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CMS girls run to team title

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged CMS Wolves, cross country, Easton Green, Noelle Western, Sultan on October 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville Middle School runners, ready to rumble in Sultan. (Elizabeth Bitting photo)

They roared in pink.

Wearing colored wrist bands to show support for the battle against breast cancer, Coupeville Middle School cross country runners came up big Thursday at a meet in Sultan.

The Wolf girls stunned perennial powerhouse Langley, winning a team title in a tight race to the finish.

Coupeville, which put five runners in the top 20, finished with 48 points to their next door neighbor’s 52.

On the boys side, Lakewood ran away with the team title, with Coupeville finishing fifth.

Langley did win both individual titles, with Sienna Nissen and Rowan Jung topping the girls and boys, respectively.

The meet drew 122 runners in all.

CMS coach Elizabeth Bitting was thrilled with the team win, and her runners got to enjoy a wild time along the way.

“They had an adventurous afternoon,” she said. “The course was wet and muddy. They crossed many bridges, and saw lots of salmon swimming in the streams.”

Complete Thursday results (1.7 miles):

GIRLS:

Noelle Western (10th) 13:47
Ivy Rudat (12th) 13:51
Aleksia Jump (15th) 14:27
Laken Simpson (18th) 15:10
Mikayla Wagner (19th) 15:10
Marin Winger (26th) 15:50
Liza Zustiak (27th) 16:00
Mary Western (35th) 19:22

BOYS:

Easton Green (20th) 12:42
Beckett Green (26th) 13:28
Wyatt Fitch-Marron (30th) 13:40
Joshua Stockdale (35th) 14:15
Axel Marshall (38th) 14:25
Zack Blitch (51st) 14:25

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Big meet, big finishes

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged CMS Wolves, cross country, Easton Green, Mikayla Wagner, Nike Hole in the Wall on October 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Wyatt Fitch-Marron is excited to get his ribbon after setting a PR Friday afternoon. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

The Wolves celebrate in the sun.

“What a glorious day for a race!”

Coupeville Middle School cross country coach Elizabeth Bitting was excited Friday, and not just about the weather.

Running at the mega-epic Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational at Lakewood High School, Coupeville nailed 11 PR’s and almost won a team title in the 6th grade girls race.

The event drew almost 200 middle school runners Friday, with another 4,000 or so high school runners set to go Saturday.

To put on the two-day meet, it takes 135+ volunteers and the Wolves appreciated each one.

Running the longest course of the middle school season — a crisp 1.8 miles — CMS netted PR’s from all five male runners, and six of nine girls.

Each grade competed in a separate race, and the Wolf 6th grade girls were just four points off of team title winner Lakewood, which has a much-larger student body.

“They were overjoyed! I was overjoyed!! The families in attendance were overjoyed!!!,” Bitting said.

The huge field of runners made for an interesting experience, as well.

“It was perfectly summed up by Wyatt (Fitch-Marron),” Bitting said.

“The start was like being in the middle of a stampede, hearing hoofs pounding the ground all around, and nowhere to go but forward.”

As she and her runners headed back to Whidbey, Bitting basked in the afterglow of the day.

“Everybody ran such an amazing race, and had so many great things to say about the whole invitational afterwards,” she said.

“Definitely a memory maker race!!!!!”

Complete Friday results (1.8 miles):

GIRLS:

6th grade:

Mikayla Wagner (5th) 13:26.1
Laken Simpson (8th) 14:23.8 *PR*
Marin Winger (9th) 14:25.0 *PR*
Devon Wyman (13th) 16:22.6 *PR*
Emma McFadden (16th) 18:04.6
Mary Western (17th) 18:07.7 *PR*

7th grade:

Ivy Rudat (10th) 13:25.3

8th grade:

Noelle Western (10th) 12:42.8 *PR*
Aleksia Jump (15th) 13:50.2 *PR*

BOYS:

6th grade:

Beckett Green (5th) 11:20.4 *PR*
Wyatt Fitch-Marron (8th) 12:15.0 *PR*

7th grade:

Axel Marshall (24th) 12:23.1 *PR*
Zack Blitch (47th) 16:50.5 *PR*

8th grade:

Easton Green (15th) 11:15.1 *PR*

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CMS harriers splash to PR’s

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged CMS Wolves, cross country, Easton Green, Granite Falls, Ivy Rudat on October 1, 2021| 1 Comment »

Ready and rarin’ to run in the rain. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

“Bring on the liquid sunshine!”

Rain and mud never stopped a Wolf.

