COLLEGE SIGNING: Teanna Clark’s college dreams take flight
Published 1:30 am Friday, June 5, 2026
PORT ANGELES — Ever since she was five years old, Port Angeles’ Teanna Clark had dreamed of playing college basketball.
Her story shows that dreams can take flight, but not always go in the direction they were originally intended.
Clark signed a commitment to play college sports at Eastern Oregon University, a four-year NAIA school in LaGrande, Ore. Not for basketball like she planned, but for track and field.
Clark didn’t even participate in track and field her freshman year as a Roughriders. She played soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and softball in the spring.
Clark excelled at both soccer and basketball, making all-league teams several times. Her senior year, she was named the Olympic League’s Defensive Player of the Year in basketball.
Her sophomore year, she decided to try out track and field. Her coaches suggested taking up throwing events.
“I didn’t even want to do the javelin. I didn’t want to hurt my shoulder,” Clark said. “After I started throwing, I fell in love with it.”
Clark did all right at the javelin to begin with. Her very first meet, she threw the javelin 79 feet, 11 inches. Her second, she threw 83-7. She cracked 100 feet for the first time in her fifth track meet of the year. Toward the end of her sophomore year, it just clicked. She won the first of three district championships that year with a throw of 125-6, then to show it wasn’t a fluke, threw 122-2 at state to finish third.
Clark was just getting started. She took first at six track meets her junior year, winning the league, district and state championships in the event, shattering the Port Angeles girls school record with a throw of 136-3 at state.
Her senior year, she took first at eight straight meets, breaking her own school record by more than five feet with an incredible throw of 141-8 at the district championships. She won her third straight district championship. During the state meet, she battled heavy winds, having — for her — a slightly off day with a throw of 129-3, which was still good for second at state.
She finished her track career with a first-, second- and third-place finish at state, three district championships, 22 first-place medals in a variety of events and a school record that will likely last a generation at least.
“She was actually on my radar a year ago,” said Eastern Oregon track coach Joe Brogdon. “I made her my No. 1 recruit for this year. I don’t know how she escaped other programs. She’s going to change our program.”
Her coaches described her as a “fierce” competitor, and a “feisty and passionate” athlete.
Give her a shot at hoops
Her longtime basketball coach Michael Poindexter said Clark always brought intensity to the court.
“If you were up by 20 or 30 or down by 20 or 30, you’d see the same Teanna,” Poindexter said. She would win some games with defense, other games with free throws, still other games by making an impossible athletic drive and bucket.
“There is a multiplicity of things she does to win. She wants to be a winner,” Poindexter said. He also urged the EOU basketball program to give her a look.
“I think she’s a hidden gem,” he said.
Clark’ friends and coaches described her as determined and competitive almost to a fault, having a drive not seen in many kids.
Her soccer coach Daniel Horton said Clark always showed leadership and sometimes tough leadership when it was needed. She is kind of athlete that “will drag people along with her. She does what leaders have to do.”
Her longtime teammate Lindsay Smith said Clark was good at calming her down during games and she did the same for Clark, “making sure no one got in a fight on the court.”
“It’s going to be a fun and wild ride,” Brogdon told Clark.
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Sports editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at sports@peninsuladaily news.com.
