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Archive for the ‘Boys Tennis’ Category

Ciera St Onge (John Fisken photos)

Ciera St Onge (John Fisken photos)

Aiden

   Aiden Crimmins (right, in glasses and robe) hangs out with his fellow sophomores, who are bringing back the student cheering section.

They are twin titans of school spirit.

Coupeville High School senior Ciera St Onge and sophomore Aiden Crimmins share a birthday and a willingness to put themselves out in front of the crowd.

St Onge has been at the forefront of the Wolf cheer team for several years, bringing a sparkle in her eye and a skip in her step to her work on the sidelines.

Vivacious and full of life, she is a ball of fire, whether it’s football or basketball season.

Crimmins, who is looking a little like Clark Kent these days, turns into Superman when it’s time to help lead the student cheering section.

He and his fellow sophomores, guys like Jimmy Myers, Uriel Liquidano and Jonathan Thurston, have revived the art of wearing costumes and verbally harassing rival free-throw shooters.

After a bit of a down period, as a once-proud, jam-packed CHS student section dwindled down to one guy looking at his phone, it’s nice to see the thrill back.

Both St Onge and Crimmins have bought in, completely, to supporting their classmates and their school.

That both are also highly intelligent, super friendly people who succeed at everything they do, is a given.

On this, their joint birthday, let’s all take a moment to cheer for THEM and for all they do.

Can I get a C-I-E-R-A and an A-I-D-E-N?

What does that spell?

Awesome! Yep, that’s what it spells.

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Tyler Cermak

Tyler Cermak

William Nelson

William Nelson

The young guns get a little older today.

A day after his New England Patriots won their fourth Super Bowl title, Wolf football player Tyler Cermak shares a birthday with netter William Nelson.

Two of the more promising young athletes to walk the hallways at Coupeville High School, they have both shone during the start of their days in red and black.

Cermak has fought through health issues to remain a key part of the Wolf football program. Whether on the field or off, he remains as devoted to the gridiron squad as anyone on it.

Plus, he’s the one who first tipped me to the news of Brett Smedley being hired as the new Wolf head coach, allowing me to scoop the Canadian papers.

Well played, Mr. Cermak.

Nelson, younger brother of Wolf netter/booter Loren Nelson, made an immediate impact for the Wolf tennis squad during his first days as a high school student.

Teaming with fellow frosh Joey Lippon, Nelson advanced to the postseason and the duo gave fans a view of the future of Wolf tennis. Spoiler: it’s a bright one.

Since it’s a Monday, they’re back at school (I assume. Cermak may be still celebrating.) and probably are limited on time. So, I’ll make this quick.

Happy birthday, gentlemen. May both of you continue to play out what looks like a bright athletic future.

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Rising baseball star Joey Lippo, disguised as a basketball player. (John Fisken photo)

Joey Lippo, in disguise as a basketball player. (John Fisken photo)

Joey Lippo takes his sports seriously.

The Coupeville High School freshman, a three-sport athlete (tennis, basketball, baseball) is building a reputation for always having his game face on, though he was spotted cracking up on the bench at a recent hoops game.

Ask him about it, however, and he’ll deny, deny, deny.

But whether he’s grinning or not in his photos, the Wolf young gun is taking huge strides on the athletic field. Baseball remains his #1 sport and it’s carrying him far and wide.

A scouting report from proud papa Joe Lippo on their most recent trip:

Over the past three days, CHS’ own Joey Lippo has been in Mesa, AZ, participating in the Under Armour Baseball Factory spring training program.

This involves three days of training, for up to 12 hours per day.

The weather was great, averaging 73 degrees under scattered cloud cover. Perfect for baseball.

Joey, along with 35 other high schoolers from around the country, learned from Major League hitting, catching, fielding and conditioning coaches from the Kansas City, Anaheim, Colorado and USA Baseball clubs.

Joey’s stats over the six games played were fairly good, and across six plate appearances he went 2 for 5 with a walk.

He played catcher and 1st base (a first for him), performing admirably, and better than expected at 1st.

The coaches, like last year, were no nonsense, no BS, and no slack given. If they thought you weren’t performing, they would let you know.

This, however was not intended to berate or belittle the player, as the call-out was followed with a way to fix what they were doing wrong.

The players ran everywhere, and were in constant motion. There was very little standing around.

New drills were introduced, arm strength was evaluated, speed measured, and resolve tested.

Some players struggled at the plate, others in the field. As the days went on, it only got harder due to fatigue and soreness.

There were highlights, including a kid that hit the ball to the warning track, some Sports Center-like defensive plays, and close plays at the plate.

There were also low-lights, with a couple players going “O-fer” at the plate, ground balls bouncing off mitts (and other body parts), and even a player running into the fence (he was OK).

