Coupeville Sports

Wolf frosh Makana Stone went 2-for-2 in her first high school track meet.

Makana Stone is undefeated.

Running in her first high school track meet Thursday, the Coupeville High School freshman won both of her races, crushing the field in the 400 and running a leg on a 4 x 400 relay squad that obliterated all comers.

Toss in a big win for Madison Tisa McPhee in the 100 hurdles and another for the 4 x 100 relay squad, and the 1A Wolf girls more than held their own at the four-team Island Jamboree in Oak Harbor.

While they may not have had the team depth to fight off 3A Oak Harbor, 2A Lakewood and 1A power South Whidbey, Coupeville chose its spots and then unleashed its raw power. The win in the 4 x 400 relay was a massacre, as the Wolves were nearly eight seconds ahead of the second-place team.

Stone’s fellow freshman, Sylvia Hurlburt, made an auspicious debut in the 200, finishing fourth, while veterans Nick Streubel and Sam Landau had the best finishes on the boys’ side of the ledger.

Streubel finished second in the discus, setting a PR in the event, while also claiming fifth in the shot put. Landau was fifth in the 800.

Complete results:

GIRLS:

100 — Emma Sullivan (12th) 14.84; Marisa Etzell (13th) 14.98; Courtney Allard (27th) 15.83

200 — Sylvia Hurlburt (4th) 29.18; Etzell (10th) 30.37; Sullivan (15th) 31.13; Allard (23rd) 33.77

400 — Makana Stone (1st) 1:03.80

1600 — Erin Rosenkranz (12th) 6:17.38

100 hurdles — Madison Tisa McPhee (1st) 17.03

4 x 100 — Hurlburt, Nicole Becker, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, Rachel Wenzel (1st) 56.50

4 x 400 — Tisa McPhee, Hoskins, Rosenkranz, Stone (1st) 4:31.23

Discus — Becker (12th) 52-01

Javelin — Wenzel (6th) 70-11

BOYS:

100 — Jared Helmstadter (22nd) 13.05; Brandon Kelley (29th) 13.19; Mitchell Losey (46th) 14.50

200 — Lathom Kelley (8th) 26.46

800 — Sam Landau (5th) 2:18.44

1600 — Manuel Lopez-Santillana (22nd) 6:01.18; Jake McCormick (23rd) 6:05.72

4 x 400 — Helmstadter, Landau, B. Kelley, Stephen Edwards (4th) 3:59.13

Shot — Nick Streubel (5th), 41-04; Caleb Valko (7th) 38-00; Carson Risner (11th) 33-09; Nick Weatherford (12th) 32-10; Dalton Martin (17th) 28-07

Discus — Streubel (2nd) 117-10; Valko (8th) 99-11; Risner (14th) 94-0; L. Kelley (16th) 83-10; Martin (18th) 79-11; Losey (28th) 52-09

Javelin — Weatherford (14th) 91-02; Konrad Borden (20th) 72-09

Long Jump — Edwards (11th) 15-08.50; Lopez-Santillana (15th) 14-02.00; Borden (18th) 13-05.50

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Dani Rickard (Photo by Victory Photography)

We’ll get to the sports in a moment.

Just let me take a moment to say that Dani Rickard has just jumped to the top of my favorite Coupeville High School student/athletes.

As a veteran of 15+ years in the video store wars, and a man who quit counting when he topped 10,000 films seen, I read the following quote and I’m all like, “Dang! The kids are alright.”

The quote?

“I don’t have any specific favorite movies because I love all movies in general. Old ones, new ones, scary ones; they are entertaining to me because it lets my imagination run away with it.”

So, so proud. Told myself I wouldn’t cry…

Yes, well, anyway.

Not that movies totally define the multi-talented Wolf. She loves books (“I like to read also, because, unlike a movie, it allows you to think more about how the character is feeling. It’s more detailed than any movie”) and enjoys her Chemistry and English classes.

“I’ve always been very interested in any type of science, but this year I would have to say my favorite is English,” Rickard said. “My teacher, Mrs. (Barbara) Ballard, creates lessons that are fun or interesting, but still teach you a valuable skill that you could use later in life.

“Mrs. (L.D.) Eller would be the teacher who has pushed me most in my academic career,” Rickard said. “She has taught me that when I think I can’t do something, I should just take a minute to think about my problem and the answer eventually comes to me.”

Outside the classroom, Rickard has found her calling hurling heavy objects. After jumping from softball to track last season, she became an accomplished shot put, discus and javelin thrower.

For her senior season, which kicks off at the Island Jamboree in Oak Harbor Thursday, March 14, she hopes to add in some running events to go with the throwing.

Regardless of which events she competes in, she will approach them all with the proper mind-set.

