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Archive for the ‘Hall o’ Fame’ Category

Short visit, big impact

Posted in Cheer, Girls Tennis, Hall o' Fame, tagged Brazil, Cheer, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Julia Borges, tennis on October 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Brazilian foreign exchange student Julia Borges built a substantial fan club during her time in Coupeville. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Gone, but never forgotten.

Julia Borges was only in Coupeville for a single school year, but she made a positive impression on everyone she met.

Facing culture shock, as the Brazilian native left São Paulo, the most populous city in the Western hemisphere, only to land smack-dab in the middle of Cow Town, USA, she responded by embracing every challenge.

During her year (2015-2016) as a foreign exchange student, Julia jumped headfirst into everything Coupeville offered.

A dancer, she joined the CHS cheer squad, taking advantage of an opportunity not generally offered in her own country.

“It is not common to have cheer-leading teams in Brazil, so that is a different experience that all the Brazilian girls would like to have,” she said back in the summer of 2015.

“I love dancing and I have been practicing it in Brazil since I was a child, so being a cheerleader is similar.”

Julia caught on so quickly, she cheered for her new classmates through both football and basketball season, and was selected as Most Improved by her coaches.

When the spring came around in 2016, she picked up a tennis racket and headed to the courts.

Along with two seasons as a cheerleader, Borges also played tennis for the Wolves.

There she proved to be a perfect doubles partner, teaming up with Julianne Sem to form a dangerous duo for a Wolf net squad which won a league title.

What always impressed me the most about Julia during her time in Coupeville was her quiet strength and how she showed kindness to all, whether they were teammates or foes.

Going from a home of 19 million people to a town of less than 1,900 had to be a huge transition.

Like all foreign exchange students, Julia would have been dealing with language barriers and perhaps some home sickness.

She responded by bringing out the best in those around her by simply being herself, a truly lovely young woman.

Julia might not have set any sports records while she wore the red and black of Coupeville, but she was a winner in every way.

She got the most out of her life-changing experience, and left behind a legion of fans.

While she might be a world away from Whidbey Island these days, Julia will always be a vital part of Wolf Nation – her serene spirit lighting up the universe.

So today we want to induct Miss Borges into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, to insure she always knows how highly everyone here regards her.

After this, if you stroll past the Legends tab at the top of the blog, you’ll find her there, a true Wolf, now and forever.

Thank you, Julia, for visiting our lil’ chunk of the globe and making it a much-better place while you were here.

As you become a soaring success out there in the world, always know you have two hometowns – the one where you were born, and the one that has adopted you as one of our own.

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One man, two worlds, all winner

Posted in Cheer, Football, Hall o' Fame, tagged Cheer, CHS Wolves, Dawson Houston, football, Hall of Fame on October 21, 2020| 1 Comment »

Dawson Houston flings it downfield. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Dawson Houston lived in every world.

The 2020 Coupeville High School grad was that rarity, an athlete who found success in vastly different environments.

On the one hand, he was a two-year starter at quarterback for the Wolf football team, the leader of a squad which broke an epic run of frustration by achieving a winning record his senior season.

Coupeville hadn’t posted a positive mark on the gridiron since back around Dawson’s kindergarten year, but led by their veteran gunslinger, they stood tall in the fall of 2019.

Winning four of five at one point, while traveling near and far, the Wolves finished 5-4.

That included road wins in far-flung outposts like Vashon Island, Kittitas, and Tenino, as well as a solid victory against 2A Anacortes.

Not bad for a 2B-sized school in its final season of being forced to play in the 1A division.

Capping his prep career in style, Dawson was the calm center for Coupeville as it flashed back to gridiron glory not seen since the olden days of 2005.

Eyes glinting behind his glasses, the kid could gun the ball downfield, breaking off several successful long bombs during the season.

But he was smart enough to know when to play it cool, when to get the ball into Sean Toomey-Stout’s hands or Andy Martin’s mitts, and let his game-busters shred the defense.

Dawson, ambling along like the small-town cowboy he is, had the drive and passion, but also a genuine calmness under fire, and it seeped out to all his teammates.

He also had a huge smile on his face most days, and a surprisingly firm handshake for a high school guy.

