TORRINGTON – Torrington’s Logan Harris put together a solid high school career, breaking a school record, class record and state record, in addition to earning all-state seven times and earning a Div. I football scholarship.

On the gridiron
Even before Harris made it to the field, he had his mind made up that he would play football. He had several family members play football in college and he said that his family was a football family. He noted that football was always on the TV or radio as a kid.
“Ever since I was in kindergarten, I was just killing, I was just dying to play football,” Harris said. “I remember I was counting down hundreds of days for that day of the draft in peewee… that’s all I would think about is being able to put on pads and helmets.”
Harris started competing in football in third grade. When he was in third grade, the split between third and sixth graders had not been made yet, so he was playing against sixth graders for the first several years of his career. Harris said that he started to blossom on the football field in fifth and sixth grade. He carried that skill to the high school level, where he got varsity minutes as a freshman.
During his first year in high school, he did not start the season with the varsity squad, but worked his way into the lineup, but only on the defensive side of the ball. He averaged 1.7 tackles per game and had 1.5 tackles for loss throughout the season.
“I wasn’t going to back down from anybody,” Harris said of playing on varsity as a freshman. “I’ve always been like that, just hard-headed, but I was going to show it on the field. I didn’t care how big the other guy was, I sure was gonna try. Even if I got my butt kicked, I’d get up and go again and go again.”
As a sophomore, Harris developed into a two-way player for the Blazers. He stepped up on defense, upping his defensive points per game from 3.6 in 2013 to 7 in 2014. The lineman averaged 3.2 tackles per game and racked up two tackles for loss, two sacks and one pass breakup.
During his junior and senior years, Harris stepped up his game and his leadership.
“Logan is just a natural-born leader. He has that magnetic personality where people are drawn to him,” Torrington football coach Mark Lenhardt said. “He is one of the few kids in the six years that I’ve been here that led by example. He set the tone every day and brought kids to his level.”
Harris was second on the team in defensive points per game (12.9) during his junior season, averaging 5.4 tackles per game. He was a force behind the line, racking up 14 tackles for loss and two sacks, along with a fumble recovery.
During his final campaign with the Blazer football team, Harris racked up 16.8 defensive points per game, averaging 6.6 tackles per contest. He filled out his stat sheet with 8.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, four pass breakups, a fumble recovery and blocked kick last fall.
“Those kids don’t come around very often – maybe once a career,” Lenhardt said of a player that got varsity minutes as a freshman and continued to excel through all four years.
Harris played both sides of the ball for three years for Torrington and the accolades followed. He earned all-state in both his junior and senior seasons. This past year, he was named the 3A Lineman of the year and the 3A Defensive Player of the Year. The Blazer was also named to the Casper Star-Tribune Super-25, which is a list of the top-25 football players in the state, twice. USA Today put Harris on their All-Wyoming first team twice.
“I’ve had a mentality of just keep going and going, you can be tired after the game but not during the game,” Harris said on what he feels sets him apart. “That’s how I’ve always looked at it. Don’t think about being tired, think about what you could do better during the game. You can be tired on Saturday and Sunday afterwards, but on Monday you better be ready to get working again.”
Harris experienced success throughout his four years with the Blazers. Torrington went 25-13 over the four years that Harris donned a Blazer jersey.

