The thrill of the goal, as Wolf booter Sebastian Davis celebrates in one of the year’s best pics. (John Fisken photos)
The fastest 4 x 200 relay team in school history (and they’re pretty good at taking photos, too). L to r, Lauren Grove, Marisa Etzell, Sylvia Hurlburt and Makana Stone.
A lot happened in 2015.
Not all of it was awesome, but, for now, we’re going to ignore death, arrests and controversies and focus on the positives with a list of sports moments which will live large in the collective memory of Wolf Nation.
It’s not a definitive list, by any means (as soon as I print this, someone will bring up something big I overlooked) but it’s a good jumping-off point.
With that being said, the semi-official Coupeville Sports Top 20 Moments of 2015:
20) CHS boys’ basketball beats Concrete 66-60 Dec. 18 as four Wolves (Wiley Hesselgrave, Jordan Ford, Gabe Wynn and Hunter Smith) go for double figures.
The team’s third straight win, it lifts them to 4-3, the first time Coupeville has been over .500 in Anthony Smith’s five seasons as head coach.
19) The future is now, as CMS 8th grader Jake Mitten torches Chimacum for 28 points in a win Dec. 17. It’s the most points scored this year by any Wolf hoops player, high school or middle school.
18) Freshman Kalia Littlejohn bursts on the scene, racking up a Wolf girls’ soccer record 10 goals in her debut. Her reward? A First-Team All-Conference nod along with big sis Mia.
17) CHS junior Clay Reilly wasn’t even the punter when the season started, but once he takes over the job, he goes bonkers.
With almost 1,200 yards, he earns All-Conference honors. With one epic 70-yard boot against Port Townsend in October, he becomes a legend.
16) Still the BMOCs. Six CHS grads (Jordan Schisel, Gavin Keohane, Scott Stuurmans, Michael Vaughan, Pete Petrov and Greg White) and one young gun from Marysville (Dom Kiblinger) roll to a title at last weekend’s 8th annual Tom Roehl Roundball Classic.
It’s the fourth title in five years for the core of the squad.
15) Abraham Leyva has tallied 25 goals in two years of running the pitch for the Wolf boys’ soccer squad, including a program-record 14 this past spring.
His best day? A four goal, four assist gem against Chimacum in mid-April.
14) When freshman CHS quarterback Gabe Eck stepped on to the field for his first-ever start in the season’s third game Sept. 18, he had four completions to his name — all coming in mop-up duty.
By the time the game was over that night, he had torched host Chimacum for 403 yards and three touchdowns on 19-34 passing.
How big was that performance?
Eck’s predecessor, Joel Walstad, threw for 1,600 yards as a senior, but never topped 400 in a game. For that matter, neither did Brad Sherman, who holds the school’s career passing mark, regardless of what the record board might say.
13) Wolf sophomore Hunter Smith was a two-way terror on the gridiron, but he makes this list for hauling down seven interceptions from his defensive back position, a new school single-season record.
12) Three-sport star Aaron Curtin caps a stellar career by jumping back into tennis only a few moments after ending his final baseball season.
Fighting off private school prodigies and Eastern Washington heat, he claims an 8th place medal at the 1A tourney, the best finish by a Wolf boy in memory.
11) It was a good year overall for CHS tennis coach Ken Stange, who won league titles with both the girls’ and boys’ squads. Unlike in the past, when the school was fond of overlooking the netters, this time they will have the banners to back their boasts.
10) Makana Stone, the gold standard for CHS track athletes, won 13 races in two seasons at the middle school level. Last spring, CMS 8th grader Lindsey Roberts won 20 in ONE season.
Roberts was 18-0 when she ran the 200, 1600 and hurdles, and she and her teammates split the 4 x 100 relays they ran in, with two firsts and two seconds (both by less than a second.)
9) Saving his best heave for last, Wolf junior Dalton Martin grabs fifth-place at the state meet in the discus.
With his final throw, he beat his PR by an astonishing eight feet, setting himself up for a final run for glory (and possible college scholarships) in ’16.
8) Hailey Hammer, the young woman who never played a second of JV, garnering 12 letters across volleyball, basketball and softball, goes out on top.
Final game of the regular season, bottom of the seventh, bases juiced, two outs, Wolves down 4-2 to La Conner.
And Hammer Time gets the Hollywood ending, absolutely crushing a game-winning, walk-off three-run double on the final swing she would ever unleash on her home softball field. Goose bumps.
7) Capping a phenomenal junior campaign, Makana Stone is tabbed as 1A Olympic League MVP for girls’ basketball. The easiest vote in the history of easy votes.
6) Senior duffer Christine Fields caps her career with a sixth-place finish at state, after sweeping the league and district titles. The master of consistency, she finished in the top 15 at state all four years, breaking the top 10 three times.
5) By the time she’s done, the record will be way out of reach. The queen of the floor burn, perpetual motion machine Valen Trujillo, shatters the CHS career record for digs, helping propel her volleyball squad to the playoffs.
4) The Man exits, as the King of the Golden Quote, Willie Smith, resigns after 19 years as CHS head baseball coach. Journalists everywhere are still crying.
3) Makana Stone, Marisa Etzell, Sylvia Hurlburt and Lauren Grove shatter the school record in the 4 x 200 relay (for the 72nd time), running a 1:46.64 to claim third at the state meet.
2) A year after winning just one match, the Wolf spikers finish second in league play and not only earn a rare home playoff game, they win it, downing Seattle Christian in front of a rockin’ crowd.
Losing only two seniors, they look like long-term contenders.
1) Breaking a school-wide dry spell, the CHS girls’ basketball squad romps to a league title, hanging the first new championship banner in the gym in 13 years.
Along the way, the Wolves go 9-0 (a mark matched by the JV), winning every league game by 15+ points.
