Lowry High School will induct three new members into its Hall of Fame on Saturday afternoon. Dr. Robbie Grant, John McNinch and Tina Marie Echeto Maestrejuan will be inducted after the girls varsity basketball game against Truckee at approximately 2:15 p.m.
Dr. Robbie Grant
Coach Grant began coaching at Lowry as an assistant to coach Jim Billingsley in 1999. In 2002, Grant became the head cross country coach at Lowry.
Coach Grant was the head cross country coach for 10 years. While the head coach, the team records were some of the beat in Nevada history.
On the boys' side:
The Lowry boys scored the best (lowest) score in the state meet six times, including 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Coach Grant is listed second in the NIAA record book as the coach with the most boys team state championships, with six.
The Lowry boys won six consecutive state championships from 2003-08.
On the girls' side:
The Lowry girls won nine state championships during Grant's tenure from 2000-05 and again from 2007-09.
Coach Grant is listed first in the NIAA record book as the coach with the most girls team state championships, with nine.
Grant also coached the Lowry track and field teams from 2001-09. She coached multiple individual and relay state champions on the boys and girls side.
One of Coach Grant's underlying principles was, "The one who crosses the finish line first is not always the victor. The winner is the one who gave it their best and improved on their own personal record."
In the end, Grant always insisted that "this is about the kids, not the coaches."
John McNinch
McNinch grew up in Winnemucca helping his father ranch and drill water wells. After high school, McNinch earned his degree in Agricultural Business Management from Cal Poly and spent 43 years in banking.
While he attended Lowry High School, McNinch was his freshman class treasurer and his senior class vice-president. He was in the Block W club his sophomore, junior and senior years and a writer for the Winnonian his junior year. He was in the National Honor Society his junior and senior years and the Rodeo Club his senior year. He was a boys state representative his senior year.
Athletically, his accomplishments looked like this:
According to newspaper accounts he was a rebounding and defensive specialist on the basketball teams in 1964-65 and 1965-66, and eventually became one of the top scoring threats on those teams.
In 1965, he defeated a Golden Gloves contender in a rodeo amateur boxing match. In 1964-65, his junior year, he was first-team, all-conference in football and basketball. He was first-team, all-state in football and basketball.
In 1965-66, his senior year, he was first-team, all-conference in football and basketball, first-team all-state in football and basketball, and was a second-team All-American in football.
McNinch played end and defensive line on his junior year on the football team. In his senior year, he was a running back and defensive lineman for the 1965, Humboldt County, state championship football team.
Tina Marie
Echeto Maestrejuan
Born to Isidro and Muriel Echeto, she attended the Winnemucca Grammar School and Winnemucca Junior High before attending Lowry High School. Tina has two children, Dillon, a Lowry sophomore, and Sierra, a seventh-grader at Winnemucca Junior High. She is currently the nursing educator at Humboldt General Hospital.
She graduated in 1990 as the co-valedictorian of a class of 89 students. While attending Lowry she was a member of the National Honor Society her sophomore, junior and senior years. She was her junior class secretary and a homecoming princess.
On the athletic side, she left her mark at Lowry. She lettered in volleyball and basketball her junior and senior years. She was first-team, all-conference in both sports her senior year. The Lady Bucks were state runners-up in basketball in 1990. She was a Nevada Academic All-State student in her senior year.
She was a four-year letterman in track and set the Nevada 3A shot put record her junior year on the way to a state championship and broke that record her senior year on the way to a second 3A state championship. She placed second in discus her junior year and won the 3A state championship her senior year, throwing a distance of 131 feet. That Nevada record still stands today.[[In-content Ad]]
