Caden Lamb does not oversell himself. Ask what he's good at, and he says sports, probably. Ask if he's a brainiac, and he says no, not really. Ask what he wants to do after high school, and he'll tell you honestly that he hasn't figured that out yet — which is a perfectly reasonable thing for a junior to say in March. What comes through in the conversation, though, is a kid who shows up for everything he commits to, keeps his grades solid, and has spent three years being part of something at Centralia High School that his own father was part of a generation ago.

Caden is a junior at Centralia, a 3A school of roughly 800 to 900 students, and the family connection to the building runs deep on his mother's side – his mother and both of her parents are alumni of Centralia schools. His father, also a Centralia alumnus, played basketball here for three years and had at least one very good team. His mother, Kerry, a nurse practitioner who now works at an express clinic in town, went to college for nursing. His younger sister Emma, a seventh grader who plays volleyball, is a few years out from walking the same halls. It is, in the fullest sense, a Centralia family.

He runs cross country in the fall, plays basketball in the winter, and competes in track in the spring. Cross country is his favorite — he says it's probably his best sport — and he calls it that partly because of the team aspect. The program has been building. In his freshman year, there weren't enough runners to field a complete team. In his sophomore year, they had five, but one quit mid-season, dropping them back to four. This past fall, they had seven, enough to score as a team, with a couple of experienced returners and a few newer faces still finding their footing. A state appearance is the goal Caden has set for his senior year.

Track came back around this spring, and he's running the mile and the two-mile. It's the first week back, and he's getting his legs under him after a winter in the gym. He describes long-distance running the way distance runners tend to: practically. When it gets hard out there, he tells himself one thing. "Pain's temporary. You can get through it. Just keep pushing."

Basketball this year was a good ride. Caden spent most of his time at the JV level while also suiting up with varsity, and the team finished 32-2. They won regionals, went deep into the postseason, and fell to East St. Louis in the sectional championship — one win away from a super sectional berth and a shot at state. Both teams that beat Centralia this season were still competing at state when this conversation took place. "That's a pretty good accomplishment," Caden says, without any apparent need to dress it up further.

The pep rallies before big games are a highlight of the school year, by his account. The whole school gathers in the gym, splits up by class, and competes to be the loudest — a spirit stick contest where whichever class can belt out the school song or cheer the hardest wins the right to storm the court for a class photo. His junior class won it before last week's game. Principal Dr. Shipley runs the show, with the band and cheerleaders part of the whole production. It's loud, rowdy, and apparently very fun. "The whole community comes together for those," he says.

Outside of sports, Caden's schedule is straightforward — no clubs, no academic competitions, just school, running, and time with friends. He maintains A's and B's, is on the honor roll, and takes regular classes by choice. He plans to go to college. He plans to keep running. Everything else is still getting figured out.

His sister Emma will be in high school soon enough. She's a pretty good sister, her brother says — and then laughs, because he's been put on the spot and that's the best he's got. She plays volleyball. She'll find her way here when it's her turn. The Lamb family tends to find their way to school.