Coupeville Sports

Makana Stone, forever a force of nature. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Every bucket, every rebound, every moment of on-court brilliance built to this.

Two days after graduating from Whitman College, Coupeville’s Makana Stone received her school’s highest athletic honor Tuesday morning.

The former Wolf, who finished as the #5 scorer and #2 rebounder in Blues women’s basketball history, received the Mignon Borleske Award.

The honor recognizes a graduating senior student-athlete for “their career athletic ability and accomplishments, leadership and sportsmanship qualities, and contributions to the campus and community as a whole.”

Stone shared the honor with Blues tennis player Andrea Gu, a three-time All-American.

Robert Colton, a Whitman men’s basketball star, received the R.V. Borleske Award, which is given to the school’s top male athlete.

The winners receive a plaque, while their names are added to a display in the athletic department’s Hall of Fame.

The awards are named for a couple who arrived on campus in 1915, then had a huge impact on the growth of the school.

Raymond Borleske, a former Whitman football and baseball player, became a long-time coach, while Mignon Borleske taught dance and women’s education classes at the school for nearly 40 years.

Stone, a 2016 CHS grad, became a starter for the Blues midway through her freshman season, and rarely left the court after that.

She finished with the most starts (92) in program history, and she and fellow seniors Mady Burdett, Lily Gustafson, Natalie Whitesel, and Katie Stahl compiled a 94-20 record during their time in Walla Walla.

That was the most wins for a graduating class in the long and prestigious history of Whitman women’s basketball.

Their success included three trips to the NCAA D-III national tourney, and Whitman was hours away from playing in the Sweet 16 at this year’s event when COVID-19 shut down collegiate athletics.

Stone finished her run in a Blues uniform with 1,337 points and 837 rebounds.

She was named the Northwest Conference MVP as a senior, was selected for the Beyond Sports Women’s Collegiate All-Star Game, and received All-Region and All-American honors.

When she wasn’t excelling on the hardwood, Stone participated in the Whitman College mentor program, was an ACE representative, and served as a member of the Whitman Elementary School Science Night Committee.

Using her time well, Coupeville’s progeny was also a presenter at the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, while obtaining multiple internships.