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Poor weather, strong performances

March 28, 2024 by David Svien

Wolf throwers Katie Marti (left) and Alysia Burdge share a moment in the spotlight. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

It wasn’t perfect, but it’ll do.

Coming off a string of first-place team performances, the Coupeville High School track and field squad coasted into spring break with a decent, if not spectacular outing Thursday afternoon.

Competing against 10 other teams in Mount Vernon, the Wolves claimed five wins and 40 PRs en route to finishing second in the boys’ team battle, and third in the girl’s rumble.

Host Mount Vernon Christian claimed both titles, edging the CHS boys 139-133.5 and romping past La Conner 156-105.5 on the girl’s side.

The Wolf female crew finished with 93 points.

Coupeville did sweep the pole vault trophies during one of the “colder, wetter meets” veteran CHS coach Bob Martin has experienced.

Getting warmer the higher in the air they sailed, Carly Burt and Cael Wilson soared over the bar in style.

Other wins came from Nick Guay (High Jump), Carson Field (1600) and the boys 4 x 100 relay unit.

That foursome was comprised of Marquette Cunningham, Wilson, Preston Epp, and Guay.

Surviving and thriving in the less-than-stellar weather, the Wolves held up well.

“Despite facing adverse conditions, they did amazing!” Martin said. “Their resilience and adaptability are commendable.

“We saw a lot of great performances today with many athletes setting new PR’s and selflessly participating in events outside of their comfort zone.”

Coupeville, which reached the halfway point of the regular season Thursday, is now off until April 13, when it travels to Forks for the Lions Club Invitational.

Myra McDonald glides over the hurdles.

 

Thursday’s results:

 

GIRLS:

100 — Issabel Johnson (15th) 15.2

200 — Jasmine Castellanos (8th) 30.9 *PR*; Ivy Rudat (21st) 33.5

400 — Aleera Kent (8th) 1:13.6; Reagan Callahan (9th) 1:19.7 *PR*

800 — Kent (2nd) 2:54.1; Kayla Crane (7th) 3:01.2

1600 — Crane (8th) 7:07.6; Lydia Price (9th) 7:30.0; Aleksia Jump (10th) 7:42.4; Ayden Wyman (11th) 7:49.6

3200 — Price (3rd) 15:59.6; Katie Marti (5th) 17:44.9 *PR*; Callahan (6th) 17:55.8 *PR*

100 Hurdles — Lyla Stuurmans (3rd) 21.1 *PR*; Lexis Drake (10th) 22.4 *PR*; Myra McDonald (11th) 22.8; Frankie Tenore (12th) 23.6

300 Hurdles — Drake (9th) 1:00.3; McDonald (12th) 1:03.9

4 x 100 Relay — Jump, Carly Burt, Johnson, Castellanos (4th) 59.02

4 x 200 Relay — Jump, Wyman, I. Rudat, Castellanos (7th) 2:15.9

4 x 400 Relay — Burt, I. Rudat, Castellanos, Stuurmans (2nd) 5:02.1

Shot Put — Reese Wilkinson (2nd) 30-07 *PR*; Marti (3rd) 29-03; Erica McGrath (7th) 23-00; Alysia Burdge (11th) 19-10

Discus — Wilkinson (2nd) 86-10; Marti (3rd) 79-08; McGrath (5th) 75-11; Burdge (16th) 54-03; Emma Garcia (16th) 54-03 *PR*; Callahan (21st) 37-05 *PR*

Javelin — Marti (3rd) 86-00; Burdge (10th) 61-11; Stuurmans (13th) 56-06 *PR*; Wilkinson (17th) 49-07; McGrath (18th) 48-10; Garcia (25th) 41-00 *PR*

Pole Vault — Burt (1st) 6-01

High Jump — Burt (7th) 4-00

 

Zane Oldenstadt unleashes the discus.

