Coupeville Sports

Harriers kick off trail season

September 6, 2025 by David Svien

Captains Zeke Allen and Aleksia Jump prepare to lead Coupeville cross country into action. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

The season began with a flash.

Or a couple of them.

Dodging a bit of lightning Saturday in Maple Valley, the Coupeville High School cross country squad joined 40+ other schools in participating at the season-opening Tahoma Coed Relays.

The jamboree-style event featured boys and girls competing together, with each five-member team limited to three runners from either gender.

And when Mother Nature allowed the runners to stay on the course, the Wolf harriers put the pedal to the metal, earning praise from coach Elizabeth Bitting.

“It was a strange relay,” she said. “The lightning delay messed everything up. Stopping in the middle of the relay was weird!

“The runners however didn’t let it dampen their runs. They each ran their leg and enjoyed the water portion,” Bitting added.

“It made for a fun and wet start to the season.”

Coupeville returns to action next Saturday, Sept. 13, when it travels to Bellingham for the GearUp Northwest Cross Country Preview.

Isaiah Allen gets movin’.

Zach Blitch attacks the course.

Nolan Hunt splashes through the water part of the course.

The Wolves invade Maple Valley.

Ivy Rudat has her eyes on the finish line.

Posted in Cross Country | Tagged Aleksia Jump, CHS Wolves, cross country, season opener, Tahoma Co-Ed Relays | Leave a Comment »

New-look Wolves spike Falcons

September 6, 2025 by David Svien

The baton is passed from Cory Whitmore to Scout Smith. (Sarah Stuurmans photos)

It may be a new era, but winning is still very much in fashion.

After a decade of success under Cory Whitmore, the Coupeville High School varsity volleyball program kicked off the Scout Smith dynasty in style.

Drilling visiting South Whidbey 25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16 Friday in their season opener, the new-look Wolves staked their claim to Island dominance and continued success.

Coupeville’s spikers are coming off the most-successful campaign in their history, earning 4th place at last year’s 2B state tourney.

But much has changed since that team departed the Yakima SunDome with the program’s first-ever trophy.

Seven seniors graduated after carrying an undefeated record into the final day of the season, while Whitmore stepped away after compiling a 106-45 record and three trips to state in nine years.

Taking his spot on the Wolf bench is Smith, a standout setter during her playing days at CHS.

Friday’s rivalry win in her debut as varsity head coach capped a busy, but successful series of days for the ever-talented one, as she also completed her first week as a 3rd grade teacher at Coupeville Elementary.

Guided by Smith, and sparked by the play of the team’s two returning state meet vets — senior Teagan Calkins and sophomore Tenley Stuurmans — the Wolves piled up 37 kills, 30 digs, 31 assists, and 13 service aces against South Whidbey.

Whitmore and recent Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame inductee Taylor Brotemarkle were in the stands Friday to provide moral support for their successors, who return to match action next Tuesday, Sept. 9.

The Wolves play host to another non-conference foe, Nooksack Valley, that night, with JV tipping at 5:00 PM and varsity at 6:30.

Friday stats:

Capri Anter — 5 digs, 1 ace
Haylee Armstrong — 8 kills, 6 digs, 1 ace
Teagan Calkins — 16 kills, 5 digs
Ari Cunningham — 3 kills, 2 digs, 2 assists, 2 aces
Lexis Drake — 1 kill, 5 digs, 1 ace
Dakota Strong — 6 kills
Tenley Stuurmans — 3 kills, 7 digs, 29 assists, 5 aces

Tenley Stuurmans filled up the stat sheet as Coupeville won its season opener.

Posted in Volleyball | Tagged CHS Wolves, Island rivalry win, Scout Smith, SWHS Falcons, Tenley Stuurmans, volleyball | Leave a Comment »

Booters are back!

September 5, 2025 by David Svien

Tamsin Ward, who played co-ed soccer as an 8th grader, will help lead the CHS girls’ program in its revival. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022 was a busy day in the world.

Rishi Sunak became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position he would hold for two years.

Dietrich Mateschitz, one of the co-founders of the Red Bull empire, passed away at age 78. No word on whether he drank his own beverage, or whether it gave him wings.

There was also a partial eclipse, disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was in court, and, oh yes, the Coupeville High School girls’ soccer team beat visiting La Conner 4-0 in the season finale.

Sophomore Ayden Wyman punched in two goals for the Wolves, giving her 13 for her career at that point, and it was the last game for retiring coach Kyle Nelson, who ambled away after one last postgame interview with me.

After debuting in 2004, the CHS booters left the field that day in 2022 already thinking ahead to the program’s landmark 20th season.

Who knew it would take more than 1,000 days to get there, however?

The CHS girls played through a pandemic, but a crash in roster size sidelined the program the past two seasons.

