SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Skyline High School’s lacrosse program has hired Maryland native and former Nathan Hale assistant Sam Hutson as its boys varsity coach. Hutson comes to Skyline from Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School where he was a member of the 2013 lacrosse staff as an assistant varsity and head JV coach that helped guide the Raiders to a 17-4-0 record and their first Washington state lacrosse title. He previously coached the boys JV lacrosse squad at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, South Carolina during the 2009-10 academic year.

“Lacrosse has a very bright future at Skyline High School. I’m extremely excited about this opportunity,” said Hutson who takes over a Spartans varsity team that has made seven visits to the Washington lacrosse boys state tournament in its first nine years of existence including a trip to last spring’s opening playoff round. “We are going to do our very best to make (lacrosse) a highly competitive, rewarding experience for Skyline student-athletes,” he said.

Excelling as a youth and high school player in the lacrosse hotbed of suburban Baltimore, Hutson went on to attended the University of South Carolina where he studied sports management and played midfield for the Gamecocks club lacrosse team.

But it was his experience as a high school student and player at the highly respected Loyola Blakefield school in Towson, Maryland, where as a senior he helped the Dons win the 2007 Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship, that set the tone for the life values and athletic success that he expects to deliver.

With an eye on Skyline's existing athletics success – which includes the boys lacrosse club, Hutson is looking to build not just on the Spartans’ frequent visits to the state lacrosse tournament, but deliver strong character and academic success along the way.

“Our goal is to produce strong, well-rounded boys that will go on to have positive impacts on their communities,” said Hutson who has always made it a priority to give back where he has played and coached.

Just this summer Hutson traveled to Jamaica with some 20 community-minded lacrosse players from the high school, collegiate and professional ranks with the non-profit Fields of Growth. With a focus on delivering positive social impact and global leadership development through the sport of lacrosse, Fields of Growth helped teach the game to Jamaican youth, fielding a U-19 team in the Caribbean nation’s first Friendship Games competition.

Back at Skyline, Hutson expects to work diligently towards a goal of taking the school’s young but successful lacrosse tradition to the next level.

Among his priorities will be to tap into the school’s rich, athletic talent pool to not just bolster his team’s success on the field, but provide a spring sports option to improve athletic skill and fitness for Skyline students playing other sports.

“Where I grew up in Baltimore, lacrosse, football and soccer all went hand-in-hand. Our best student-athletes excelled in multiple sports,” he said.

“At Skyline, our traditions in lacrosse are already strong. Our focus now is going to be to have an opportunity to play for a state championship,” he said. “We’re going to work our hardest to get there.”

Lacrosse at Skyline High School is a club sport with boys varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams for 70 student-athletes on the Sammamish, Wash. campus. Since its first year of play in 2005, the Skyline boys varsity has compiled a 92-65-0 record earning seven trips to the Washington Lacrosse Boys State Championship Tournament.