Steve Roche
Coach Roche began his athletic career at Cascade High School (Leavenworth) where he competed in football, wrestling and track. After high school, he competed in the Decathlon and 400m Hurdles at Spokane Falls Community College and Central Washington University. Highlights of his college career included placing at his conference meets 3 out of 4 years and lettering both of his years at CWU. After high school, Coach Roche began his coaching career at Wenatchee High School for one season, in 2002 where he coached Pole Vault and High Jump. A new job teaching in Kent brought him to Kentwood High School, where he coached Cross Country and Track from 2003 until 2015. During his time there, he coached all jumping and sprinting events and served as head coach from 2006-2015. The high point of this time was winning a state title with his girls team in 2011 and placing 8th and 12th in the nation in 2010 and 2011 at Nike Track Nationals. A teaching job at Wenatchee High School brought him back to coaching the Panthers in the fall of 2015, where he has coached sprinting and jumping events Since 2018 Coach Roche has taken the role of Co-Head Coach at WHS along with Coach Bullis. He is a level one USATF Certified Coach. He was hired to be the head coach of Wenatchee's Cross Country program in the summer of 2021. He is married to his wife of 20 years (Laura, a WHS Alumni) and has three daughters, two of whom are current Wenatchee Panthers. He loves family activities, traveling and being outdoors.