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WIAA shuffles return to play schedule

January 6, 2021 by David Svien

Traditional fall high school sports such as football may be the first to return to play. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Everything changes. Again.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Executive Board voted Wednesday to redo its planned 2020-2021 school athletic schedule, moving traditional fall sports back in front.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there have been no prep games in the state played in nearly 11 months, in any sport, and the plans to return to play have been constantly-changing.

Up until Wednesday night, winter sports such as basketball were set to possibly be the first ones back.

But, after new guidelines were set in place earlier this week by Governor Jay Inslee and the state Health Department, the WIAA opted to flip things.

Again.

“The change in guidelines allow all traditional fall sports to be played while we still do not have a clear pathway to the high-risk indoor activities of basketball, competitive cheer and dance, and wrestling,” said WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman.

“With that in mind, moving fall sports to Season 1 will hopefully provide the most opportunities to participate.”

The new plan is for fall sports to begin practices Feb. 1, with a shortened season ending March 20.

Season 2 (March 15-May 1) and Season 3 (April 26-June 12) remain on the schedule as before, though it’s unclear if traditional winter sports will follow, or whether spring sports will leapfrog them.

Some more clarification is expected after the WIAA Executive Board meets Jan. 19.

“We are hoping to receive more details that were not included in the Governor’s announcement on Tuesday, particularly surrounding indoor sports and activities,” Hoffman said.

“As we continue to gather more information and evaluate the new metrics, the board will be able to make better decisions about the remainder of the year.”

The move to flip fall sports back in front would seem to indicate the possible return of football, cross country, volleyball, boys tennis, and boys and girls soccer for Coupeville High School.

But, and this is a huge BUT, while the WIAA is providing a “uniform season schedule concluding in regional culminating events, it has granted each league or district around the state the ability to reschedule seasons to best fit their local communities.”

Any decision from the Athletic Directors of the Northwest 2B/1B League will likely have to come soon, but no time frame for a decision has been announced.

Part of that decision hinges on implementation of the new guidelines — Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery — which divides the state into eight regions.

Island County is now linked with Whatcom, Skagit, and San Juan Counties (but not Snohomish, which includes Darrington, one of Coupeville’s league foes) in the North Region.

There will be two phases in the plan, with all regions beginning in Phase 1 next Monday, Jan. 11.

To move from Phase 1 to Phase 2, a region needs to meet four metrics:

**10-percent decline in COVID-19 case rates over the past two weeks.
**10-percent decrease in COVID-19 hospital admission over the past two weeks.
**ICU occupancy under 90 percent.
**Test positivity less than 10 percent.

If a region is in Phase 2, all outdoor sports, including “high-risk” ones such as football, can play games.

Indoor sports classified as “medium-risk,” such as volleyball, can also play, but “high-risk” indoor sports like basketball can not.

It is currently unknown what a region will have to do to reach an as-yet unknown Phase 3 under the new plan, which would allow “high-risk” indoor sports to play.

It’s also unknown if any fans will be allowed to attend games if fall sports really do start Feb. 1.

Which shouldn’t be a surprise.

In this Age of Coronavirus, just remember, with each 1% of clarification comes another 99% of “I have no freakin’ clue.”

Posted in coronavirus updates, Everything changes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Whidbey family needs our help

January 6, 2021 by David Svien

Cassidy Kendall

A fundraiser is underway to help an Oak Harbor woman badly injured in a car/pedestrian accident New Year’s Eve.

Cassidy Kendall, 23, was struck by a car while crossing the street in Oregon December 31, and suffered life-threatening injuries.

She broke her ribs, femur, pelvis, and spine, and was put in a medically-induced coma.

In an update Wednesday, her sister, Bailey Pace, detailed what Kendall has faced in the first week of 2021.

The young woman has had multiple surgeries, with a rod inserted to brace her femur, which was broken at the hip joint.

Kendall also had screws, rods, and pins inserted into her neck during spinal surgery, which will limit her mobility in her neck.

After a third surgery to piece her pelvis back together, with plates, screws, and bolts inserted, she is on a ventilation machine.

One huge positive is Kendall is out of the coma, and is able to understand and respond to commands to do things such as wiggle her toes and squeeze hands.

It’s expected she will be in a wheelchair for a minimum of three months, and will need therapy to recover the ability to swallow and walk.

Her sister has started a GoFundMe to aid Kendall and her husband, Oak Wendler, during this time.

