Garrett Lombardi has plenty of reasons to keep smiling

Life can get lonely inside the inner circle.

That’s not the usual thought for a popular person, but we’re not talking social circle.

We’re talking the cramped space where a lacrosse goalie has to fend off 90 mile per hour shots for two hours to virtually no acclaim.

“When I used to play baseball, it was always ‘see ball, hit ball,'”  Cathedral Catholic goalie Garrett Lombardi said. “It became similar when I started playing goalie. See ball, save ball.”

Facing challenges at high speed comes normal to Lombardi. That trend started at three years old, when he was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.

“All the blood flow to your hips stop,” Lombardi said. “It disintegrated my growth plate and deformed my hip joint.”

From age three all the up to middle school, Lombardi required special casts and time in wheelchairs. But in the times where he was released, Garrett’s release became the field.

Lombardi played baseball first, but later in life found lacrosse as his passion. He played attack until his junior year at Cathedral. Then two senior goalies graduated. Someone had to step up and take the shot – or in this case, stop the shots.

Lombardi stops at nothing, so it became a natural fit.

Now the deflecting Don with a 4.1 GPA is headed for Gonzaga. The boy who couldn’t walk has turned into the man stepping into Spokane.

“Seeing my progression and how I’ve evolved has truly been a gift,” Lombardi said. “I’m excited to step on campus next year.”