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Carson Risner’s mom was a superstar back in the day!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Softball, Track, Volleyball, Where are they now? on October 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Jennie (Cross) Prince

The early days.

Jennie (Cross) Prince was a star in a different time.

The 1990 Coupeville High School grad, whose school records in the shot put and discus still stand untouched, lettered twelve times (four in basketball and volleyball, three in track and one in a brief freshman fling with softball) during a period when the Wolves truly believed they were going to kick the fannies of any opponent who stepped foot on their Island.

“I just remember every game/meet was the only one that existed, and we were all determined to die for it,” Prince said. “We physically pushed ourselves to the max every time we put that uniform on or set foot on the court for practices. I thought we wanted it more than any other team.”

Playing along side other talented athletes of the time, such as Sherry (Bonacci) Roberts, Sally (Biskovich) Wheeler and Kara (Harvey) Ford, Prince learned from two fondly remembered coaching giants, volleyball/basketball sage Phyllis Textor and track guru Guy “Doc” Whittaker.

“Ms. Textor always pushed us physically and mentally beyond what we thought we were capable of,” Prince said. “She taught us that we could achieve anything with hard work and instilled a fight in us that made us think we were unstoppable.

“Mr. Whittaker was amazing with the technique,” she added. “If you could master the technique of shot or discus, the strength was just an added bonus to get it a little further. Many VHS videos of Olympic throwers later I finally got it.”

That mix of technique and raw power — which she also exhibited on the volleyball court (“I lived in terror of volleyball practice in high school. Bump – set – spike with Jennie and the evil grin she would get when it was her turn to spike!,” said former teammate Georgie Smith.) — carried her to a second-place finish at state her senior year.

And, with her name still on the big board in the CHS gym, it offers a chance for her son, sophomore football/basketball stud Carson Risner, to lord it over his classmates a bit.

“Still having the record is definitely fun for my son to brag about,” Prince said. “They’re not the most feminine of events, but I am surprised more girls don’t try it.

“I hope others remember me as a hard worker that loved to represent CHS.”

After graduation, Prince remained true to her work ethic, going to Skagit Valley Community College to get her nursing certificate, while working full-time and raising her young son as a single mother.

“Talk about pushing yourself,” she said. “I wanted him (Carson) to see that example and give him the life I thought he deserved.”

She married former classmate Tom Prince (the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary this week), added a daughter and is now watching her own kids play, the way her parents once did. And she tries to keep a low profile in the stands.

“I try to let the coaches coach. I just push my kids at home in life and reassure them that they are what they put into themselves,” Prince said. “They will find their passions and I just encourage whatever they want as long as they give 110 percent.“

With both of her children inheriting one of the great legacies of CHS sports, branching from their mom out through her father, her siblings and her cousins, the Cross family reputation still flies proud.

“Sports was and still is a great lesson to all,” Prince said. “I think kids just need someone to show them how far they really can push themselves.

“The unstoppable attitude keeps you unafraid to do the unthinkable if you want to. Expecting more out of yourself than the next guy is what will make you a success,” she added. “My family made me who I am today. My dad and mom are both hard workers with a never fail attitude. Nothing can stop my family!”

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Wolf cheer vet spells success L-O-V-E!!

Posted in Cheer, Track on October 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Nicole Becker and a few of her many fans.

Nicole Becker is a big fan of giving back.

She is drawn to the Bible verse at 1 Corinthians 13:13 — “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love,” and it shows in her day-to-day life.

The Coupeville High School senior is always one of the first Wolf cheerleaders to interact with young girls, as shown in the picture above, helping to lay the foundation for future cheer squads. She also devotes a great deal of energy to working with Special Olympics athletes, an activity which brings a great deal of joy to her heart.

“I have been involved my whole life and those people are my whole world,” Becker said. “I spend a lot of my time with them, which I wouldn’t change for the world!”

The infectious good nature which makes her such a valuable addition to the Wolf cheer squad is readily evident on any Friday night, as she stands atop one of the team’s podiums, leading her teammates and firing up the audience.

A four-year vet of the world of pom poms and stunts — she was a member of Coupeville’s most recent competition cheer squad, which placed at state in 2011 — Becker is a cheerleader through-and-through. Even if she has had to adjust to a few of the requirements of the job.

“I became a cheerleader because I have always been a total freak. Seeing how happy the cheerleaders were at football games and how much fun they looked like they were having, I knew I wanted to be one,” Becker said. “Granted, I didn’t like the whole idea of being cold or wearing a skirt, but it has definitely made me a stronger person.”

