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Stellar start, fantastic future

June 20, 2026 by David Svien

Cami Van Dyke, off to kick butt and take names. (Julie Wheat photo)

She was made for the spotlight.

From a young age, Cami Van Dyke has often played above her age group, showcasing the same skill and inner drive that big sis Sydney brings to all her sports.

Given the chance to breakout this year as an 8th grader, Cami took advantage, finishing second in scoring for the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team, before putting together a stellar year as the starting shortstop for the Wolf varsity softball team.

Starting from day #1, the second of Grant and Colleen’s four children was a force to reckon with on the diamond, spraying hits to all fields while gunning down runners from deep in the hole with laser-like throws.

Cami was a Second Team All-League pick and the CHS Rookie of the Year, helping fuel a run in which the Wolves finished 19-4, won league and district titles, and played three games at the 2B state tourney.

She whacked the ball at a .483 clip in her debut performance, piling up 28 hits, 26 runs, 11 walks, 14 stolen bases, and 23 RBI while forming an impenetrable defensive wall on the left side of the infield with Sydney, who plays third base for the Wolves.

All before officially reaching high school as a student, which will happen this fall, when Cami begins her freshman year.

Van Dyke, who was also a strong middle school volleyball player, stalking the floor in pursuit of balls while providing leadership to her squad, wants to keep the good times rolling across the next four years.

“My goals for my high school sports career are to improve my skill level, become a stronger teammate, work hard in practices and games, while also continuing to grow as an athlete while helping my team succeed,” she said.

Van Dyke uses her Jedi mind skills to freeze the basketball in midair. (Teagan Calkins photo)

While still young, Van Dyke has a pretty clear-eyed view of her best traits and areas she’d like to improve.

“My strengths are being athletic, having strong hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, and working well with a team,” she said.

“Playing sports has helped me become a well-rounded athlete who can adapt to different challenges and use a variety of skills.

“Areas I can improve on include increasing my speed and strength, building confidence, and becoming more consistent in my performance.”

Away from sports Van Dyke likes “spending time with my friends, listening to music, and staying active,” while hailing PE and science as her favorite classes, with the latter being because she “enjoys learning how things work.”

While she’s deeply committed to whichever sport is in season, softball is her favorite, she admits.

“It’s mainly because of the positive environment around me and because I have been playing it my whole life,” Van Dyke said. “Also I couldn’t imagine my life without it.

“What I enjoy most about being an athlete is the opportunity to compete against other teams, stay active, and continue improving my skills.

“I also enjoy being part of a team and spending time with people who share the same passion and love for sports as I do.”

As she continues to grow as an athlete and student, Van Dyke will continue to look towards her mentors for guidance.

“My family and coaches have had a big impact on me by always supporting and encouraging me to work harder every day and never give up when times get hard,” she said.

“They have taught me the importance of responsibility, teamwork, and having a positive attitude.

“Their guidance and belief in me have helped shape me into the person and athlete I am today.”

Van Dyke and Emma Cushman kicked off their varsity softball run with a trip to state. (Grant Van Dyke photo)

Posted in Girls Basketball, Softball, Volleyball | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Middle school hoops camp draws big interest

June 20, 2026 by David Svien

“It was a great week and a great way to kick off the summer!”

Coupeville High School boys’ basketball guru Brad Sherman emerged from the Summer Tipoff Hoops Camp energized and confident in the future of his program.

The camp brought in middle school players and gave them a chance to work with current CHS and CMS coaches, as well as current and former high school players.

Emphasis was put on “fundamental skills, competitive hoops, team and program culture work, goal setting, and a lot of fun being in the gym together.”

“The boys worked hard and brought a lot of energy!” Sherman said.

Posted in Basketball | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Henry Purdue runs to great success

June 19, 2026 by David Svien

Henry Purdue is a fast-rising star in the running world. (Photos courtesy Julieanna Purdue)

“I really like running.”

And it shows, as Henry Purdue has been one of the top Wolves in both cross country and track and field during his middle school days.

Now, as he prepares to make the jump to high school as a freshman in the fall, the lanky teen, who has deep prairie roots, is intent on continuing to make big strides in both sports.