As he and his teammates trotted out of the locker room, Dawson always took a moment to welcome the media to his field, a low-key, friendly dude even when his emotions were likely pinging all over the place prior to kickoff.

That carried over to how he treated his teammates.

While he had some key accomplishments of his own, Dawson’s happiest moments on the football field all seemed to come when someone else achieved their dream, often with his help.

As a senior leader for the Wolves, he shared the field with younger brother Daylon, a freshman, and saved his biggest celebration for when his sibling booted an extra point after big bro had plunged into the end zone for a CHS touchdown.

As a senior, Dawson shared the field with younger brother Daylon (3), as well as Ben Smith. (Deb Smith photo)

But here’s where the story takes a somewhat unexpected turn.

Dawson, a football player through and through, also found great success as a … cheerleader.

Oh, it’s true.

After years of only being a sideline squad, the Wolves returned to the world of competitive cheer and shocked folks by immediately claiming 3rd place at the state meet in early 2019.

Skip forward a season, and Coupeville coach BreAnna Boon was looking for more.

So, she convinced Wolf football stars Gavin St Onge and our man of the moment, Dawson, to make the leap into a whole new world.

With added strength, the Wolves could increase the degree of difficulty on their stunts, and they soared.

All the way to Disneyworld.

With Dawson helping lift and fling his new teammates, the Wolves bypassed state and made it all the way to nationals.

As they did, they showcased what a mixed roster of girls and boys can accomplish on the competition cheer mats, perhaps sparking the continued evolution of the CHS cheer program.

Dawson also found success as a competitive cheerleader alongside (l to r) Ja’Tarya Hoskins, Emily Fiedler, and Melia Welling. (BreAnna Boon photo)

A trailblazer and a leader, plus a pretty talented courtesy clerk at the local grocery store, Dawson exited high school life as a genuine winner.

Today, he takes another step, entering a new dimension, one he’s fully earned.

With doors flung wide open, we welcome Dawson to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

After this, if you wander past the Legends tab at the top of the blog, you’ll find him hanging out there, shoulder to shoulder with the great QB’s and cheerleaders of the past.

One man, two worlds, always a class act.

Senior Night with the family. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

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She’s a bright, shining superstar

Posted in Cheer, Hall o' Fame, Track, tagged Cheer, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Ja'Tarya Hoskins, Track on October 19, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Ja’Tarya Hoskins, newest member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The chain stays strong.

The Hoskins family has been one of the best to come through Coupeville in recent years, with each kid a standout athlete, student, and human being.

Each link in that chain — Will, Jai’Lysa, Ja’Tarya, and Ja’Kenya — can stand on their own, but they remain stronger because they link together, with family and friends.

Today I want to single one out, and that would be Ja’Tarya, now a freshman at Saint Martin’s University.

She’s off on the first step of earning a law degree, and, if COVID cooperates, she’ll be competing as a track and field athlete for the school.

If not, rest assured Ja’Tarya will find a million other ways to impress all who meet her.

During her time in Coupeville, she was at the heart of great success, most notably (at least for us here at a sports blog) for her stellar work as a multi-sport athlete.

Ja’Tarya was front and center for the Wolf cheer squad, a key member of a group which brought CHS back to the world of competitive competition.

Celebrating Senior Night with mom Benita and lil’ sis Ja’Kenya.

There had been a six-year drought since Coupeville athletes stepped on to the blue competition mats, but they found success almost instantly when they returned in 2018.

That was Ja’Tarya’s junior season at CHS, and she and her close-knit pack of teammates went from zero to 3rd place at state in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

Of course, to get there, the Wolves put in countless grueling hours of work behind the scenes. Then made it look flawless.

A year later, Ja’Tarya capped her run as a Coupeville cheerleader as the Wolves qualified for nationals in their second year back in the sport.

All of her success as a cheerleader was just a small part of her portfolio, however.

Hoskins launches a javelin into the stratosphere. (Brian Vick photo)

In the world of track and field, Ja’Tarya competed in almost every event on the list.

Her biggest moment in the spotlight came in the 4 x 100, where she teamed with Mallory Kortuem, Maya Toomey-Stout, and Lindsey Roberts to place 5th at state during her junior season.