What draws her to cheer is what draws her to supporting Special Olympics — a sense of family and a chance to become friends on a deeper level than just nodding to someone as you pass them in the school hallways.

“My favorite part about being a cheerleader is being a part of a family with no DRAMA and how we all love and support each other when some girls are down,” Becker said. “I remember when I went through a bad time in life that I always had my girls around to help me through it all.”

And for those morons out there who want to insist that cheer is just an activity and not a sport? You know, the people who have never pulled off a stunt in their life, never kept the smile on their face and the fire in their voice during three hours of cold, driving rain?

Becker is actually very tactful when discussing the subject, but she doesn’t need your stupidity raining on her parade.

“My opinion is that cheerleaders are playing a game of football just like the football players are,” Becker said. “We throw up stunts and have to hold each other up. Well, don’t football players hold each other up?

“I would tell anyone who doesn’t believe that cheerleading is a sport, who brings home trophies? The cheerleaders do!”

As the fall season winds down, Becker still has a winter cheer season and a spring track season, her fourth, (“I just can’t wait to have a season of fun and something to remember!”) ahead. She’s juggling college and high school classes and plans to get her AA at Skagit Valley before moving on to a four-year school.

Through it all, she has the support of many people. Her family, her friends, her fellow cheerleaders and the Special Olympics athletes she works with. And bringing it all together, the people who have helped her find a deeper meaning in her life.

“If anyone was to have an impact on me, it would have to be my loving church family,” Becker said. “The people there are all so loving and I don’t think I’d be the woman I am today without Sylvia Arnold and Ray Shelly.

“They have taught me so much about my faith and my very best friend, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, was the one who got me to come to Christ,” she added. “Without those three people in my life I don’t think I would still be who I am today.”

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Wolf track legends reflect on golden moments!!

Posted in Track, Where are they now? on October 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Amy (Mouw) Fasolo, with husband (and former CHS hoops stud) Rob Fasolo and their son, Grady.

They are united.

Both male and female, from different graduation classes and proficient in different track and field events, but bound together by being among an elite group of Coupeville student/athletes.

No matter where their lives take them, Amy (Mouw) Fasolo, Jon Chittim, Steven McDonald and Tyler King will always share one thing — they reached the top of the mountain.

As an institution, Coupeville High School has produced only a handful of state champions.

The one defining trait is they’re virtually all runners.

From Natasha Bamberger, who won four state titles in track, then plopped the cherry on the sundae with a cross country title in 1985, to Kyle King, who blitzed his way to five track titles before heading off to run at Eastern Washington University and the University of Oklahoma, Wolf runners have long been the school’s premier athletes.

But what did it take for them to reach the pinnacle of their sport? And, what does that brief, shining moment in the spotlight mean after the initial rush has faded?

Four of Coupeville’s best looked back, and their answers ran the gamut.

Fasolo broke the tape first in the 800 meter run in 2003, but it’s the moments after the race which stay with her today.

Now married to former Wolf basketball star Rob Fasolo and a mom, she enjoyed the chance to let the competition slide away and be replaced with camaraderie.

“One of my favorite memories from the state track meet is from after the race,” Fasolo said. “The top eight girls had to stay around for the medal ceremony. We had a great time talking and laughing and it was easy to relax because the race was over.

“Plus, they had Popsicles for us since it was really warm,” she added. “We all did our cool down jog around the track together and laughed the whole time. It was a fun way to end the race.”

For Chittim and McDonald, who teamed with Kyle King and Chris Hutchinson to win the 4 x 400 relay in 2006 — Chittim went wild that year, also winning the 200 and 400 — track’s somewhat unique ability to foster team spirit and friendliness among competitors also remains fresh in their memories.

“State was probably the most fun meet of the year,” Chittim said. “Not only because it was the “big show,” but because it was multiple days long.

“Being able to stay in a hotel with my track friends was always the best part,” he added. “The time in between the races was always fun too, because there was plenty of opportunity to meet new friends.”

After attending Vanguard University in California on a track scholarship, Chittim is now a psychical therapy technician in the Army. Married to high school sweetheart Leah Mouw, the couple have a young daughter.

McDonald, who was a sophomore on the winning Wolf relay squad, went on to play football and run track for Pacific Lutheran University, where he majored in computer science, with a minor in math.

“The best memory I have was the feeling after the race, when I handed the baton to Kyle King and realized I did everything I could have done,” McDonald said. “I trained as hard as I could have.

“I put out as much preparation as I could have, and I put everything I had out on the track … well, and into the trash can before and after the race as well.