While he’s also played basketball and soccer, Purdue gets his biggest athletic joy from hitting the open trail or burning around a track oval.

“My favorite thing about being an athlete is running with other people,” he said. “I like that we challenge one another to do better.

“One of my strengths as an athlete is that I love to run, I love conditioning and trying to improve,” Purdue added.

“An area I’d like to work on is continuing to improve my time.”

Getting work experience in the land of fine cheeses.

A strong student in the classroom as well, he “loves Legos, my cats, and reading,” while picking the Eddie Murphy-led classic Beverly Hills Cop as his favorite movie.

But it’s Purdue’s fleet-footed work which has drawn the most attention of late.

He’s already building a stellar reputation, having finished 3rd and 4th at the season-ending Cascade League Cross Country Championships the past two seasons.

Purdue is an equal-opportunity threat in the spring, competing in the 800, 1600, high jump, 4 x 100 relay, and long jump during his CMS days.

During his 8th grade campaign he hit the tape first seven times, piling up four victories in the 800 and another three in the 1600.

Still, there’s room to grow, and work to put in.

“My goals are to keep enjoying running and, if possible, to rise in the ranks,” Purdue said.

He hails Cyrus Sparacio, who advanced to the state meet in two events as a CHS freshman this spring, as an inspiration.

“Running with him in training has helped me to run faster,” Purdue said.

Plotting world domination with his feline assistant.

Posted in Cross Country, Track | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Big spikes, fast rides

June 19, 2026 by David Svien

Rhylee Inman, chasing dreams every day. (Photos courtesy Carissa Peters)

“Rodeo is my home!”

Rhylee Inman, who will be a freshman at Coupeville High School this fall, is fairly unique among her peers in Wolf Nation.

She’s a very talented volleyball player who showed great promise at the net during her middle school days, while also playing little league softball and participating in 4-H.

But it’s rodeo, the high-energy sport made famous by country music legends like George Strait and Garth Brooks, which truly sets Inman apart.

There just aren’t a ton of teenage athletes on Whidbey Island who can work magic from the back of a horse, but she’s that rarity.

Inman has been chasing the dream since she was old enough to first sit astride her trusty steed, and she is fully committed to pursuing the sport for years to come.

“My goals for my high school career are to get a scholarship to Nebraska in volleyball and join a college rodeo team,” she said.

Rodeo has taken her across the state, with competitions in goat tie, barrels, poles, and breakaway roping.

Inman and her partner fly into action.

“This is not just a sport to me,” Inman said. “This is a community and my best friend.

“I grew up on my family’s farm on the back of a horse doing simple speed events, but I later got introduced into rodeo. Rodeo is a completely different world compared to anything I have ever done.

“The community is your competition but also your family.

“You fail and fail but they bring you up and help you. We all are going through something, but we help each other.”

While chasing her volleyball and rodeo dreams, Inman also hopes to play high school softball. She was ready to make the jump as an 8th grader, but a shoulder injury sidelined her this spring.

Regardless of which sport she’s playing at the moment, the young Wolf approaches each of them with an open heart.

“Enjoying being an athlete for me isn’t just the sport,” Inman said. “It is the team/community that surrounds you.

“If I didn’t have my people around me, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the pressure under the performance. And the intensity that I thrive in.”

Controlling the action on the volleyball court. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Inman, who enjoys “ripping the ATVs around, spending time with my horses, and going into the mountains,” credits her mom for her support and guidance.

“I owe my mom for my entire athlete career,” she said.

“If my mom wasn’t here for me, I wouldn’t have continued to play sports after I got in my head, I wouldn’t have been able to attend to any sports, and she pushes me to keep going when the game gets intense.”

When in action Inman seeks to find inner balance, something she is still working on.

“My best strength as an athlete is ignoring my emotions on the court no matter how many mistakes I make,” she said.

“If you dwell and show how sad or mad you are, you bring your team down with you. So, I learned how to control this.

“But I do have a lot of areas to each of the sports I play that need to be improved and tuned up,” Inman added. “One thing I would like to improve is the way I hold myself AFTER a loss.