Kimberly Kisch, a former Wolf player hired to lead her alma mater’s squad, ended up working with boys coach Robert Wood in 2023 and 2024, with a scrappy band of female pitch warriors joining up with Coupeville’s boys to form a co-ed team.

That squad was very competitive in an expanded-for-soccer nine-team Northwest 2B/1B League which has collected the majority of the state tourney trophies handed out in recent years.

Wyman, while denied a chance to chase the CHS girls scoring record, held her own against the boys, and was joined by other scrappers such as Lillian Ketterling, Taylor Marrs, and Frankie Tenore.

But this Monday, Sept. 8, that 20th season finally gets its moment.

Kisch, who decided to move back to coaching youth soccer, kept the flame alive, and new CHS pitch guru Jasmine Ader has capitalized, pulling together enough girls to have a full roster.

That means the Wolves will defend their turf at Mickey Clark Field against visiting East Jefferson this Monday (kickoff is 4:00 PM), a mere 1,050 days after the 2022 squad celebrated KO’ing La Conner.

If you can’t be there for the opener (I myself am 2,800 miles away in West Virginia these days…), Coupeville’s girls are slated to play seven of their first eight at home.

There’s no charge to watch soccer, so cram the stands in support of the Wolf girls being back in (red) and black.

CHS girls soccer schedule:

Mon-Sept. 8 — East Jefferson (4:00)
Wed-Sept. 10 — Lopez Island (4:00)
Fri-Sept. 12 — @ La Conner (4:00)
Tue-Sept. 16 — Orcas Island (4:00)
Fri-Sept. 19 — Mount Vernon Christian (4:00)
Thur-Sept. 25 — Friday Harbor (4:00)
Thur-Oct. 2 — Granite Falls (6:00)
Mon-Oct. 6 — Providence Classical Christian (6:00)
Thur-Oct. 9 — @ Lopez Island (4:00)
Sat-Oct. 11 — Sultan (6:00)
Tue-Oct. 21 — @ Orcas Island (4:00)
Fri-Oct. 24 — @ Providence Classical Christian (3:30)

Posted in Girls Soccer | Tagged CHS Wolves, Comeback, Girls Soccer, Jasmine Ader, Lillian Ketterling | Leave a Comment »

It’s not the same old song…

September 5, 2025 by David Svien

“Breathe the bug spray in, Beavis. Go to your happy place…”

The blast of the train whistle hangs in the muggy West Virginia afternoon air, a stark reminder I no longer camp along the placid shores of Penn Cove.

Strafed by bugs of all sizes and shapes, which rise in waves off the well-manicured lawns rain or shine — at least when I’m around, it seems — it makes for a far different life.

I was born in Washington state, and between the last day of April, 1971 and late July of 2025, I was perfectly content with it being like 45 degrees, mildly misty, and gently breezy nearly every day.

And now, 37 days into taking up space at my sister’s house 2,800 miles away from Cow Town, it’s not just the weather.

Back at “home” on the prairie, Coupeville High School sports teams start playing games for real Friday night.

Volleyball is first up, with a home clash against archival South Whidbey, followed by Wolf football and cross country teams hitting the road Saturday for brief off-island journeys.

But I won’t be there for any of that, like I wasn’t there for the recent football jamboree or volleyball alumni clashes.

And that’s taking some getting used to.

This blog started in 2012, and has been a focal point of my life for a decade-plus.

Add in the countless freelance stories I banged out for the Coupeville Examiner, and, before that, my early ’90s stint as Sports Editor at the Whidbey News-Times, and I’ve arguably written more about Wolf athletics than just about anyone out there, past or present.

As a new season comes screaming into view — the final ride for CHS seniors Teagan Calkins, Camden Glover, and associates, or the start of a whole new chapter for freshmen like Tamsin Ward and Brian Thompson — there is an inescapable feeling I should be there documenting it.

I’m not, and that’s weird. It just is.

Posted in Ranting and Raving | Tagged bugs, CHS Wolves, first game, train whistle, West Virginia | Leave a Comment »

New level, same old success

August 28, 2025 by David Svien

Lyla Stuurmans is now peppering spikes at the college level.

Different uniforms, same love of racking up positive stats.

Coupeville grads Lyla Stuurmans and Mia Farris are off to strong starts as college volleyball players as their freshman seasons begin to unfold.

The former reps Skagit Valley College, while the latter now suits up for Whatcom College.

Stuurmans has pounded away for 33 kills across her first 15 sets of college action, while also picking up eight block assists, five digs, and two solo blocks.

Her 39 points puts her #2 for the Cardinals.

Meanwhile, Farris has racked up 15 kills, 31 digs, six block assists, five service aces, and two assists in 13 sets.

She tops Whatcom in digs, and her 23 points are #3 on the squad in the early going.