 

BOYS:

100 — Dayvon Donavon (9th) 12.7; Alex Merino-Martinez (13th) 12.9; Marcelo Gebhard (17th) 13.1; Matthew Ward (22nd) 13.2; Davin Houston (25th) 13.3; Ethan Walling (28th) 13.4 *PR*; Matthew Kuzma (31st) 13.5; Timothy Nitta (34th) 13.6; Dane Hadsall (38th) 13.9

200 — Nick Guay (3rd) 24.7; Marquette Cunningham (4th) 24.8; Merino-Martinez (12th) 26.9 *PR*; Ward (12th) 26.9 *PR*; Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim (15th) 27.0 *PR*; Hadsall (18th) 27.9 *PR*, Kuzma (18th) 27.9 *PR*; Nitta (23rd) 28.6 *PR*

400 — Preston Epp (4th) 55.2; Blake Burrows (10th) 59.5 *PR*; Simpson-Pilgrim (14th) 1:00.9 *PR*; Kuzma (20th) 1:04.6 *PR*; Devin Neveu (23rd) 1:12.7 *PR*

800 — Carson Field (4th) 2:21.3; George Spear (8th) 2:30.4 *PR*; Ezekiel Allen (10th) 2:31.1; Thomas Strelow (11th) 2:32.7; Solomon Rudat (12th) 2:38.2; Preston Howard (16th) 2:45.5; Neveu (20th) 2:59.6

1600 — Field (1st) 4:58.0 *PR*; Spear (7th) 5:30.9; Strelow (9th) 5:33.8; Allen (12th) 5:376; Howard (17th) 5:51.4 *PR*; Sam Richards (22nd) 7:39.3

3200 — Spear (3rd) 12:24.5; Nicholas Wasik (4th) 13:06.0

110 Hurdles — Cael Wilson (5th) 20.3

300 Hurdles — Mikey Robinett (3rd) 52.8

4 x 100 Relay — Cunningham, Wilson, Epp, Guay (1st) 48.1; Houston, Hadsall, Gebhard, Ward (6th) 50.2

4 x 400 Relay — Epp, Cunningham, Simpson-Pilgrim, Guay (2nd) 3:56.2; Kenneth Jacobsen, Strelow, Burrows, Allen (3rd) 4:07.7

Shot Put — Zac Tackett (3rd) 38-02.50 *PR*; Zane Oldenstadt (7th) 35-00 *PR*; Robinett (10th) 33-10 *PR*; Gebhard (19th) 28-11.50; Jacobsen (23rd) 26-06 *PR*; Mason Butler (25th) 26-03 *PR*; Zach Blitch (37th) 16-00 *PR*

Discus — Tackett (2nd) 118-01; Oldenstadt (5th) 106-05; Butler (12th) 83-04 *PR*; Jacob Schooley (20th) 77-02; Captain Teuscher (30th) 60-05 *PR*; Wasik (35th) 55-04 *PR*; Peerapong Prombut (38th) 49-07; Blitch (40th) 44-04 *PR*

Javelin — Robinett (8th) 102-07 *PR*; Gebhard (12th) 99-09; Schooley (20th) 78-07; Ward (24th) 74-05; Butler (29th) 67-05; Hadsall (32nd) 65-11; Nitta (36th) 59-04 *PR*; Wasik (44th) 50-03 *PR*; Prombut (50th) 43-03

Pole Vault — Wilson (1st) 9-00; Axel Marshall (4th) 7-06

High Jump — Guay (1st) 5-08; Houston (6th) 5-00; Wilson (9th) 4-10; Simpson-Pilgrim (9th) 4-10; Marshall (10th) 4-08

Long Jump — Robinett (12th) 14-09; Field (14th) 14-08; Houston (20th) 14-01; Marshall (21st) 14-00; Merino-Martinez (22nd) 13-11; Kuzma (24th) 13-08; Howard (30th) 12-07 *PR*; Teuscher (30th) 12-07 *PR*; S. Rudat (33rd) 12-05

Triple Jump — Cunningham (4th) 32-11

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Road warriors, volley queens

March 28, 2024 by David Svien

Kaitlyn Leavell leads the Wolf net crew into action. (Photos by Coupeville High School Yearbook staff)

They’re out there, if you look hard enough.

With their home stomping grounds out of service this spring as new courts are built, Coupeville High School netters are on a season-long road trip.

But enterprising yearbook photographers tracked down their fellow Wolves playing at South Whidbey, and the pics above and below come to us courtesy them.

Kauri Hamilton flicks a winner.

Small in numbers, big in talent.

Skylar Parker prepares to beat the stuffing out of the ball.

Moving in for the kill.

Brynn Parker contemplates her place in the universe.

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(Bad) Wolves beat (good) Wolves

March 27, 2024 by David Svien

Landon Roberts played strongly while patrolling the outfield Wednesday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Welcome to Willie Smith Day, sort of.

The Coupeville High School Athletic Director was a busy bee buzzing around the prairie Wednesday afternoon.