“There has been countless nights after a bad race that I talk down on myself because I know I could have done better or when I let a ball drop on the court.

“I know if I feed good things into my brain after a loss and think of ways to not let it happen again, I will be a better leader to my team or horse.”

Ready to take on the world.

Posted in Rodeo, Volleyball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

“I was lucky, happy, and proud to be associated with him”

June 18, 2026 by David Svien

Kent Turner (Photos courtesy Ken Stange)

Whidbey is paying tribute to one of its best today, after Kent Turner passed away Wednesday at age 39.

A 2005 graduate of Coupeville High School who played tennis for the Wolves, he was the son of Deborah Turner, who served on the school board between 2001-2008.

One of his friends, former longtime CHS tennis coach and teacher Ken Stange, offered up the following tribute, which he is letting us republish:

 

Kent was a major fixture in so many communities on our island.

He drummed for four bands that I know of. He was well known and respected in his work.

He was a very active member of his church. He helped people with sobriety.

He grew up here on the island. He was helpful and kind and funny. He was a friend to many, me included.

I was fortunate enough to have known Kent from two of those large communities he was a part of.

In 2004, I began teaching in Coupeville. It was Kent’s senior year.

I didn’t have him in class and even though he was a tennis player, I didn’t start coaching until my second year there, just after he’d graduated.

Still, we’d managed to strike up a pretty cool relationship because despite not being in my class, he spent quite a bit of time in my classroom.

We had a shared love of tennis and music, plus he was just a really nice kid.

We had a stupid joke about how he was Kent and I was Ken, from Kent.

Ten years later I moved to the South end and there he was again!

I’d see him around often and we’d always chat about tennis and sports; about how awesome the band Rush was.

He was just one of those guys who left you feeling better than you’d felt before you ran into him. Those are some of the best people!

A few years later, he was drumming on the Bailey’s stage.

No longer the kid at Coupeville High School, I saw him for the grown adult man he was, and a damn fine example of one at that.

I always loved chatting with him. He was beloved and well-respected member of the Whidbey music scene, and I was lucky, happy, and proud to be associated with him.

Tripp’n Gypsy’s … Haunting Autumn … Ant Aesthetic … Ike and The Old Man. Those were his bands, all different sounds and all with Kent holding down the fort.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to sit in with Tripp’n Gypsy’s a little bit. They were the first ones to do it.

I got to do two different songs by The Tragically Hip with them. It involved actually going to their band practices and working with them.

I remember the first time well.

The song was called “Scared,” and to be honest, so was I.

I’d never sang outside of being alone in a car and while I was a huge Tragically Hip fan, Scared was not exactly a song that would be easy because it was a soft one.

No screaming, and it had some tricky word combos.

I was nervous.

I showed up to their practice space, and they all made me feel at home. We began practicing the song.

We’d start … we’d stop … we rinsed and repeated several times.

I felt like an interloper as I listened to band members discuss things and hash out details about making the song flow better. I felt that I was definitely in over my head.

Then Kent shouted above everyone and asked what I thought.

For some reason, I didn’t feel like an interloper anymore, didn’t feel in over my head.

I added my thoughts.

Kent said that I’d probably listened to that song many more times than everyone. He even took some advice from me about his part.

We all got back to it. It sounded better and better.

The next weekend, they shepherded me through my first ever public singing performance. For me, it was all Kent.

He was the catalyst with his building of my confidence and enabling me to get up there and do it with some form of conviction.

The next time I performed with Tripp’n Gypsy’s, I had input into the song.

We chose “Fiddler’s Green,” again by The Hip.

It’s a sad song about a boy gone too soon from the world. I loved that one, and I hope that William Leffler and the gang will want to run it back with “Fiddler’s Green,” for Kent.

Hopefully, we can have some sort Kent Fest, so the community of musicians and music lovers, along with anyone else from all his other communities, can celebrate Kent, his life, and all the ways he helped us live better.

Kent, I love you and miss you.

I also know you’d say this post is lame and that having a party in your honor would be even lamer.

Peace, my friend.

Posted in In memory | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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