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No subs, no worries

October 28, 2021 by David Svien

Grey Peabody (left), here stuffing a rival, helped Coupeville’s JV finish a spiffy 12-3 on the season. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Gwen Gustafson filled up the stat sheet Thursday, as the Wolves drilled Mount Vernon Christian.

Rest is for the weak, not for the Wolves.

Playing Thursday with the minimum six players, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad did what it almost always does — win, and win convincingly.

Playing their season finale on the road at Mount Vernon Christian, the Wolf spikers polished off the Hurricanes 25-12, 25-10, 25-15.

The victory lifts Coupeville’s final record to 10-2 in Northwest 2B/1B league play, 12-3 overall.

Coming on the heels of a 6-3 mark during a pandemic-shortened campaign during the 2020-2021 school year, that leaves second-year Wolf JV coach Ashley Menges sporting an 18-6 mark.

The former CHS varsity volleyball star found herself alone on the bench Thursday, but she and her players adapted.

“It was a pretty slow game, but we worked through a lot, and the six girls I had got a lot of playing time,” Menges said.

“Grey (Peabody) did a really great job tonight, playing some back row, but Jada (Heaton) really impressed (varsity coach Cory) Whitmore and I both tonight.

“Overall, we came out with a win on a weird way to end the season.”

 

Thursday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 16 assists, 3 aces
Mia Farris — 3 kills, 1 dig, 1 assist, 4 aces
Gwen Gustafson — 6 kills, 6 digs, 6 aces
Jada Heaton — 7 kills, 2 digs, 1 assist, 3 aces
Grey Peabody — 4 kills, 6 digs, 3 aces
Aby Wood — 2 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace

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Wolf trio state-bound

October 28, 2021 by David Svien

Coupeville junior cross country runner Mitchell Hall is off to the state meet. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

He’ll be joined in Pasco by Helen Strelow.

As well as Claire Mayne. (Morgan White photo)

Cue up the Madonna and Duran Duran playlist. We’re going back to the ’80s!

After a strong performance Thursday at Tri-Districts, the Coupeville High School cross country squad is sending three runners to state, the most since the “Greed is Good” decade.

Helen Strelow, Claire Mayne, and Mitchell Hall all earned their first invites to the big dance, while the Wolf girls missed qualifying as a team by a single point.

Pope John Paul II, a private school from Lacey, won both the girls and boys team titles, with the JP2 girls finishing 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 in the race.

Mount Vernon Christian’s boys and Covenant’s girls claimed second-place, in a meet where the top two teams and top 14 individual runners advanced to state.

Both Coupeville teams finished third, though the Wolf boys were well off MVC at 53-90.

The CHS girls, however, came within 62-63 of Covenant, which hails from Tacoma.

There were runners representing 12 schools Thursday at Ft. Steilacoom.

Two of those schools — Auburn Adventist Academy and Northwest Yeshiva — had their results listed as “exhibition,” however.

Neither school can run at the state meet, since it’s held Saturday, Nov. 6 in Pasco, and religious restrictions prevent athletes at both schools from competing on weekend days.

For Coupeville, sending three runners to state in the same year is a major milestone in year four of the program’s rebirth.

The Wolves sent entire teams to state in the ’80s, when Natasha Bamberger won an individual title.

But the school’s program shut down in the ’90s and stayed dormant for two decades.

During the sabbatical, Tyler King joined Bamberger as an individual state champ, while training and traveling with Oak Harbor, but competing as a one-man Coupeville wrecking crew.

Cross country returned to CHS in 2018, and, since then, the now-graduated Danny Conlisk and Catherine Lhamon both made it to state, but in different years.

Strelow — who won the Northwest 2B/1B League individual title last week — Mayne, and Hall are all juniors.

The other nine Wolves to run for coach Paige Spangler at Tri-Districts included four freshmen, three sophomores, and two other juniors.