The quartet hit the tape in 50.54 seconds, and they currently sit on the big board in the CHS gym as school record-holders.

Left to right are Maya Toomey-Stout, Hoskins, Mallory Kortuem, and Lindsey Roberts. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Confident, assured, friendly, intelligent, kind, and strong – they all describe Ja’Tarya, who collected a long line of fans during her time as a Wolf.

For her achievements, yes, but also for the quality of her soul.

Check back in five years, ten years, or whenever, and I fully expect Ja’Tarya will have achieved great success in whatever she attempts.

When that happens, everyone here in Coupeville will be like, “Hey, we knew her when! And we told you she was gonna kill it!”

But, before she gets too famous for us, too accomplished, we can give her a little local honor while it still might mean something.

Today we induct Ja’Tarya into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, where she joins big sis Jai’Lysa, forever immortalized in our digital shrine for being the supernova she is, every day, in every way.

After this, if you stroll past the Legends tab at the top of the blog, that’s where you’ll find her hanging out.

Digitally, at least.

Out there in the real world, Ja’Tarya will be soaring to new successes, making new fans who will be as impressed with her as we are back here in Cow Town.

A bright, shining superstar lighting up the night sky.

Just the way it should be.

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A winner, every step of the way

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Hall o' Fame, Volleyball, tagged baseball, Basketball, Chris Smith, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, volleyball on October 6, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Chris Smith, always exuding a quiet confidence. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Jack of all trades, and also a master of all of them.

In his time at Coupeville High School, Chris Smith brought professionalism, superb teaching skills, and enough energy and spirit to light up a town on his own.

Not content to just take one job and be good at that, the father of three stepped into the thick of things, bouncing from season to season, always in uniform and always on point.

When he left us in the spring, Smith was the head varsity baseball coach at CHS, as well as being in charge of both the Wolf JV boys basketball and JV volleyball programs.

While it’s understandable we’ve lost him, in person at least, with the real world pulling him away from Whidbey after the graduation of his youngest child, his memory will live on for a long time.

Over the years, I have worked with a lot of coaches, some great, a few far less so, and Smith easily lands in the top tier.

He brought an energy and excitement to everything he did which carried over to the young women and men he coached, and it genuinely seemed to inspire many of them.

“Get on the bag, son, and stop givin’ me angina!”

There were big wins, and a few tough losses — coaching will always give you both — and Smith reacted, in public at least, as if both were the same.

When his squads pulled off victories, whether by rout or hard-fought comeback, he was quick to spread the love. Both to his players, and to his fellow coaches.

It was his steady hand and calm, but fiery, nature, which centered his team, but rarely does a squad win or lose because of just one person, and Smith knew that.

He was not a screamer, but he could, and did, get his athletes bouncing off the walls when needed.

And, just as often, he was that calm voice in the wilderness, reaching out to comfort and pick someone up at their lowest.

Smith is a people person, and also very adept at reading each individual he came into contact with, and adapting his approach to fit what will work best to maximize their response.

It’s what separates a decent coach from a great one, and I firmly believe he lands in the latter category.

Hanging out with Kory Score on Senior Night.

What is also unique about Smith is his ability to coach both boys and girls sports teams, subtly shifting his approach to fit whatever the situation might be.

In each sport, he brought out the best in his players, helping some of them to soar way past their abilities, and giving others hope.

That hope came because Smith was relentless in preaching a positive mind-set.

He wasn’t rah-rah just to be rah-rah.

Confidence, in himself and in his athletes, flowed out of Smith like water, and he always had a warm word or a grin and a quick joke for everyone around him.

Passing on wisdom to Hawthorne Wolfe.

Sports teams often take on the attitudes of their coaches, which meant his squads played with passion, but also with a quiet confidence.

Several of those Wolf teams had major comebacks, pulling out wins from contests which seemed to be well out of hand in the early going.

Smith didn’t need to scream, or throw clipboards, or wing a chair across the gym, Bobby Knight-style, to get the attention of his players.

He showed his young charges respect, asked for it back, and inspired them to reach great heights in a calm, reassured manner.

