Dad shares state title experience with daughters

The Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram had an interesting article about Fairmont West assistant lacrosse coach Wayne Cochran, whose daughters Rhenzy and Rhyan were on the state championship team.

Their mother is Ann Marie Preolitti Cochran Parsons. Their grandparents are Renzy Fazio and Frances Olesky Fazio, both Class of 1937, who owned Fazio Grocery at the bottom of Jackson Street hill at the Thomas Street intersection.

The Exponent-Telegram article:

Assistant FSH Lacrosse coach able to share unique moment with two daughters

·        

Rhyan, Renzy, Wayne Cochran

by Matt Welch Correspondent

·         Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram

John Dah

o 

Bottom of

FAIRMONT — The final buzzer had just sounded, giving Fairmont Senior’s girls’ lacrosse team a 12-3 victory and the opportunity to hoist the WVSLA state championship trophy.

But in the midst of the celebrations and the photo opportunities with friends, a family memory was being made.

Assistant coach Wayne Cochran and his daughters, Renzy and Rhyan, embraced each other on the turf at East-West Stadium, a joyous moment to end an incredible season, the first that the trio had gotten to spend together on the same field.

 

“To see the reaction between those two, and then when I got out there, it was a big tear session,” Wayne said, thinking back to the moment. “We cried. We cried together. It was incredible.”

The sport of lacrosse has become a family tradition for the Cochrans. Renzy, who just graduated from Fairmont Senior High School, began playing the sport in seventh grade.

That led to both her father and younger sister, a freshman this past year, getting involved, too.

“She started playing it, and I didn’t know a lot about it then. I watched some lacrosse over the years but not really women’s lacrosse,” Wayne said. “But after she got involved, I caught on and it was exciting.”

Then, when she moved to high school, Wayne got involved as a coach in the middle school program while Rhyan joined the team in sixth grade.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The non-stop practicing at both home and the field and anywhere in between all led up to this season, the first and only season that Renzy and Rhyan would share the field with their father watching on from the sideline as one of their coaches.

As a senior, Renzy wound up being voted the team’s MVP and Rhyan earned a letter. The simple fact that Renzy won that honor as a defender was rare, but it wasn’t surprising to anyone, really, even Wayne, who said he abstained from team award voting this season with both of his girls on the squad.

“Sometimes it’s hard being a coach’s kid. But I didn’t have to push with Renzy, she worked hard,” Wayne said.

Of course that led to more than just a team MVP award.

“That spilled over on to Rhyan. Renzy has really been a mentor to her,” the girls’ father said, noting that the younger daughter played offense. “They went head to head a few times and that’s a big confidence booster for Rhyan.”

For any parent coaching their kids, drawing the line between father and coach can be difficult. For the Cochrans, just being together is enough for them.

“It’s one of the most incredible feelings you can ever have,” Wayne said of coaching his daughters. “As a coach, knowing you’re impacting kids is a great feeling alone. When it’s your own kids and you get to see them actually improve as the year goes on and see them make contributions, that’s one of the best feelings ever.”

Wayne’s girls agreed.

“I think it’s pretty cool. I think it’s made us closer as a family, even,” Renzy said. “You’re not only spending time at home together, but you’re here together.”

 

“Just all of us together, it’s been a great family activity together,” Rhyan added.

When it comes to making plans to celebrate Father’s Day, the Cochrans’ plans typically always involve sports. This year, the family plans to attend the West Virginia Black Bears’ home opener, which just happens to be on Father’s Day.

Even though it’s a family of five daughters and zero sons, no one would change a thing.

“I think it’s more fun, honestly,” Renzy said of being a sports family full of girls. “Guys don’t expect girls to really like sports like we do. But we were raised around it. It’s different, but it’s nice.”

“I was always told, ‘Oh, you’ve got to have a son,’” Wayne said. “But I’ve got five daughters, and you couldn’t trade me anything plus a million dollars for any of them.”

Day in and day out this year, Wayne got a sideline view of two of those daughters finding success on the field at East-West Stadium and beyond.

Looking back on the season, Wayne could do little to keep a smile coming across his face when talking about it.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on this field together. It’s been good,” he said, his smile growing along with his daughters’. “You script out your life as a father, and obviously you want your kids to do the right things. But when you’re involved with them in something like this and you watch them be successful, it’s icing on the cake.”