From football to the throwing ring
“Ever since football got over, I’ve just been waiting for it to start again, that’s how I am all year,” Harris said. “That’s why I get excited about track season when it comes around because track season makes the season go by faster.”
Although track was not Harris’ No. 1 sport, he still excelled. The first time he threw a shot put was in eighth grade, and he ended up earning all-state five times for his throwing ability.
In indoor track, Harris threw for Cheyenne Central, due to Torrington not having an indoor track team. The past two winters, he earned all-state for his efforts. This past winter, Harris broke the state indoor shot put record, recording a throw of 61 feet, 2.5 inches at the WHSAA State Indoor Track and Field Championships in Gillette on March 3-4.
Harris also went to the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho each of the past two years. The Simplot Games are a national indoor track meet with some of the top athletes from around the country. He finished in the top-five in the shot put during both of his appearances in Idaho.
Moving into outdoor track, Harris continued his stellar throwing career. As a freshman, he took 11th at the state meet in the shot put (44 feet, 2.5 inches). He upped his distance at the state meet his sophomore year to 52 feet, 3 inches, earning second. He also took third in the discus in 2015 (139 feet, 11 inches).
The Blazer upped his discus placing at the state meet as a junior, snagging second with a throw of 144 feet, 5 inches. 2016 was also the first year he stood atop the podium at the state meet, taking first in the shot put, recording a throw of 55 feet, 2.5 inches.
“He is very much a perfectionist and a technician,” Torrington throwing coach Russell Stienmetz said. “He wants to make the extra throws after practice to get to that perfection.”
Harris came into his senior campaign striving for perfection at the state meet. He wanted to break the overall state record in the shot put, a goal he said he first started planning for as a sophomore.
“It’s kind of a combination of his character and personality and his willingness to work hard,” Torrington track coach Mark Sims said. “If he set a goal, he could go after it until he got it.”
Before getting to the state meet, Harris’ goal throughout the season was to break the meet record at every meet this spring. He did that at every meet except the Best of the West meet in Scottsbluff, Neb. and the Wyoming Track Classic in Casper.
On his way to breaking meet records and the state record, Harris broke the Torrington High School record in the shot put with a throw of 61 feet, 6 inches at the Alliance, Neb. Invitational in Scottsbluff. In the last regular season meet, Harris extended his school record, recording a put of 61 feet, 9.5 inches at the Wiseman Invite. At the regional meet in Thermopolis, the Blazer upped his personal-best throw to 62 feet, 0.5 inches.
“I’m really competitive, it doesn’t matter what it is,” Harris said. “I get mad if I don’t better myself.”
After winning discus on the second day of the state meet with a throw of 155 feet, 9 inches, all eyes were on Harris in the shot put ring on the final day of the state meet in Casper.
He had six throws to break the all-class record. On his second put, which was 61 feet, 2 inches, he broke the 3A record, but that was not enough. On the final throw of his career, he had a launch of 63 feet, 8.5 inches, breaking the old record from 1990 by 7.5 inches.
“When it released his hand, I knew instantly it was going to be a great throw,” Stienmetz said. “I looked where it landed and I couldn’t have been happier for him.”
His throw was 13 feet further than the second-place finisher in 3A and was the longest throw at the state meet by more than 10 feet.
“That speaks volumes of him to set a goal with no one to push him but himself,” Sims said of Harris continuing to improve with no one coming close to fight him for the title.

The college choice
“My No. 1 goal going into high school football was to get offered by a D-I school,” Harris said. “I really didn’t care where it was, but at least Division I football.”
Harris was able to make that goal a reality. As a junior, the University of Wyoming invited him to attend their junior day and a scholarship offer followed the camp. During the summer between Harris’ junior and senior years, he verbally committed to be a Cowboy.
On Feb. 1 in front of the Torrington High School student body, Harris, who is a Cornhusker fan, signed his letter of intent to play for the Cowboys in the fall. He had been on several visits between that junior camp and signing day and still felt it was the right move.
“That’s where I wanted to be,” Harris said of Laramie. “They made it feel like I was already part of them and it felt like a family.”
Harris said he felt like his family and the community joined him in his new love for UW.
“I definitely felt like it’s not only where I wanted to be, but I felt like the rest of the state and specifically the town wouldn’t want to see me go anywhere else except for Laramie,” Harris said.
The future Cowboy moves onto campus June 11 and gets into the classroom and into workouts on June 12. He, along with the rest of the freshman football players, many of whom Harris has gotten to know over the last couple months, is slated for a full summer of classes, workouts, drills and practices. In talking with the coaching staff at UW, Harris said depending on how the summer goes, he could be placed at center or guard.

The man and the hair
On top of impressing people on Friday nights on the gridiron and in the throwing rings each weekend, Harris put his talents to use in the weight room. He was in Sims’ weight lifting class all four years at Torrington. During his senior year, Harris broke the school record in three different lifts, benching 405 pounds, power cleaning 335 points and dead lifting 605 pounds.
“He’s the fastest athlete that weighed over 300 pounds that I’ve ever coached,” Sims, who has coached for over 30 years, said. “He’s fast, strong and explosive.”
Harris, who is admittedly extremely goal-oriented, is preparing for the Shrine Bowl, played June 10. The Shrine Bowl is for graduated seniors across the state to have one final high school football game. Harris is on the south roster and may play both sides of the ball for the South in Casper.
“I still have my football pads and stuff in the house and I pick ‘em up and I put ‘em on. I just can’t wait (for the Shrine Bowl),” Harris said. “It doesn’t matter where it’s at, just knocking heads – there is no other feeling.”
Whether at the Shrine Bowl or at UW games in the fall, Harris will stick out on the sidelines, due to his afro. He said his hair used to be straight, but one time he had it cut and it grew in curly. He had it cut regularly a few times, but decided to just let it grow and has had it growing for a year and a half now. He has no plans to get it cut anytime soon.
“It’s nice not getting haircuts every other month.”