And then, without fail, he always sent stats and quotes to the ink-stained wretches in the press, or stopped to talk to us, giving of his time in a way which made you believe that was what mattered most to him in the moment.

Even if he was probably dog-tired and dreaming of dinner and some quiet time.

Smith (with big assistance from their mother Charlotte) gave Coupeville three of the most-talented athletes our town has seen in recent decades — sons CJ and Hunter and daughter Scout.

But then Chris also gave us his time, his expertise, and his conviction, playing a key role in building each of the Wolf programs he helped lead.

We’ll miss him, but wish him the best as he pursues new goals off-Island.

A piece of Smith will always be here in Coupeville, however.

It will show through each time one of his athletes has a big moment, finds something inside themselves they didn’t realize they had, and achieves greatness in life.

And he will also live on through this blog, since, after this, he’ll join his children up at the top of the page under the Legends tab.

The newest member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, he exits the way he entered — a winner every step of the way.

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Joy and light for the win

Posted in Hall o' Fame, Track, Volleyball, tagged CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Lucy Sandahl, track and field, volleyball on October 5, 2020| 1 Comment »

Lucy Sandahl radiates joy, on the court and off. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Lucy Sandahl brings light, happiness, and joy into the world.

And those are things we really need right now.

As the country, and, to some extent, our town, rips itself apart, marinating in ugly arguments, it’s hard at times to see the positives.

Which means we need to look harder, go deeper, and actively seek out things to celebrate.

Today, that spotlight falls on Lucy, and our praise for her is highly deserved.

With that praise comes induction into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

After this, if you pop up to the top of the blog and look under the Legends tab, that’s where she’ll be enshrined as a member of a select group.

Passing on the game to the next generation. (Cory Whitmore photo)

Lucy graduated from CHS last spring (which seems like four lifetimes ago), and is currently attending Seattle Pacific University with sister Sophie.

Now, I don’t think I will hurt Lucy’s feelings too deeply when I say that, based on her career stats as a Wolf volleyball player and track and field competitor, she’s not necessarily someone who immediately jumps to mind for Hall o’ Fame induction.

But she more than earned her spot in our digital clubhouse of honor because of her spirit, because of her grace, and because there was never a moment when she gave less than her best.

Lucy, as much as anyone I have written about, seemed to take such great joy in being an athlete.

She radiated it, in every photo snapped of her in action, and every time I saw her play in person.

When you’ve just smacked a spicy service ace for an undefeated Wolf volleyball squad, and your teammates are thumping their feet on the floor around you in celebration, it’s easy to look joyous.

One ace, comin’ up. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

But it’s not so easy when you’re battling to keep your lunch down after hitting the tape at the end of a brutal long-distance race on the track oval.

And yet, look at the assembled runners, most bent over in pain, some regretting their choices in life, and there would be Lucy, the smile never far away from resurfacing.

She was hurting, and yet being out there, seizing the opportunity to get the most possible out of her high school experience, running for her friends and family, meant so much to her.

“Is that seven laps … or eight laps?”

We like to say that heart matters in sports, and, if that’s true, Lucy is the perfect example of someone whose heart was three times as big as the young woman herself.

You can call her a role player, and there is nothing but respect in that assessment, because she fully embraced her status.

Which doesn’t mean Lucy didn’t work as hard as possible, in practice or games, forever trying to perfect her craft on the court or oval.

Cause she did.

What I mean is that she was not one to pout or complain about playing time.

Instead, she asked, “What can I do?” and then she pushed herself to deliver.

Lucy believed in her team, always, and was ready to do whatever was needed to help her athletic sisters prosper.

Or at least that’s how it seemed to me as I sat in the stands over the years, watching her career unfold once she and her family arrived on Whidbey after a move here from South Carolina.

It is very easy to root for Lucy, even for those of us who are supposed to be (sort of) impartial, and very easy to come away thinking she is truly a remarkable young woman.

She is a success with the books – the Salutatorian of her class – a success in the sports world, and, most importantly, a success as a kind, generous human being.

Lucy Sandahl is a Hall o’ Famer every day, in every way, and Coupeville is a better town for her having been here.