whole year.
If they ever need a shift covered on the weekends, they always call me or if I ask to be on the schedule, they put me on as often as I want to.” Lesko said he will be going to the University of North Dakota to study at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.
Lesko said he has thought about being a commercial pilot, specializing in being a commercial cargo pilot, but he is open to seeing what happens and where his interests move while he is in college..