First, he brought me both candy and a sizzlin’ batch of donated DVDs — “Dick Tracy vs. Cueball” to “True Grit” to “Willy Wonka” and much more!

Then, he watched his old-old team (Sequim) beat his old team (Coupeville) 10-0 in a baseball battle played out in front of former CHS greats like Bill Jarrell and Sandy Roberts.

With two packs of Wolves scrapping, it created some confusion for fans as they hollered support.

Even more reason Coupeville should mix it up and find a hip new mascot like the Mighty Mussels or Mosquitos or Geoducks and sell a ton of merch to hipsters across America.

Create a cartoon character featuring a Penn Cove mussel, flexing its muscles, and slap that sucker on t-shirts, mugs, and hoodies and sell ’em from Bangor to Bangladesh.

Rake in that sweet, sweet Mighty Mussels moola, and there’s your balanced budget right there, baby!

But anyway, back in reality — where I scored DVDs featuring both Clint Eastwood and One Direction — Wednesday’s non-conference tilt was a fairly one-sided one.

Sequim, reppin’ a 2A school, outhit the 2B Wolves from Cow Town 9-3, earned a 9-1 advantage in walks, and played perfect defense while Coupeville committed five errors.

The visitors, who packed the bleachers with fans, opened the game with a quick one-two shot, pushing across a pair of runs in the top of the first to seize an early advantage.

Meanwhile the hometown Wolves had a little trouble getting their own offense kick-started.

The first trip through the lineup produced just one baserunner from nine at-bats, and it only happened because of a great deal of pain.

CHS shortstop Cole White got blasted by a wayward pitch, the ball burrowing nice and deep into his Gonzaga-bound flesh.

As he hobbled down to first, waves of pain rolling out of every pore on his body, even his mom, Morgan, averted her eyes and grimaced.

Her pale prairie prince survived — he’s a tough kid as shown by the 1,371 times he bled during basketball season — but Cole will likely have a deeply impressive bruise to show off in the morning.

“You wore the pitch. Respect.” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Unable to bring White home, Coupeville at least held the line on defense, thwarting a potential steal of home in the top of the second.

With the bags juiced, a Sequim runner tried to catch CHS pitcher Aiden O’Neill napping, but the sophomore hurler pegged the ball to catcher Peyton Caveness in time.

Trying to avoid the tag, the incoming player awkwardly went airborne at the last moment, then realized too late that, unlike disgraced singer R. Kelly, he really didn’t believe he could fly.

Coupeville third baseman Yohannon Sandles made a nice play on a hot grounder to end the inning, and the good version of the Wolves stayed close for a bit.

Sequim tacked on a run in the third to make it 3-0, then made its move with a three-run fourth and a four-run fifth.

CHS finally got its bats clicking, at least a bit, but couldn’t put enough base knocks together to mount a rally.

Caveness thumped a double but was stranded when Sequim tracked down a long fly ball off the bat of Landon Roberts to end the third.

Jack Porter lashed one of Coupeville’s three hits, while also making a strong defensive play on a long fly to left. (Ember Light photo)

Then, in the fourth, after Sandles and Jack Porter delivered back-to-back one-out singles, Sequim dodged a bullet by pulling off superb defensive stops on hard-hit balls from Coop Cooper and Camden Glover.

O’Neill and senior Seth Woollet got their first major pitching work of the season, while Sequim countered with Ayden Holland, who had himself a day.

The 12th grade chucker held Coupeville largely in check while throwing the shutout, and also reached base four times with two hits and two walks while operating as a batter.

The Cow Town hardball squad, which sits at 2-5 after the loss, continues a busy week with a trip Friday to Concrete for a league clash.

After that, Coupeville’s nine are back on their home field Saturday for an Island rumble with South Whidbey.

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I want that 24/7/365 Reese’s Pieces smell, baby!

March 27, 2024 by David Svien

Ooh baby, baby…

I came from the turbulent sea, where whitecaps rocked our boat at all hours and the smell of decaying seafood forever scarred my nose hairs.

It was … what … yes, it was Penn Cove, and not the Bering Strait … it was still horrifying.

No, I’m not being a fancy lad … well, maybe a little bit … but I still have nightmares, thank you very much.

Back in 1994, when I fled the mussel rafts after multiple months of “learning about life,” the chance to work in a video store — especially a snug lil’ popcorn-scented joint like Videoville — was like gaining entrance to heaven itself.

VHS tapes crammed ceiling to floor, a movie on the TV screen, the smell of “butter” in the air, easy access to Reese’s Pieces … I was never leaving.