“My strengths would be that I am a very determined person and I keep trying at something until I’m successful,” Rickard said. “The thing I enjoy most about track are my teammates. They’re really supportive to each other and are just great people to be around.”

With hard work and dedication and the support of boyfriend Shawn Kump, also a successful track athlete (“Even though we haven’t known each for years and years, he’s helped me see that it’s OK to be a little different and that you should always be the person you are instead of the person you think other people want you to be”), Rickard has set several goals for herself this season.

“An area I need to work on is definitely improving on running outside of track, to better improve my endurance,” Rickard said. “Some goals that I have are to PR in my throwing events and become a successful sprinter.”

While she doesn’t have time for a second sport with work and school, Rickard enjoys swimming, and she benefits greatly from having a strong support group with Kump and her family.

“My mom has always helped me succeed because she helps push me to do what she knows that I can accomplish. She has since I was little and it’s made me a better person,” Rickard said. “My dad taught me that even though life knocks you down sometimes, you always have to pick yourself and keep trying. He’s helped me get through some tough times in my life.

“Both my parents have always been supportive of myself and my life goals.”

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Anna Bailey (left) puts it into overdrive. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Madison Tisa McPhee and one half of the combo that gave her the “fast genes,” dad Jack Tisa. (Robert Pelant photo)

“One of the best things about this sport is helping young student athletes become good people.”

That kernel of wisdom was passed down to Coupeville High School track coach Randy King at the start of his career, and it’s one he’s carried with him over the past two decades.

As he enters a new season, with 39 athletes at his disposal so far (18 boys, 21 girls), including several with state meet potential stamped all over them (hurdler Madison Tisa McPhee, thrower Nick Streubel, sprinters Jai’Lysa Hoskins and Makana Stone), King is positively aglow.

“I like this team! Our experienced athletes do the greatest job of helping our youngsters learn technique, discipline and responsibility,” King said. “If they keep up what we’ve started this week, it is going to be a fantastic season.”

The strongest groups right now appear to be the female sprinters and the male throwers.

“On the girl’s side, we think that we’re going to have the fastest group of sprinters that we’ve had in the last five years,” King said. “Our fastest athlete appears to be Madison, who is also our best hurdler.  She is amongst the premier hurdlers in our league and has come into the season in great shape.”

Already a battle-hardened state meet vet, Tisa McPhee is joined by fellow seniors Anna Bailey, Nicole Becker, Hoskins and Rachel Wenzel. Battling for spots in the sprints and relays are four freshmen “who seem to be able to run step for step with the seniors,” — Courtney Allard, Sylvia Hurlburt, Kirsten Pelroy and the electric Stone.

Two newcomers — junior Emma Sullivan and senior Kelsey Miranda — are also in the mix, with Miranda, a soccer ace, expected to back Tisa McPhee up in the hurdles.

Soccer player Erin Rosenkranz will lead the distance runners, while Marisa Etzell can do everything (sprints, distance) and do it very, very well.

The girls’ throwing program, while not as deep as the boys’ one, still boasts two returnees in Becker (discus) and Dani Rickard (shot) and a promising newcomer in Heni Barnes.

A top-notch student, Barnes is also a leader in the school’s weight-lifting programs and is expected to have an impact in both the shot and discus.

The Wolf boys may be slightly outnumbered this season, but they do have stars.

Streubel hefted some impressive throws in both the shot and discus during his first go-around last season and is aiming for Hunter Hammer’s school records as a junior. Hot on his heels are senior Caleb Valko and junior javelin chucker Nick Weatherford, who had his season cut short last year with an off-field injury.

Sophomore Carson Risner, son of legendary Wolf hurler Jennie (Cross) Prince, who still holds school records 20 years after graduation, has made the jump from baseball while freshmen Dalton Martin and Lathom Kelley have flung themselves into the mix.

The Wolves return most of their distance runners (sophomore Matthew Hampton, junior Jake McCormick and senior Sam Landau), while talented junior Stephen Edwards holds down the long and triple jump posts.

With Mitch Pelroy having graduated, the sprint positions are up for grabs, and a pack of newcomers has been fighting for position. Junior Josiah Campbell and Brandon Kelley are vying with freshmen Jared Helmstadter and Lathom Kelley.

While the small school 1A Wolves don’t have the raw numbers to win regular season meets against big school 2A Cascade Conference teams, who can flood the oval with athletes, they can, and have, made a big impact come postseason time.

The regular season is for fine-tuning.

The postseason, that’s when Tisa McPhee and Co. can blitz the field and live up to the standard set down by former state championship winning Wolf greats like Kyle King, Natasha Bamberger, Tyler King and Amy Mouw.

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