Coupeville Sports

Wolf girls shuffle hoops coaches

November 18, 2025 by David Svien

Scout Smith (left) will coach the CHS varsity girls’ basketball team this winter. (Julie Wheat photo)

They’re changing up roles, for a season.

Coupeville High School girls’ basketball head coach Megan Richter is slated to deliver baby #2 shortly after the season tips off, so she’s handing off a chunk of her duties to JV coach Scout Smith.

Smith will slide into the main chair, with Lark Gustafson and Alita Blouin running the second squad during the 2025-2026 campaign.

While she won’t be front and center for a bit, Richter will be available as a resource and intends to be back on the sideline fulltime next season.

For now, though, “I’ll be around for the first couple of weeks as long as my body allows, but Scout is in charge from the beginning to the end this season.”

Smith, who scored 290 points during her time as a player with the Wolf hoops program, just wrapped her first season as varsity head coach with CHS volleyball.

A former CHS Female Athlete of the Year winner, she played volleyball, basketball, and softball for the school, helping lead both the spikers and diamond dandies to state as a team captain.

After graduating with degrees from the University of Washington and Gonzaga, she returned to her alma mater as a teacher and coach.

For her part, Smith is ready and raring to get going.

“I am super excited to lead this team this year,” she said.

“We have a great group of girls. A lot of really talented athletes and they are a blast to work with.

“I’m really glad I get to continue working with so many of the same players I just had in volleyball.”

Posted in Girls Basketball | Tagged CHS Wolves, girls basketball, Megan Richter, pregnant, Scout Smith | Leave a Comment »

Feisty Wolves tangle with big-timers

November 18, 2025 by David Svien

Abel O’Neil, the Zen Master. (Photo courtesy Fern Photography)

They squared off with the hoops heavyweights of the region and lived to tell the tale.

While the Coupeville Middle School boys’ basketball teams didn’t nab a win Tuesday at King’s, the Wolves remained scrappy from opening tip to final buzzer.

How the day played out:

Team #1:

A rough second half ultimately doomed Coupeville in a 45-23 loss.

The Wolves, now 0-2 on the season, peppered the nets for 21 first half points, but were held scoreless in the third quarter and couldn’t get the net to accept many of their offerings in the late stages of the game.

Diesel Eck topped CMS with eight points, while Trey Stewart banged away for six in support.

Also scoring were Kamden Ratcliff (3), Gracen Joiner (2), Xander Beaman (2), and River Simpson (2), with Ratcliff swishing a three-ball.

Maverick Walling, Aiden Wheat, Darius Stewart, Jacob Lujan, and Colton Ashby finished out the Wolf roster.

Team #2:

A tense nail-biter, with King’s pulling out a 31-30 win to defend its home turf.

The narrow loss drops the Wolves to 1-1 on the season, but pushing the highly favored Knights to the final shot is a major step forward for a young CMS squad.

Braxten Ratcliff banked in a trio of three-balls en route to a team-high 12 points, while Les Queen (5), Nico Strong (4), Brady Sherman (4), Mario Martinez (3), and Abel O’Neil (2) rounded out the attack.

Also in uniform for Coupeville were Jack Bailey, Henry Purdue, Hayden Maynes, Dreyke Mendiola, Brayden Grinstead, Mica McCloskey, and Xander Flowers.

Team #3:

Coupeville was clicking in the second quarter but had trouble getting the ball to stay in the net the rest of the night and came up short in a 29-18 loss.

Now 1-1 on the season, CMS was paced by Dreyke Mendiola and Luke Blas, who each nailed a three-ball while recording nine and five points, respectively.

LJ Schultz and Liam Stoner chipped in with a basket apiece, with Oliver Miller, Burke Winger, Gabe Reed, Vincent Alguire, Jon Driscoll, Logan Dees, Dom Durbin, Jack Bailey, Logan Flowers, Alton Hansen, and Mica McCloskey also on call.

Up next:

Coupeville travels to Everett Thursday to face Northshore Christian Academy, then gets its first home games Nov. 25, when Granite Falls comes to Cow Town.

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School | Tagged Abel O'Neil, Boys Basketball, CMS Wolves, Gracen Joiner, King's | Leave a Comment »

Water wizard preps for final splash

November 18, 2025 by David Svien

Finn Price is back in the water for his senior season. (Photo courtesy Rachel Price-Rayner)

He’s a two-timer looking to be a three-timer.

Coupeville High School senior Finn Price, who has advanced to the 1A/2A state swim and dive championships the past two seasons, is back for a final run in the pool.