And I didn’t, for a very long time.

A year in the small house in which Videoville began, then another 11 in the “new store,” which introduced Cow Town to the concept of paying extra for your coffee thanks to Miriam’s Espresso.

The bigger store wasn’t quite as snug as the house, maybe, and the popcorn machine was replaced with a giant gumball dispenser.

But it also had three TV’s instead of one, so I could play Bugsy Malone and the ’70s version of Gone in 60 Seconds in surround-vision.

And I still got paid to stand around and scarf Reese’s Pieces and tell people they were missing out on the finer things in life if they didn’t accept Bottle Rocket as their true lord and savior.

While staying far, far away from the mussel rafts.

They will rock you.

Miriam Meyer, who was my boss from 1994-2006, was more than a boss.

She was a second mom, and she let me largely run wild, ordering movies that often had no business being on the shelf of a small-town video store.

Suicide Club. Shortbus. Ichi the Killer. Hands on a Hardbody. Doggy Poo.

The last one was a Korean animated short film about a pile of doggy doo-doo seeking inner peace and enlightenment. Seriously.

The first four?  The one that sounds like porn (Hands) was completely not, while Shortbus was … an arthouse … film. Or something like that.

Videoville never had an X-rated section, but we did appeal to the higher-minded nudie lovers who wanted overly complex plots crafted by pretentious artistes.

We used to put little notes on movies sometimes to give customers at least a fighting chance to know they would be renting something likely to offend.

Or to allow me to rant and rave about the quality of small gems that otherwise would be invisible.

Love Serenade, where a weathered disc jockey transforms into a fish and swims away from a small-town love triangle.

Margaret’s Musuem, where a lonely woman collects “bit and pieces” of each dude who dies in the town’s coal mine.

Strictly Ballroom, a passionate ode to big hair and bigger dance moves.

Dead End Drive In, where teens are trapped in a Hellhole of endless junk food and junkier movies and can’t leave … and, wait, how is that a bad thing??

Basically, what I’m saying is my years in the video store biz are bathed in a hazy, golden nostalgia, and the mere smell of Reese’s Pieces makes me weep that one day I had to return to doing actual work.

Having busted my back as a landscaper, farm hand, booze pusher, dishwasher, onion chopper, and on other assorted gigs, writing ain’t that hard.

But it’s not video store life.

So, from time to time, I get caught up in the lure of recapturing the olden days and I amass movies in my duplex.

I’m doing it again, having gone from a couple of DVDs to 600+ and counting in the last week or two, thanks to people doing spring cleaning in a streaming world.

It begins … again.

Yes, it’s a slippery slope.

One day you have just The Abyss and Moulin Rouge, and the next you wake up to find the back bedroom turned into a shrine to my Reese’s-scented days.

My sister and landlord shake their heads, while my youngest nephews, who weren’t around in the video store days, are captivated by this reoccurring burst of mania.

“You should get VHS, too, Uncle David!! Be a real hoarder!!! I mean … history preserver.”

And then they giggle as their mom shoots them an arched eyebrow and they return to looking on Ebay for cheaply priced mystery boxes of movies they can buy me for my upcoming birthday.

I hope…

 

Want to beat them to the punch?

I’m taking in all your tired, your poor, your huddled masses of DVD (not VHS!) yearning to breathe free and have a forever home with a view of Penn Cove.

The address: 165 Sherman, Coupeville, WA, 98239. There’s a porch in front and another in back, just waiting for your drop-offs.

Or find me, or my dark green, dirt splattered Xterra, at a CHS baseball or softball game this spring and take me back to my golden days.

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Four finalists vie for Superintendent gig

March 27, 2024 by David Svien

It’s final four time.

While the NCAA basketball tourney still has a way to go to chop its teams down, the Coupeville School Board has cut candidates for superintendent to that magic number.

The decision was announced Wednesday morning and comes on the heels of interviews the day before.

The finalists to replace the departing Steve King are Dr. Jim Shank, Shannon Leatherwood, Scott Peacock, and Tim LaGrange.

Shank previously worked as Coupeville Superintendent from 2013-2018, while the other three would be newcomers to Cow Town.

The fab four will have a final round of interviews April 8-9, with each candidate participating in a “full day of focus group discussions, school tours, a board interview, and a community forum.”

Information on the forums will be announced soon, said School Board President Morgan White.

 

To read bios on the finalists, pop over to:

https://www.coupeville.k12.wa.us/Page/334

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