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Big talent, big results

Aidan Wilson was a multi-sport star at Coupeville High School. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Aidan Wilson is a jack of all trades, and a master of most of them.

The rare athlete who seemingly could do it all, the Coupeville High School Class of 2023 grad excelled in track and field, soccer, and cross country, putting together one of the best prep careers ever crafted by a Wolf.

Spring seemed to bring out the best in the lanky speed demon, as he participated in a mind-boggling 16 events as a track star, collecting 41 wins across three seasons.

Wilson brought home five state meet medals, earning three 2nd place finishes, and capped his career by placing 7th out of 32 in a two-day, 10-event decathlon featuring competitors from every classification.

Striding to success at a big-time meet. (Bob Martin photo)

One of only eight Wolf boys to earn as many as five state meet medals, it’s likely he would have gone higher on that list if real-world issues hadn’t intruded.

The pandemic erased all spring sports when Wilson was a freshman.

While competition returned the next spring, the state meet was cancelled as track officials limited how far schools could travel in the Age of Coronavirus.

But once he got a chance to shine on the big state, Wilson made his mark in short order.

That was his normal operating style, as he tore up the course in his one season as a cross country runner, while raining down goals on the soccer pitch.

Wilson rattled the net for 10 goals as a senior, earning All-Conference First-Team honors, and finished his prep career with 13 scores, putting him #6 on Coupeville’s all-time boys’ soccer scoring chart.

Off to score another goal. (Morgan White photo)

A nimble athlete with quick reflexes, he also did some time as a goaltender, holding off rival teams from scoring, while sacrificing a chance to add to his own goal totals.

When it all ended, Wilson brought home one of his school’s big athletic honors, receiving the Cliff Gillies Award as a senior.

Named in honor of a longtime Executive Director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, it goes to athletes for “outstanding scholarship, citizenship, and participation in school activities.”

Hanging out with fellow senior booters (l to r) Grant Steller, Cameron Epp, and Reiley Araceley. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Student/athletes come and go as the seasons unfold, and a relative few are likely to stand the test of time and be remembered in vivid detail years later.

I believe Wilson will be one of those whose exploits will live on in the memories of fellow players, coaches, and fans.

But he doesn’t need to wait to be acknowledged as one of the greats – we can do that today while his time at CHS is still fresh in all of our minds.

Swing open the door to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, because we’re welcoming Wilson to our lil’ digital shrine to athletic excellence.

After this, you’ll find him at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, enshrined for his accomplishments in the red and black, and the way he approached his sports.

Wilson exuded talent, but he also put in the work, day after day, competition after competition, and he earned his spot atop the mountain.

A job well done.

Wolf cheerleaders such as Ember Light are leading a food drive to help Coupeville’s food bank. (Bailey Thule photo)

Coupeville’s cheerleaders are leading the charge to feed their community.

The Wolf spirit leaders, working with the Spirit of Cheer Booster Club, are running a Back-to-School Food Drive to help the Gifts from the Heart Food Bank.

This is in response to word that Coupeville’s food bank is at an “all-time low,” and seriously in need of donations to continue its work.

Food can be dropped off at several locations, including the lobbies at Coupeville Middle/High School and Coupeville Elementary.

Other spots accepting donations include Peoples Bank, the Pacific Northwest Art School, and Living Hope Foursquare Church.

Wolf super fans Desi Ramirez-Vasquez (left) and Skylar Parker are ready for some volleyball. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Cow Town became the Wild West Wednesday night.

Coupeville High School volleyball fans came out for the season opener attired in prairie outfits as the Wolves waged an epic battle with visiting South Whidbey.

Back from his cross country summer RV trek, wanderin’ photographer John Fisken snapped the pics we see above and below.

Bring The Bucket back

Jack Porter heads off to retrieve The Bucket. (Bailey Thule photo)

It’s been six years.

No current Coupeville High School football player knows what it’s like to hoist The Bucket, as the Wolves have dropped four straight rivalry games to South Whidbey.

Toss in a pandemic-marred 2020 season in which the next-door neighbors didn’t play, and you have to go back to Sept. 1, 2017 for the last time CHS had bragging rights.

That night Hunter Downes tossed touchdown passes to Hunter Smith and Sean Toomey-Stout, while Smith also broke off an 89-yard scoring run.

With Cameron Toomey-Stout picking off a pair of passes, and Jake Hoagland and Jake Pease recovering fumbles, Coupeville won 18-0, one of only two times when the big game has been a shutout.

The last Wolf team to claim The Bucket. (David Stern photo)

The Wolves, who won four of six Bucket games to kick off the Coupeville Sports era (2012-today), get another crack at the trophy this Friday, Sept. 8.

CHS heads down to Langley, with a 7:00 kickoff for the non-conference rumble.

Both teams enter play at 0-1, with Coupeville falling 28-25 on the final play of the game against Klahowya, while South Whidbey got smacked 35-20 by Friday Harbor in its opener.

Seniors Uriel Liquidano (63), Jacob Martin (32), and Clay Reilly (2) celebrate in 2016. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

For those who don’t know, this bucket we speak of is exactly what it sounds like.

Painted with Wolf colors on one side and Falcon colors on the other, it has been awarded to the winner of the rivalry game since athletic directors Willie Smith and John Patton created it in 2008.

Complete with a dent on one side, courtesy a South Whidbey coach unhappy about a loss, The Bucket lives at the winning school and is brought out for the game.

The “original” bucket once held licorice, but was filled with water by a Coupeville student, who dumped it on the South Whidbey crowd at a volleyball match, setting off a near-riot.

Looking to turn a negative into a positive, Smith and Patton transformed the weapon of mass hydration into a trophy.

Since then, Wolf coaches Tony Maggio and Jon Atkins have coached Coupeville to two wins apiece in The Bucket game, while current CHS head man Bennett Richter gets a second crack at making Falcon Nation cry.

Tony Maggio led Coupeville to two wins in the rivalry game. (Shawn Walstad photo)

 

For those keeping track, the history of The Bucket game:

2009 — SW 28-6
2010 — SW 33-7
2011 — SW 35-0
2012 — CHS 18-13
2013 — SW 57-33
2014 — CHS 35-28
2015 — SW 27-14
2016 — CHS 41-10
2017 — CHS 18-0
2018 — SW 48-20
2019 — SW 35-7
2020 — No game
2021 — SW 33-7
2022 — SW 47-28

Skyy Lippo dances into the post-graduate world. (Photos courtesy Joe Lippo)

The stages keep getting bigger.

Coupeville High School grad Skyy Lippo continues to pursue a life of dance, and her latest performance will take her to the City Stage Theatre in Missouri.

She’ll be a guest artist as Kansas City Contemporary Dance puts on its fall show, Behind Closed Doors.

The show, which runs November 4-5, explores “personal choices, loneliness, friendship, compulsions, manipulation, internal struggles, privacy, and sense of belonging.”

Going with the flow.

Lippo recently graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is now able to take advantage of a more-open schedule to perform with the troupe.

“I had auditioned with them for their dance season,” Lippo said.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the trainee position they offered, because it turned out their season started while I was still in school, and I wanted to get my degree.”

Artistry in motion.