Lawrence "TT" Roe, Husky track alum & dad to WCH 10000m runner Taylor Roe, passes away...
Born on January 12, 1968 in Seattle, TT played numerous sports as a child, gravitating towards basketball, where he and older brother Greg played on the Red Tide youth team, and later on, the Mountlake Terrace basketball team.
He found success on the track and cross country teams at Mountlake Terrace, riding the wave of success in 1986 to a state AA title in the 1600, where he won in 4:10.60 over Tumwater's Dave Smith, who ran 4:13.60. Roe was second in the 3200m that season, as district rival Pat Haller of Lynnwood won in 9:02.6 to Roe's 9:08.6.
That success at Mountlake Terrace led to a scholarship offer to run under Mike Johnson at the University of Washington, where he lettered three seasons for the Huskies.
In his two Pac-10 appearances, Roe was 12th in the 1500 at the 1987 championships in Corvallis, and seventh in the 800 at the 1990 championship meet at Husky Stadium.
While at Washington, he met his wife, Jennifer Gillette, who herself was a standout distance runner for the Huskies. Gillette was part of the 1989 team that won the Pac-10 cross country title and finished 12th at the NCAA championships. At the time, that was the highest finish by a Washington squad.
The couple married in 1991 and had four children: Tiana (28), Tiffany (27), Taylor (25), and Trey (22).
Roe found professional success in the IT industry, most recently as a senior account executive for IBM. He was also involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in his community, often working with youth.
He devoted his time to his community by coaching his children’s sports teams from 2007 to 2017. He coached hundreds of youth and teenagers throughout the years. He loved coaching the Mukilteo Knights football and basketball teams for Trey and then each of the girls basketball teams and Taylor’s running. Most years he was coaching at least 2 teams at a time. He was a volunteer coach for Lake Stevens High School's track and cross country teams from 2016 through 2025. Outside of time spent with his family, coaching was his great passion.
His coaching was a factor in his daughter Taylor becoming one of the most successful distance runners in Washington state high school history, beginning with the 2015 cross country crown as a freshman at Kamiak, and two more at Lake Stevens HS.
During her high school career, Roe won multiple state titles in the 800, 1600, and 3200 before going on to Oklahoma State, where she won an NCAA indoor title in the 3000m in 2022, and earned several All-America honors under the coaching of Dave Smith, who raced against her father while he was at Tumwater HS.
Two days before his death, Taylor, who now competes professionally for the North Carolina based Puma Elite team and was a member of the USA world championships team last September in the 10000 meters, came within eleven seconds of the American record in the half marathon, when she ran 1:06:20 at the Houston Half Marathon.
TT's celebration of life will be held on Saturday January 31st at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 10120 Chapel Hill Road, Lake Stevens. The services will be live-streamed at this link.
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NEWS AND NOTES...
Three athletes with Washington ties are entered in Saturday's New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, the first major indoor pro invitational meet at the TRACK at New Balance in Boston.
Washington alum Brian Fay, fresh off a 16th place finish at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida, is entered in the men's 3000 meters, where he'll face fellow Irishman Andrew Coscoran, Harvard alum and US Olympian Graham Blanks, and Cam Myers, the Australian teen sensation, who ran 3:49.81 in the mile at the Dempsey last Saturday to become the first man to break 3:50 in the state of Washington.
Another Husky alum, Luke Houser, is entered in the men's 2000, where he'll race against a field that includes US Olympians Grant Fisher and Hobbs Kessler, and 2022 world 1500m champion Jake Wightman of Great Britain.
Massachusetts high schooler and University of Washington commit Abigail Hennessy (Paul Merca photo), who ran the nation's fastest high school girls' 3000 in 2026 at the Dempsey last week when she won her section in 9:15.79, is entered in the junior girls' international mile, where she'll face Natasza Dudek of Poland, who attends high school in Michigan. Dudek was the double winner of the Nike Cross Nationals and the Brooks XC Championships in December.
NBC will televise the meet from 11:30 am Pacific time to 1:30 pm.
The B1G Ten Conference announced that Tyler Bilyard and Jimmy Rhoads were named its men's athletes of the week for week ending January 21st.
Bilyard shared men's track honors with Garrett Kaalund of USC, who ran 32.10 to win the Spokane Sports Showcase at The Podium. The mark is the second fastest all time in collegiate history.
Bilyard won the 1000m at the UW Preview in 2:17.98, which leads the NCAA and is the fourth fastest mark in NCAA history.
Rhoads, who cleared 19-1 (5.82m), won his second B1G Ten AOW award after the mark broke former world champion Brad Walker's 2003 school record, as well as the Dempsey and conference record.
The Huskies' Chloe Foerster won the women's co-track athlete of the week with Penn State's Hayley Kitching, after running 2:37.79 to finish second behind Stanford's Juliette Whittaker.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, and the B1G Ten Conference contributed to this report.
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