Attacking a soaking-wet course which came complete with “two-inch deep puddles” and “one big, muddy, slippery hill,” the Coupeville Middle School cross country team shined brightly in the gloom Thursday afternoon.

The Wolves were competing at a multi-team event in Granite Falls which attracted 118 runners and probably needed a different name this time around.

“Granite Gallop? You mean Granite Galoshing!,” CMS coach Elizabeth Bitting said with a laugh.

“Historically this is our wettest and flattest course of the season! As soon as we arrived the rain began! As soon as the last race finished the rain stopped and rainbows started appearing.

“It was a fun, muddy mess of a run, and all had a great time.”

Despite being soaked, many of the Wolf runners set PR’s, and the girls team finished second in the team race out of six squads, trailing just powerhouse King’s.

Coupeville also made a very positive impression on rival coaches.

“There were athletes smiling as they ran through the puddles,” Bitting said. “A coach from another school even commented to me, ‘Your team ran so well today, coach! Their smiles when you cheer for them is everything!!’

“Compliments like that make a coach proud.”

Complete Thursday results (1.7 miles):

GIRLS:

Noelle Western (7th) 12:51 *PR*
Ivy Rudat (14th) 14:30
Aleksia Jump (16th) 14:32
Mikayla Wagner (19th) 14:46
Laken Simpson (20th) 14:50 *PR*
Marin Winger (25th) 15:56
Emma McFadden (33rd) 17:50 *PR*
Devon Wyman (35th) 17:57
Mary Western (42nd) 19:58 *PR*

BOYS:

Easton Green (13th) 11:39 *PR*
Beckett Green (19th) 12:27
Wyatt Fitch-Marron (23rd) 13:01
Axel Marshall (35th) 14:01
Zack Blitch (52nd) 16:52 *PR*

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Run as a pack, win as a pack

Posted in Cross Country, tagged CHS Wolves, cross country, Helen Strelow, Mitchell Hall, Mount Vernon Christian on September 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Thomas Strelow flies by. (Morgan White photos)

Coupeville’s girls cross country squad joined the boys in winning a team title Thursday afternoon.

All the way back.

The reborn Coupeville High School cross country program, now in its fourth season of full-time running after a 20-year-plus shutdown, reached the top of a major hill Thursday afternoon.

Running in Mount Vernon, the Wolves captured team wins in both the girls and boys races, though the second one is the shocker.

Coupeville, with a season-high seven girls running, was the only one of three schools to have enough athletes to form a full team, guaranteeing that victory.

On the boys side of things, Concrete and Lummi had a handful of runners, but the team race was a showdown between the Wolves and host Mount Vernon Christian.

As in the program which is the absolute gold standard for Northwest 2B/1B boys cross country.

The big dog. The alpha warriors. The kings.

Consider the throne toppled, at least for a day.

Twice Coupeville’s male harriers came for MVC this season, only for the Hurricanes to pull out the team win.

The first time it was 25-36 for Mount Vernon Christian (low score wins), the second time 23-32.

Third time was the charm, as the Wolves put five runners in the top eight Thursday, nailing down a 27-29 win with major implications moving forward.

The league championship meet is three weeks from today, on Coupeville’s home course at Fort Casey State Park.

Intrigue, and not just fog, swirls in the air.

But for now, in the moment, the celebration echoes far and wide across Wolf Nation.

Coupeville Middle School cross country coach Elizabeth Bitting filled in as the high school coach last season, then returned to her dream job when Paige Spangler was hired by CHS.

Thursday, Bitting’s CMS runners did really well in Granite Falls, but part of her heart will always be with the older runners, and she let the exclamations fly.

“So excited for them!!!!!! Way to go WOLVES!!! You’ve worked so hard for this!!!!!!!”

Complete Thursday results (5,000 meters):

GIRLS:

Helen Strelow (2nd) 25:57.6
Claire Mayne (3rd) 26:29.9
Svetlana Vanina (4th) 26:44.1 *PR*
Cristina McGrath (5th) 27:13.9
Bryley Gilbert (6th) 27:36.4 *PR*
Erica McGrath (8th) 33:01.7 *PR*
Edie Bittner (10th) 39:03.5 *PR*

BOYS:

Mitchell Hall (3rd) 19:20.1
Carson Field (4th) 19:44.5 *PR*
Cole White (5th) 19:47.5 *PR*
Landon Roberts (7th) 20:21.1 *PR*
Thomas Strelow (8th) 20:26.2 *PR*
Hank Milnes (10th) 21:40.2
Tate Wyman (16th) 25:42.9

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