Natasha Bamberger, here coaching CHS cross country in 2018, has held school track records for 36 seasons. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Not all CHS track and field records are from the last year or two. Some athletes have stayed on the chart for decades. (Dawnelle Conlisk photo)
They have endured. Some for three decades.
Track and field records are set to be broken, and often are in the very next race.
But a few achievements seem to last forever.
When you look at the Coupeville High School record board which graces the entrance to the CHS gym, it leans towards the athletes of the current generation.
Ten of 35 records were set just last spring, during the 2019 season.
But, somewhat surprisingly, just as many marks on that board come from athletes who haven’t competed in Coupeville in the last 20+ years.
Entering this spring, and the season which may never happen thanks to a pandemic, four school records endure from the 1990’s, while another six have held on from the 80’s.
Going in reverse, it starts with Yashmeen Knox, who soared five feet, two inches in the high jump back in 1999.
Side note – Yaz went on to marry fellow CHS track star Rich Wilson, who set the Wolf boys high jump record of 6-04 in 2000.
While he technically doesn’t fit into this story, as his mark wasn’t from the ’80s or ’90s, his big moment still sits on the board as well, 20 years later.
And hey, how many schools can say that their all-time high jump record holders got married?
I’m willing to bet it’s like … one.
Anyway, step a few years back from there and you meet Allyson Barker, whose performance in the triple jump (35-05.50) has stood as the CHS benchmark since ’95.
Throwers have come and gone, but Jennie Cross has yet to be matched, with both her shot put (36-09) and discus (120-03) records untouched since the ’90 campaign.
And then we head back into really faraway times, with six marks enduring from the days of Ronald Reagan, Pac-Man, and a time when the shorts were short and the socks were long.
You can make an argument for Chad Gale having been the most-dominant male athlete in CHS track history, and the board would back you up.
Reed-thin (but it was all muscle), he rocks a ‘stache in photos from the time, forever daring any modern-day track stars to make a run at his marks.
They never quite get all the way there, however.
Gale still stands as the school record-holder in the long jump (22-08 in ’88), 110 hurdles (14.8 in ’88), and 300 hurdles (39.9 in ’86).
That 1986 season also produced the best 4 x 100 relay team to ever suit up in CHS uniforms, with Bill Carstensen, Tony Killgo, Jay Roberts, and Rick Alexander hitting the tape in 43.9 seconds.
But ultimately, no one has endured at the top of the mountain as long as Natasha Bamberger, the most-decorated female athlete in school history.
A four-time state champ in track, she also earned the crown in cross country during the ’85 season, and is the only Wolf, girl or boy, with five individual state titles.
Kyle King tops the boys side of the ledger, with five track titles in the mid-2000’s, with one of his golds coming as a member of a 4 x 4 relay team.
Bamberger, who later returned to her alma mater to coach cross country, captured her first state titles in 1984, winning in both the 1600 and 3200.
Her marks in those events (5:09.6 and 11:23.7) have endured atop the big board for 36 years, holding out against the best efforts of distance runners from Adrianna Royal to Catherine Lhamon and beyond.
Records are set to be broken, it’s true.
But then there are a few where you say, these marks? They’re gonna live forever.
