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Archive for March, 2014

The best story you’ll read today!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged , , , on March 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Zen and the art of tennis. (Ken Stange photo)

Zen and the art of tennis. (Ken Stange photo)

We’re four days into the start of spring sports and we already have a winner for best story.

Ladies and gentlemen, Coupeville High School tennis guru Ken Stange.

Today at tennis practice, one of my players was having trouble keeping her lead foot firmly planted while serving.

It’s a common mistake volleyball players make when transitioning to tennis.

Despite our efforts, she just couldn’t keep that foot down!

I decided to lay down on the court and hold her foot down so she could learn how to serve properly.

After missing the first two tries, she hit a great serve.

However, her racquet followed through directly into my head!

Game. Set. Match. And still the undisputed champion.

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Spring Sports Preview: Sprint to state!!

Posted in Track, tagged , , , , , , , on March 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Sylvia Hurlburt

Sylvia Hurlburt poses with the new school records she helped set last year as a freshman.

The young guns, fleet-footed freshmen (l to r) Lauren Grove, Mattea Miller, Carlie Rosenkrance and Valen Trujillo.

The young guns, fleet-footed freshmen (l to r) Lauren Grove, Mattea Miller, Carlie Rosenkrance and Valen Trujillo (who has jumped to tennis as a high schooler).

Randy King is on the hunt.

The veteran Coupeville High School track coach had 41 athletes turn out for the first day of practice Monday, but he’d always like to add some more depth.

“There are still a few capable athletes out there in the halls of Coupeville not doing other sports and we are still actively looking, hoping, and trying to persuade more girls to come on out!,” King said.

The 17 girls he already has include three returning state meet veterans in sophomores Makana Stone and Sylvia Hurlburt and junior Marisa Etzell.

That trio was part of a unit that smashed school records, tore up the Cascade Conference and claimed fifth place in the 4 x 200 at the 1A state meet. The Wolf girls finished 26th out of 47 teams in Cheney.

Stone also won the first 32 races of her high school career — best debut ever, by far, for a Wolf — and broke or helped break four school records (200, 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 400). Etzell and Hurlburt each ran on two of the record relay teams.

“They really enjoyed their experience in the relays and are looking forward to some new sprint relay team members,” King said.

The loss to graduation of sprinters Jai’Lysa Hoskins and Madison Tisa McPhee is huge, but a strong young group led by freshmen Lauren Grove and Carlie Rosenkrance is ready to step in.

First-timers Nene Maxie Stokes and Amanda Foley will also vie for spots on the sprint teams.

Junior Erin Rosenkranz returns to anchor the distance runners, while freshman Mattea Miller will join her.

Veteran throwers Heni Barnes and Briess Potter will be joined by a pack of newcomers, as CHS has a deeper-than-normal group of female athletes picking up the shot put and discus. Sophia Jebrail, Joye Jackson, Ashlyn Miller and Skyler Lawrence are also in the mix.

On the boys side, there are deeper numbers, with 11 of the 24 being returning athletes.

Senior thrower Nick Streubel and sprinter/jumper Josiah Campbell, who missed qualifying for state by one place in the 100 as a junior, anchor the squad.

Sophomore sprinters Jared Helmstadter and Lathom Kelley, junior distance runner Matthew Hampton and senior hurdler/sprinter Brandon Kelley provide depth.

When he wasn’t doing cartwheels off the gym walls, the irrepressible Lathom Kelley, also a gridiron standout, was working hard on building his body into a force of nature.

“Lathom’s speed, which was on display during football season, has taken an explosive jump due to his hard work in the weight room and he may jump to the front of this group,” King said. “Jared loves track, just came off a successful basketball season and is going to be one of our fastest as well.”

And who knows what gems may be lurking in the newcomers?

“We have quite a large group of boys out for the first time and they are enthusiastic and in some cases pretty talented,” King said. “It’s going to be a great year.”

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Spring Sports Preview: Lone Wolf tees off!!

Posted in Golf, tagged , , , , on March 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Christine Fields

Christine Fields, pride of the pack.

There’s no one to fall back on. It’s all her.

Christine Fields is unique at Coupeville High School, the only golfer to tee off repping the red and black. And with back-to-back top 15 finishes at the 1A state tournament, the junior has more than held her own.

Since CHS doesn’t field a team, Fields trains and travels with South Whidbey, but competes as a one-woman Wolf wrecking crew.

The past two seasons, when she placed 8th and 15th at state, older brother Austin, a state meet regular himself, made the trek down Island with her.

He’s a freshman at New Mexico State University this year, so she’s flying solo now.

Having a well-established relationship with her friendly rivals at SWHS helps.

“The Falcon team has been REALLY welcoming to me and my golf game,” Fields said. “Falcon coach Tom Sage has been so understanding and definitely has my back in the golf season!

“I never feel that much like an opponent until I’m on the course; even then I’m still cheered on by them and I give props to the girls on the Falcon team as well!,” she added. “They’re fun to travel and practice with! But, in the end, I’m without a doubt a Wolf!”

On the course she has been a consistent winner since day one, and while she can’t carry Coupeville to any team wins playing one-on-five, she can, and does, consistently medal by shooting the low score in matches.

Fields credits her memory, or better still, the ability to not use her memory at times.

“A strength that I don’t see too often in the field, that I have, is being able to not keep a shot-by-shot score in my head,” she said. “It allows me to focus on each shot instead of the ending round score.”

As she heads into her third season on the high school links, Fields is aiming for a return to the state meet and taking another crack at a top ten finish. Making the All-Cascade Conference team would be a good kick-off to her postseason.

