Coupeville’s Danny Conlisk will seek a second trip to the state cross country meet this fall, but this time he’ll be running out of his own school. (Dawnelle Conlisk photo)
“I want to see tennis shoes in front of me.”
When Coupeville High School/Middle School Athletic Director Willie Smith proposed re-launching an in-house Wolf cross country program two decades after it was shut down, he needed proof there would be a strong enough turnout to warrant the change.
“It’s easy for people to put their name on a paper and say, yeah, I might do it,” Smith added. “I wanted to know for sure we’d see those same kids when it was time to run.”
He got the assurance he was seeking, and Monday night the Coupeville School Board made it official — harriers will once again reside full-time at CHS and CMS.
In a nice twist, the motion to approve was made by the board’s student rep, junior Danny Conlisk, who should be front and center on the new Wolf team.
The track standout has traveled and trained with South Whidbey’s cross country team the past two seasons, while competing in a Coupeville uniform alongside Henry Wynn.
The duo became a trio this past fall when freshman Sam Wynn joined their treks to Langley.
Conlisk advanced to the state meet as a junior, the first Wolf harrier to do so since Tyler King won a state title in 2010.
Now, with Coupeville jumping from the Olympic League to join the new six-team North Sound Conference in the fall, the Wolves will run their own program.
Both the middle and high school track programs boast 40+ athletes on their current rosters, and Smith saw a groundswell of interest in running which hadn’t existed in previous years.
The original plan was to re-start a middle school program, adding on a high school team when those runners moved from CMS to CHS.
After penciling out the numbers for travel and coaches, however, Smith, CHS Principal Duane Baumann and Coupeville Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Shank decided to add both programs at once.
The addition of cross country gives CHS five fall sports (it joins football, volleyball, girls soccer and boys tennis) and CMS three (volleyball, football).
Cross country has a rich history at CHS, boasting state champs in Natasha Bamberger (1985) and King, who won his title while training and traveling with Oak Harbor.
All told, harriers have put 10 plaques, covering league, district and state meet accomplishments, up on the Wall of Fame in the CHS gym.
This despite the fact cross country hasn’t had an active program for more than two decades.
Smith arrived in Coupeville from Sequim in 1994, and cross country had been brought to an end right before he accepted his first teaching/coaching job with the school.
Now, the current AD is moving forward on finalizing a schedule and will launch a hunt for coaches.
The plan is to hire two, one for the high school team and one for the middle school program, and the jobs are expected to be posted later this week.
“We’re excited about this,” Smith said. “Going to be fun.”
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