Sage Renninger, the newest addition to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Underrated in the extreme.
Over the past four years, Sage Renninger has been, without a doubt, one of the best athletes to wear a Coupeville uniform.
Graceful, hard-nosed, a quiet warrior who let her play do the talking for her, she carved out her own path, and it was a very successful one.
Having given up basketball after middle school, Renninger showcased her athletic skills a bit off the beaten track, starring in soccer and tennis.
The first of those is a sport in which my base of knowledge is, admittedly, limited.
I don’t understand a lot of the intricacies of the “beautiful game,” and often times revert back to frustration over the sport being satisfied with ties, and the number of times a play is just starting to get interesting, only to have the ball nick a random knee and shoot out of bounds.
I am not the person who is going to sit here and rhapsodize about the mystical joy of fútbol.
That being said, I can, and do, appreciate the level of commitment it takes to even play the sport, much less be a star.
And Renninger was a true star on the pitch.
Through four years in a Wolf uniform, which culminated with being a captain her senior year, she was as steady as they come.
Renninger could net you goals (the one part of soccer idiots like myself understand), but she was also a rock for Coupeville, controlling the pace and flow of the game.
She didn’t scream and holler, at least not on the pitch, but her teammates leaned in to hear her words, and they responded.
It takes a deft hand to be a true leader on a sports team, to command respect with your play, your attitude and an unshakable belief that you and your teammates will find a way to success, no matter the odds.
Few leaders have been as effective, or as well-liked by their teammates, as Renninger.
So, while I freely admit I don’t always understand soccer on a deeper level, I do recognize greatness, and there is no doubt in my mind Sage is one of the best the CHS girls program has been blessed to claim as one of its own.
Her other sport, tennis, is exactly the opposite, and exactly the same.
It’s the opposite, in, that having played the sport myself during my Tumwater High School days, I see the strategy behind the shots and have a far greater base of knowledge and appreciation for what is playing out.
And it’s the same, because Renninger, just as she did on the soccer pitch, was a serene, high-achieving wonder on the hard court.
She and partner Payton Aparicio were the #1 doubles team from the moment they first stepped on the court as freshmen, and they never let the crown slip from atop their heads.
Over the course of four years, they were, quite simply, the gold standard, the best Wolf duo since Mindy Horr and Taniel Lamb came within a handful of points of winning the 2005 state championship.
Renninger, who brought a potent mix of power and pace to the court, possesses a rare intangible which is often found in top tennis players.
In short, she abided.
By that, I mean, she never got too high when success came her way, and never got too low when defeat made a rare appearance.
Watching Renninger exit the court after a match, whether during her freshman season or her senior campaign, it always looked the same.
Perhaps a small smile, sometimes a more-enthusiastic racket bump with Aparicio, but always under control, always giving little away to her opponents.
She circled her foes like a shark, and watch a shark as it moves – there is often a calmness to its movements right before an attack.
When the death ‘n destruction came, her racket snapping off winners, Renninger was brutally efficient, and it was beautiful to see.
She and Aparicio closed their prep careers this past spring with a phenomenal postseason run, eventually winning three of four matches at the state tourney and claiming 4th place.
The duo’s only loss was an epic three-set defeat, in which things were decided by just a handful of points, and came to the private school girls who would end the tourney with their second-straight state title.
Afterwards, Renninger shared the moment with Aparicio, with their families, and with CHS coach Ken Stange.
Having played two days in blazing heat, she looks tired but satisfied in photos from that day. She also looks, as she always did, like a winner.
Renninger didn’t always get the headlines others in her graduating class did, but she won as much respect from us as any Wolf of her generation.
So today, we open the doors to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, and welcome her into an elite fraternity.
In the days and months and years after this, you’ll find Renninger hanging out at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.
Because that’s exactly what she was, in her own self-contained way – a legend.
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