Having worked hard on improving every facet of her game, she still has areas she’d like to tweak a bit.

“This year I’m especially looking to up my short game skill, which is really what makes the low scores, as well as the consistency in my swing.”

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Spring Sports Preview: Hanigan eyes throne!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged , , , , , , on March 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Allie Hanigan is the early favorite to be Coupeville's #1 player in 2w014. (John Fisken photo)

  Allie Hanigan is the early favorite to be Coupeville’s #1 player in 2014. (John Fisken photos)

Julia Myers is one of many returning letter winners for the Wolves.

Julia Myers is one of many returning letter winners for the Wolves.

The queen is gone. Long live the queen.

Amanda d’Almeida has graduated and is off in college playing soccer, leaving the #1 singles slot open as the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis squad gears up for a new season. Let the battle for hard-court supremacy begin.

Longtime Wolf tennis guru Ken Stange has numerous options to fill the top spot, and will hold an inter-squad tourney to see who wants to claim top dog status.

The early favorite, however, has to be senior Allie Hanigan. With two strong seasons behind her, the graceful netter is the top returning player on a veteran-heavy team and sliding up one spot on the rankings ladder would seem in the cards.

How the other varsity spots play out, both at #2 singles and with the doubles teams, should be interesting.

They might also change somewhat from match to match, with CHS having a number of battle-tested players fighting for the jobs.

Samantha Martin, who played in last year’s district doubles tourney, is joined by returning letter winners Jacki Ginnings, Micky LeVine, Ana Luvera, Ivy Luvera, Breanna Koym, Maureen Rice, Wynter Thorne, Julia Myers and McKenzie Bailey.

If any of them stumble, three newcomers are waiting for their time to shine, as well.  Senior Sydney Aparicio is jumping over from softball and freshmen Valen Trujillo and Bree Daigneault have been impressive in off-season workouts.

“I’ve seen Sydney play, and she could challenge for a varsity spot,” Stange said. “So could Valen and Bree. They’ve been practicing, even in bad weather.”

While he’ll have a deep roster (“I’ve got bunches of returning players and my new kids seem to be eager to get out there and play”), no one on the current roster has played at the very top for a consistent amount of time.

“I’ve got lots of girls who have played varsity tennis, but none of them have played much at #1 singles or doubles,” Stange said. “We’ll have to learn by beating up on ourselves, and then we’ll see what we can do against the competition.”

The cream of that competition will be the usual suspects from down the Island. Even with the loss of state meet veteran Hayley Newman, South Whidbey is still the team to beat.

“It’d be nice to take it to the Falcons,” Stange said. “South Whidbey, even though they don’t have any more Newman sisters, is always tough. Karyle Kramer runs a solid program.”

The Wolves will face more teams than in years past, as Stange and Coupeville AD Lori Stolee have been able to expand the schedule to seven teams and 13 matches.

Archbishop Thomas Murphy, Granite Falls, Lakewood and South Whidbey join the Wolves as Cascade Conference schools fielding squads, while perennial rival Friday Harbor, powerful Blaine and the combined forces of Port Townsend and Chimacum (the two schools play as one for tennis) round out the opponents.

Regardless of who is on the other side of the net, or which Wolf players end up in the varsity slots, Stange has one overwhelming wish. The same one he takes into every season on typically weather-torn Whidbey.

“I’m just hoping for some dry courts!!”

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Can’t lose! Won’t lose!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , , on March 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jenn Spark (John Fisken photo)

  Jenn Spark was a two-way terror Sunday, scoring the winning goal and nabbing her first yellow card for a “nasty, almost legal” slide tackle. (John Fisken photo)

The win streak lives on for another week.

It’s at four straight and counting for the Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad, after it capped a perfect weekend with a 2-1 win over the ISC Arsenal in Skyline Sunday.

With two wins in two days, the Islanders are 5-2 and in third place in their league. They’ll try to keep the streak alive next Sunday when they travel to Tracyton.

Sunday was a tale of two halves — one virtually flawless, one horrid, but not bad enough to snatch victory away.

“The second half shall be ‘the half to never speak of’,” said Islander coach Sean LeVine. “I’m not really sure what happened; I’ll have to review tape, but it was … well, I won’t speak of it.”

The “cold, wet, nasty weather” seemed to sap the life out of the Whidbey players, but they held on, surrendering just one long, booming goal into the left upper corner of the net.

The first half, by contrast, had been an impressive show, as the Islanders dominated, controlling the flow of the game and raining down shots on the Arsenal goalie.

Hailey Erbe opened the scoring with her first goal of the season, deflecting a shot from Jacki Ginnings into the back of the net.

After numerous close calls from Ginnings, Kendra Warwick, Micky LeVine, Jacalyn Hefflefinger and Bailee Olson, the Islanders got that elusive second score on a free kick from Jenn Spark.

Olson was gang-tackled by two Arsenal defenders at the top of the box, giving Spark her opportunity. She immediately responded, “ripping a laser shot over their wall, deflecting the ball off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.”

It was one of two highlights for Spark, who later notched her first yellow card for a “nasty, but almost legal, slide tackle.”

Olson, who left the game after being taken down by a hard slide tackle, was LeVine’s choice for player of the game

“Bailee continues to put so much pressure on their defense that it creates many opportunities for her teammates,” LeVine said. “It also frustrates the defense and earns us free kicks in dangerous areas.

“I suspect she doesn’t even realize how much she contributes with her hustle and tenacity,” he added. “But she definitely deserves a lot of credit for our recent offensive success!”

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