Vashon Island senior Lena Puz was on a Zoom recruiting call last spring with a Cornell track and field coach, her parents and Vashon track coach Brandi Greenidge listening nearby.

Off-camera, Greenidge leaned over to her father, Tony Puz, and whispered, “They want her.” Tony asked her how she knew.

“Because he’s not asking her questions,” Greenidge said. “He’s selling her on the university.”

The moment capped years of work on the wrestling mat, on the track and in the classroom — a climb that has turned Puz into one of the most decorated two-sport athletes Vashon has produced. In December, she officially committed to Cornell, going from island girl to Ivy Leaguer to run track and study engineering at the Division I university.

“When I first met Lena, I thought, ‘This is an athlete to the core,’” Greenidge said. “She earned this, and she isn’t even near her ceiling yet.”

Puz is already a state wrestling champion and one of the most prolific record-setters in Vashon track history. But the foundation of her success, her coaches say, isn’t medals or times — it’s her appetite for work.

“She doesn’t watch the clock. Instead, she asks, ‘What’s next?’” Greenidge said.

That mindset shows most clearly on the wrestling mat. According to wrestling coach Anders Blomgren, Puz isn’t content simply winning — she always wants to improve.

“Lena could pin a lot of girls whenever she wants, but she’s still trying new things,” said Blomgren, who is in his 26th year at the helm of Vashon wrestling. “That’s been cool to watch — her refining her wrestling around her work ethic.”

For Puz, that’s intentional. Quick wins, she said, don’t help her long-term growth. She’d rather test herself than cruise.

But even hyper-competitive athletes need balance.

“When I’m tired, I remind myself that effort equals rest,” Puz said. “If you work harder, you can finish faster. Then there’s more time to rest.”

Blomgren said that even with her success, Puz remains grounded. Her “confident and feisty” personality on the mat or track contrasts sharply with her being “sweet and grateful” away from sports.

When the whistle blows or the starting gun goes off, the personality shift is immediate.

“My brain shuts off,” she said. “I only rely on my instinct. Wrestling gives a different level of pain and mental toughness, but track is pure accountability. You can’t blame anyone else.”

That instinct is what fueled a breakthrough junior year.

After finishing fifth at the Mat Classic as a sophomore, Puz returned to the Tacoma Dome in 2025 and tore through the 145-pound bracket. She avenged two earlier losses, including the district championship, to top-seeded Kaylie Baker of South Whidbey with a second-period pin to claim the 1A/1B/2A state championship — Vashon’s first girls wrestling title in 17 years.

“It didn’t feel real,” she said about the win. “It took several weeks for it to settle in.” This season, her stock has only risen. She moved up from 145 to 155 pounds and won five tournaments between the two weight classes, including the renowned Braided 64.

She was named the district’s Most Outstanding Girls Wrestler, and the Washington Wrestling Network ranks her as the second-best 155-pound wrestler in the state in 1A/1B/2A, and still recognizes her as one of the top 145-pounders in any classification.

Puz cruised to the WIAA District 2/3 1B/2B/1A title on Feb. 7, wrestling just one match. After drawing a first-round bye and a first-period semifinal pin, her championship opponent withdrew due to injury, sealing the title for Puz. She enters Mat Classic XXXVII with a 27-1 record, her lone loss coming to two-time 3A state champion Bailey Parker of Peninsula.

Her biggest obstacle to repeating as state champion may be Wapato’s Abbygale Garza, last year’s 155-pound winner. While she’s dominated on the mat with an 81-11 career record, her track résumé is equally staggering.

At last year’s state meet, Puz broke three school records in a single day. Her 39-foot, 1- inch shot put snapped a 42-year-old mark by nearly two feet. Her 15.24 in the 100- meter hurdles shaved more than a full second off a 37-year-old record. She later added a third in the 200 meters, finishing in 25.62 to eclipse Annika Hille’s 10-year-old standard, and nearly missed a fourth record in the 100 meters by two-hundredths of a second.

“The day was chaos,” she said. “I was running from event to event. By the end I was exhausted but emotionally full. I was on top of the world.”

She medaled in all four events and also owns the school records in the heptathlon and as part of a 1,500-meter sprint medley team.

Her academic ambition runs just as deep. Puz traces her interest in engineering to childhood curiosity — breaking things apart with her father to understand how they worked — and a fascination with space.

She’s a recent recipient of the Washington Aerospace Scholars William E. Boeing Jr. Community Collaboration Award, honoring students with exceptional communication and collaboration skills.

Never thinking she would get into an Ivy League school, she ultimately chose Cornell for the academics. She didn’t necessarily choose track over wrestling, but Cornell offered the rare combination of a track opportunity and a top-tier engineering program.

That opportunity represents more than personal success. Puz is a third-generation Vashon Island High School student; both her father and grandfather wore the same Pirate patch currently stitched onto her letterman jacket. She is a National Honor Society student with a 4.0 GPA, a camp counselor, and can be found at youth events across the island, where younger athletes see her as a blueprint.

Blomgren believes that may be her lasting impact. “Lena’s brought back excellence to our whole program,” he said. “She’s shown younger students what’s possible if you believe it.”

Eddie Macsalka is a contributing journalist for The Beachcomber.