 

Complete Thursday results (5,000 meters):

 

GIRLS:

Helen Strelow (12th) 24:44.4
Claire Mayne (13th) 24:55.1
Cristina McGrath (16th) 26:18.3
Bryley Gilbert (17th) 26:24.6
Erica McGrath (23rd) 30:55.0

 

BOYS:

Mitchell Hall (12th) 19:15.8
Cole White (15th) 19:24.7
Carson Field (22nd) 20:20.5
Thomas Strelow (24th) 20:29.5
Landon Roberts (25th) 20:34.6
Hank Milnes (31st) 21:29.3
Tate Wyman (39th) 22:47.0

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Season of growth for booters

October 28, 2021 by David Svien

Xavier Murdy is one of two departing seniors for the CHS soccer squad. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Tony Garcia is the other 12th grader.

“There were moments of greatness. There were moments of frustration.”

Coupeville High School boys soccer coach Robert Wood could have been talking both about Thursday’s season finale, and the season in whole.

The Wolves fell 5-0 in Bothell to Northwest 2B/1B League frontrunner Providence Classical Christian.

PCC improves to 13-1 with the win, while Coupeville finishes 4-10 and will claim sixth-place among nine teams.

The Wolves, who almost saw the program shut down last season due to a lack of players, rebounded in numbers this season, with 19 booters.

CHS will only lose three — seniors Tony Garcia and Xavier Murdy, as well as exchange student Miguel Puente — but now there’s a need to keep the momentum going.

Wood used his younger players in the second half Thursday, and hopes the experience lights a fire under them.

“Can’t build a competitive team with only nine players at the start of practice/school (like last time),” he warned.

While Coupeville may not boast travel ball players like PCC and other private school teams often do, Wood would like to see a serious commitment from his players going forward.

If everyone returns, things look bright, with five of the seven players who scored this season being underclassmen.

All three goaltenders — Aidan Wilson, Alex Murdy, and Nick Guay — are also due back.

 

Final scoring stats:

Nick Guay 5
Alex Murdy 5
Xavier Murdy 3
Miguel Puente 3
Grant Steller 1
Andrew Williams 1
Cael Wilson 1

Team captain Grant Steller is among the possible returners for next year.

Nick Guay, just a sophomore, tied for the team lead in scoring.

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Roar of a crowd, click of a camera

October 27, 2021 by David Svien

Lily Leedy has spirit. Do you? (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The games wouldn’t be the same without the fans.

Sure, they’d still be played, but as proven by a contest or two last season when Covid restrictions barred rooters, it would be awfully quiet.

The pics above and below, courtesy John Fisken, are the exact opposite of that.

Look closely and you can practically hear the roar of the crowd through their images.

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Young booters learn on the job

October 26, 2021 by David Svien

Xavier Murdy set up a Coupeville goal Tuesday, picking up an assist on a score by Cael Wilson. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s a perfect time to learn under fire.

The Coupeville High School boys soccer team is closing the season with back-to-back road games against the top two squads in the Northwest 2B/1B League.

With the Wolves out of playoff contention, and only three players set to depart — seniors Xavier Murdy and Tony Garcia and exchange student Miguel Puente — CHS coach Robert Wood plans to give his younger booters plenty of playing time in the final moments.

Tuesday afternoon, with a rainbow taking the place of the rain which poured down earlier in the day, Coupeville went toe-to-toe with defending league champs Orcas Island.

And, while the Wolves fell 6-1, Wood was able to give his bench a chance to play the entire second half.

“Crushing defeat, but we had fun,” he said. “Orcas is #1 or #2 and they certainly were tonight.”

The loss drops Coupeville to 4-9 on the season, while the Vikings rise to 12-2, a half-game off of Providence Classical Christian (11-1), which welcomes the Wolves to Bothell for the Oct. 28 regular-season finale.

Tuesday’s lone CHS goal came courtesy of a thrilling wham-bam-bam play.

The Wolves sent a corner kick screaming for the net, where Xavier Murdy went high to collect the ball with his head and deflect it towards pay-dirt.

When the ball hit the post, denying X-Man, it popped right to freshman Cael Wilson, who punched it in for his first goal of the season, and second of his prep pitch career.

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