“That feeling, when hugging Chris Hutchinson and yelling at the top of my lungs at the fellow relay mates as they circled the track to finish the race was better than a million state championship medals,” he added. “That is what being a true champion is about. Doing everything you can to be the best you can and pulling the best out of your teammates as well.

“We all were champions and I’ve not seen a champion more deserving of the name than Chris. I can’t say I never saw him try as hard as I did during the championship, because he was doing it every day in practice.”

That level of commitment is necessary, something Tyler King, who won two track titles and then matched Bamberger by adding a cross country title before landing a scholarship to the University of Washington, knows very well.

“For me personally, it took almost a lifestyle, my life revolving around running. It’s almost lonely, going out on all those runs by myself, but it’s worth it,” King said. “I won’t lie, winning is definitely fun, and it may have been one of the reasons I liked running so much when I started out in middle school.

“Now days the races are only part of it. Winning is still nice, but it’s about more than that,” he added. “But, when you’re gunning down the home stretch, there’s nothing else in your mind other than getting to the line before the guy right next to you.”

Now departed from the CHS hallways, though some of their records still hang on a display in the school’s gym complex, the foursome say they will always remember their glory days — mainly for how it has continued to affect the way they live their lives as young adults.

“Track was an interesting sport for me in comparison to the other sports I played,” Fasolo said. “It was my best sport and I was willing to work hard at it. I was really, really competitive when I ran and I did not like to lose. However, I didn’t really enjoy it because I was so competitive.

“Playing sports can teach you how to work well in a team,” she added. “You get the chance to work with a lot of different people and personalities and it’s important to know how to get along with others.

“It helps prepare you to work with other students in college, for future coworkers or clients in the work place, working in the community, or church activities.”

“Back in high school, winning meant a lot. Not only because it’s something few Coupeville athletes get to experience, but also it meant I would have a much better chance of getting better scholarships,” Chittim said. “I have always had a competitive spirit, so of course winning still means a lot to me, but in a different way.

“Now it is more internal and not for my name to be up on a wall.”

McDonald sums it all up perfectly.

“Being a state champion doesn’t really carry much prestige along with it,” he said. “I always have the medal and the title, but it really was the trip. The day-to-day grind of training and off season preparation which I will remember and hold on to, not the destination of the state track meet.

“Training and being with the relay team and spending time of the track with one another is what I hold dear,” he added. “I’m sure my relay teammates will agree to that one.

“The actual medal only serves as a memory holder for the more important things.”

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No need for a poker face! Jackson makes soccer fans smile!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, Track on October 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Joye Jackson (on left) shares a moment with friendly rival Jamie Rodden of South Whidbey during last year’s track season.

Joye Jackson was born to play soccer.

Now, the Coupeville High School junior has plenty of other talents (she runs track, takes part in drama productions, plays in the school’s pep band, has musical interests that range from Lady Gaga and Foster the People to “Phantom of the Opera” and carves out as much time as possible to work with a menagerie of pets that include a horse, donkey and mule), but the soccer pitch has called to her since she was young.

From her first days booting the ball in an Under-6 league, to now, when she’s a key, unsung part of an improving Wolf squad, Jackson has had a love affair with the sport.

“I have been playing soccer since I was very little,” Jackson said. “I think I really enjoy the chance to just get that one time in a game when you do something totally awesome, like a new move, and pull it off, or a great save or something that will stand out to me personally, such as improvement.”

She sees herself as a work in progress (“I feel that my strengths are equal this year, that nothing has really made me feel like, that’s my trademark strength as a soccer player.”), but it’s evident to anyone who watches a Wolf game that she plays her heart out every time she steps on the field.

A still-developing CHS squad has begun to mesh more as the season has gone on, and while the Wolves are still seeking their first win, they have gotten closer to their opponents each time out. For Jackson, who has seen time both at forward and a bit in goal, she has a few personal moments she’d like to accomplish before the season plays out.

“My personal goals are to either assist a goal or have a shut out in goal,” Jackson said. “As a team, I think our goals are to improve on what we already have done well. Our defense is working so hard and so is the offense; I feel like our season (now that we have started the second half of the season) will be better then the first half of the season.“

Jackson credits her coaches from when she was younger — Kali Barrio, Scott Rosenkranz and Sean LeVine — for helping her to develop as a player, while also showing some nice appreciation for the impact her family has had on her growth as a young woman.

“I feel like my parents are the ones who encourage me to do better and to make a difference,” Jackson said. “Also my cousin, Katherine, who always, no matter how far away she lives, cheers me and encourages me to become the best in myself.”

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