Since CHS, a 2B school, doesn’t have a swim program of its own, the Lone Wolf hits the road, joining any South Whidbey water wizards, then completing the daily trek to Kamiak High School in Mukilteo.

While there Price trains and competes alongside swimmers from the 4A school, before going his own way during the postseason.

As a junior, he competed at state in the 100 and 200 free while battling a double ear infection, earning 5th place in the 100 free consolation finals.

A year earlier, Price capped his sophomore campaign by winning the state meet consolation finals in the 200 free, while also claiming fifth in the 100 free.

Coupeville’s aquatic king, who is also an Eagle Scout, advanced to districts as a freshman, winning the consolation finals in the 200 to kick off his impressive run.

With one final swing at glory, Price is determined to write an impressive final chapter.

“He’s excited to get going and has set some good goals for the 100 and 200 free,” said mom Rachel.

Posted in Swim | Tagged CHS Wolves, Finn Price, Kamiak, state meet, swim | 1 Comment »

Robotics squad back in action

November 18, 2025 by David Svien

Ready to win the day. (Photos courtesy Alison Perera)

They’re powered up.

After competing in tandem with Oak Harbor for a while, Coupeville High School has launched its own robotics team once again.

The squad is officially FTC Team 32666, but they’re better known as the “32-Bit Devils” and they’re ready to shake up the robotics world.

School Board Director Alison Perera and physics/math teacher Logan Inces are the advisors, with 11 middle and high school students on the roster.

That group includes juniors Lina Shelly, Haylee Armstrong, and Lindy Sylvester, as well as sophomores Ryan Beaston and Noah Stribrny, and freshman Frank Morrell.

Eighth graders Ross Allred, Farrin Workman, Ash Prats, Hayli Marley, and Jade Peabody complete the team.

The 32-Bit Devils have competed in two league events in the FIRST Tech Challenge so far and currently sit sixth out of 12 teams.

Coupeville will step into the big time Dec. 7, when it attends a 26-team tourney off-Island featuring numerous squads from Seattle and Edmonds.

The FIRST Tech Challenge is “a robotics competition where teams of students design, build, and program small robots to score points in a series of fast-paced matches.”

Each match is played on a small court with two alliances (red and blue), and the alliances switch up with every match, meaning your partner in one round can be your rival later in the tourney.

This year’s game requires building a robot which shoots a wiffle ball into a standing goal.

L to r, it’s Alison Perera, Lindy Sylvester, Lina Shelly, Haylee Armstrong, Frank Morrell, Hayli Marley, Jade Peabody, Ross Allred, Farrin Workman, and Logan Ince.

Posted in robotics | Tagged Alison Perera, CHS Wolves, Frank Morrell, Haylee Armstrong, robotics | Leave a Comment »

CHS alumni still sparkle

November 17, 2025 by David Svien

Mia Farris

The curtain has descended on fall college sports.

At least as it concerns a pack of Coupeville High School grads who suited up across the nation this spring.

Nezi Keiper wrapped up a successful two-year run on the soccer pitch at Edmonds College, where she helped anchor her team’s defense.

The former Wolf played in the Northwest Athletic Conference All-Star game as a freshman and was part of a team which went 7-7-2 during her sophomore campaign.

Nezi Keiper (far right)

On the gridiron, Marcelo Gebhard played his freshman season at Lewis-Clark Valley College in Idaho, while Ben Smith reached the end of his collegiate run with a year at Lakeland University in Wisconsin.

Smith was on the field in eight games as a grad student for a squad which won its final three games to finish 4-6.

He racked up 20 tackles (14 solo, six assists), with six tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback hits, and a forced fumble.

Ben Smith

Meanwhile, volleyball aces Lyla Stuurmans and Mia Farris made strong debuts at Skagit Valley College and Whatcom College, respectively.

Their squads split two matchups, with SVC (17-15) earning a spot in the regional playoffs before being eliminated this past weekend.

Stuurmans filled up the stat sheet with 168 kills, 70 digs, three assists, seven solo blocks, 35 block assists, and 21 service aces, compiling 213.5 points for the Cardinals.

Farris collected 52 kills, 195 digs, 10 assists, one solo block, seven block assists, and 37 aces as Whatcom finished 7-17 overall.

Fellow Wolf grads Madison McMillan (softball – Edmonds College) and Landon Roberts (baseball – Walla Walla College) have both seen some fall ball action already, with most of their games awaiting the arrival of spring.

Finally, college vets Taygin Jump (Plattsburgh State) and Tate Wyman (Oregon Tech) are nearing the start of another winter indoor track season.