In the end, the camp ended with no significant injury, although there were 36 exhausted high schoolers with various stages of sore arms and legs, twisted ankles, and assorted cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

For Joey’s part, he will be bringing several pro-level drills back to CHS, and will hopefully be able to contribute to the teams success in the coming season.

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Aaron Curtin speaks softly and carries a ferocious racket. (John Fisken photo)

Aaron Curtin speaks softly and carries a ferocious racket. (John Fisken photos)

Joseph Wedekind, slicin' 'n dicin'.

Joseph Wedekind netted his first varsity tennis letter in 2014.

Grey Rische remains focused.

So did Grey Rische.

To the victor go the spoils.

Coupeville High School senior Aaron Curtin is going back to the state tennis tourney for the second straight year this spring, so it should probably come as little surprise that he dominated the awards when the Wolves held their season-ending banquet Thursday.

Curtin took home MVP and Most Inspirational, shared Captain honors with Kyle Bodamer and was awarded his fourth letter in the sport.

Joining him in snagging hardware were sophomores Ethan Marx (Most Improved) and Jimmy Myers (Coaches Award), as well as junior Sebastian Davis (Coaches Award).

Varsity letter winners:

Kyle Bodamer
Aaron Curtin
Sebastian Davis
Jared Helmstadter
Joey Lippo
John McClarin
Connor McCormick
Jimmy Myers
Loren Nelson
William Nelson
Grey Rische
Joseph Wedekind

Participation certificates:

Garrett Compton
Aiden Crimmins
Nick Dion
Nick Etzell
Ethan Marx
Geoffrey McClarin
Jeremiah Pace
Alex Schmakeit
Lilan Sekigawa
Brian Shank
Ethan Spark

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Aaron Curtin stretches his quads, unsure if he'll have to flee from the paparazzi.

Aaron Curtin will have to wait until May, but he’ll play in his second straight state tennis tourney. (Wendy McCormick photo)

Day two, not as fun as day one.

But, even though the Coupeville High School boys’ tennis squad lost all three of its matches Friday at the District 3 tennis tourney in Tacoma, there were positives.

First and foremost is that even though he fell in Friday’s championship match, Wolf senior Aaron Curtin will be headed back to state in May.

After advancing as a doubles player last season, Curtin went solo this year and has gone 5-1 in the postseason.

His win streak finally came to an end when he fell 6-3, 6-2 to Griffin Welsh of Charles Wright Academy.

Welsh finished second at the 1A state tourney last spring.

Aaron put up a monstrous fight,” Coupeville coach Ken Stange said. “Even though he lost, he played some of the best tennis of his life.

“He had a difficult regular season, much like last year when he played (doubles) with Ben Etzell. Also like last year, he found his groove in the postseason,” he added. “I guess I could call him Big Game Aaron. How about Teddy Roosevelt 2.0, because he speaks softly and carries a big stick?”

Making the transition from working as a team to stalking the court as a one-man wrecking crew is not easy.

“Qualifying for state in doubles is one thing, but earning a state berth in singles is a much more difficult proposition,” Stange said. “He beat some tough players, and he gave the champ some stiff competition.

“It’s been an honor working with Aaron these past four years, and I’m fortunate to have another state run with him, this spring,” he added. “It should be a blast!”

This will be the first time that Stange, who has coached 19 seasons at CHS (10 boys, nine girls) will take a player to state in back-to-back seasons.

Coupeville’s #2 player, junior Sebastian Davis, finished fifth at districts.

After splitting a pair of matches Thursday, including a loss to Welsh, he faced off with Steen Jennings of Vashon Island Friday, falling 6-2, 6-0.

Jennings took third and has a shot at garnering a trip to state, depending on yet-to-be-determined state allocations.

“The tourney wasn’t all bad for Sebastian. All three of his matches gave him valuable experience as we look to next season,” Stange said. “The Olympic League tourney (where he finished second) was his coming out party, and he rode the wave into districts.

“Next year, he’ll be the guy who is vying for a state berth instead of settling for fifth,” he added. “He’s found the killer instinct. I can’t wait for his fourth and final CHS season!”

The doubles duo of Loren Nelson and Connor McCormick capped “a very odd tourney” with a 6-3, 6-0 loss to a pair from Eatonville.

In their first full year of playing varsity doubles, they advanced through the league tournament, then opened district play with a walk-over win when a rival begged off with a migraine.

Unfortunately, their second round opponents were the three-time defending state champs, and that went about as well as expected, setting up Friday’s elimination match.

“They lost, but fought hard,” Stange said. “Like Sebastian, they gained valuable experience in seeing the quality of play at the higher level tourneys. Next year, they will likely make an impact at districts.”

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