Lindsey Roberts, doin’ work. (Photos by JohnPhotos.net)
No pressure, Lindsey Roberts, but this is your year.
In much the same way last year was about Hunter Smith making a run at claiming all the records, the 2018-2019 school year is set up to be the Year of Lou.
Even after dealing with an injury which cost him half his senior season, Smith graduated owning seven CHS football records.
He followed that up by burning up the nets, finishing his basketball career as the 11th highest scorer in Wolf boys basketball history.
While baseball stats are a trickier thing to track in the world of Cow Town sports, Smith put a cap on things by being named Olympic League MVP and helping lead the Wolves to their second conference crown in three years.
He was one of the best we’ve ever seen in a Coupeville uniform, and Roberts, a senior this year, is much the same.
Her parents, Jon and Sherry, are both former CHS Athlete of the Year winners.
Uncle Jay? Still on the school’s track record board 30+ years after graduation, a board where his niece appears three times already.
Lindsey’s cousins Madeline and Ally were stars, her grandfather Sandy a living legend, but Lou is primed to pass them all.
More than any other active athlete at CHS, she is within striking distance of breaking, tying or making a run at records – and in every one of her three sports.
So, here’s what to keep an eye on as the new school year unfolds:
Soccer:
Admittedly, this is the one which would be most difficult for her to accomplish.
Mia Littlejohn holds the CHS girls soccer career scoring record with 35 goals, and Kalia Littlejohn was hot on her heels with 33 through her first three seasons.
With Kalia opting not to play as a senior, Mia’s record gets a reprieve, and Roberts inherits the mantle as the leading active scorer for the Wolves.
She has 13 goals, notching six apiece the past two seasons after tallying a lone goal as a freshman.
Making that more impressive, she’s done so while playing almost exclusively as a defender, albeit one blessed with a cannon for a leg.
It’s more likely Genna Wright, who torched the nets for 10 goals as a freshman last year, will be the one ultimately coming for the record.
Still, you can’t discount the offensive fireworks Roberts can launch, even if she’s doing it from half a field away.
Basketball:
With a season to play, Roberts sits 36th all-time on the Wolf girls scoring chart with 298 points, and has increased her point totals each year.
She tossed in 54 as a frosh (good for #6 on the squad), raised that to 83 as a sophomore (#4), then soared to 161 as a junior, which topped the team.
While it’s unlikely she’ll catch Brianne King (1549), Zenovia Barron (1270) or Makana Stone (1158) atop the charts, Roberts still stands a very good chance of making a run at the top 20.
She stands 102 points away from becoming the 23rd Wolf girl to crack 400 career points, and a repeat of her 161-point junior year performance would carry her to #18 on the all-time list.
Track:
Roberts final prep season could be her greatest moment.
She enters her senior season having already claimed five state meet medals – a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th – and is one of only 10 Wolves, and one of only four girls, across 118 years, to pile up that kind of hardware.
Within her reach? Exiting as the most-decorated CHS female track athlete in school history.
If Roberts wins at least one medal next spring, and she has done so in each of her three previous seasons, she breaks a tie with Yashmeen Knox and rises to tie Natasha Bamberger.
Two medals, she joins Makana Stone with seven, or match her freshman total of three, and she finishes with eight, trailing only Tyler King (11) and Kyle King (10).
Roberts came dangerously close to winning a state title in the hurdles as a junior, nipped at the end by Lillian Kirry, a sophomore from Chewelah.
If she can return the favor next spring, Roberts would be the first Wolf to win a state title in any sport since Tyler King wore the 1A boys cross country crown in 2010.
So, buckle in, keep an eye on the stats and prepare for eight months of excitement — the Year of Lou begins.