“Thank you for all your prayers, love, and help through all of this. We are so grateful for all your support,” Pace said. “Cassidy truly has touched the lives of so many!”

 

To help the family, pop over to:

Fundraiser for Oak Wendler by Bailey Pace : Help Cassidy with medical bills (gofundme.com)

Posted in Fundraisers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Quiet assassin, wicked bat

January 5, 2021 by David Svien

Chloe Wheeler let her bat do her talking. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The quietest Wolf was loudest when it mattered most.

During the spring of 2019, I did something I haven’t done in the eight-year history of Coupeville Sports — attend every single game, home or away, for one team.

Writing this blog is a delicate, often tricky, balancing act, trying to be “fair” to all teams, and all sports.

You’ll always have some people who are grateful for whatever coverage their preferred rooting cause gets, and some who claim bias or neglect. It is what it is.

But in spring 2019, while still writing about every CHS track and field, baseball, tennis, and soccer contest — and attending a lot of those games and meets in person — I absolutely played favorites.

I hit the road with Darren and Kelly Crownover, parents of homer-thumping first-baseman Veronica, making it to every road game — even the ones rained out moments after we got there.

And, even when presented with multiple events on the same day here in Cow Town, I opted for the softball sluggers.

Turned out to be a smart choice, as that was the Wolf squad which went the furthest as a united team, returning to the state tourney for the first time in five seasons, and winning a game there for the first time since 2002.

As the guy forever hanging around the edge as CHS softball made its run, filled with a few heartrending losses, and a lot of epic wins, I had a chance to see the Wolf players in all their many moods.

Whether dancing on a rain-soaked field after a long, fruitless trip to Sultan, going bonkers after freshman Izzy Wells struck out the league’s most-dangerous slugger to cap the win which sent them to a league title, or just killing time on countless ferries, it was a team made up of wildly-diverse personalities.

One of my favorites quickly became Chloe Wheeler, a junior who bopped along like a feminine version of Matthew McConaughey, her grin often her only statement to the outside world.

As the season played out, I found out more about her — Darren Crownover can make anyone talk — and her plans for the future.

Chloe is highly-intelligent, a kind, caring young woman who proved on the diamond, and off, to be exceptionally-strong.

On a 2019 Wolf team which boasted the big bats of Sarah Wright and Veronica Crownover, and the explosive talents of young stars such as Chelsea Prescott and Scout Smith, she didn’t play every day.

But Chloe was ready every day.

Plug her in to the lineup, and she responded, giving you every ounce of hustle she had in the field and at the plate.

And, time and again, she proved to be an absolute killer in the spotlight.

A quiet assassin at the plate.

Her first high school hit was a thing of beauty, coming deep in the wilds at Granite Falls against the team which gave Coupeville its biggest struggle.

The Wolves and Tigers split four games in 2019, with CHS winning the last two, including a key playoff game which sent Granite home.

But, earlier in the season, as Coupeville tried to rally in the twilight, Chloe strode to the plate and launched a missile, rifling a two-run double to the deepest, darkest part of left field.

After watching her teammates struggle with the bat all afternoon, the quiet one mashed the crud out of the whirling orb, and it lit a fire under her fellow Wolves.

Hanging on the dugout fence, screaming Chloe’s name, they were reinvigorated, recharged, and rowdy as all get-out.

Granite Falls didn’t know it then, but what seemed like a surefire path to a league title and a trip to state for the Tigers vanished in that exact moment.

For the first time, you could see the Wolves really, truly no longer feared their hit-happy foes.

And, while that rally fell just short, they haven’t lost to Granite since.

As she quietly bounced on the bag at second, slight smile on her face, Chloe was already locked-in on CHS coach Kevin McGranahan, working over in the third-base coaching box.

Always ready, always watchful.

The moment was big, it was impactful, and it could have been the highlight of Chloe’s season.

But then she went to the biggest dance, and went bonkers.

Chloe started the state tourney on the bench, part of the support crew as Coupeville was drilled by eventual state champ Montesano.

Given a pinch-hit at-bat late in the game, however, she proved to be the one Wolf who was absolutely perfect against the reincarnation of the 1927 Yankees.

Breaking up Montesano’s bid for a shutout, and pissing off its thoroughly irritating coach, Chloe crunched an RBI single to right-center.

Her refusal to back down against a dominant team, and a loudly-braying coach, earned her the start in games #2 and #3 on a long day for Coupeville.

Chloe’s bat stayed scorchin’ down the stretch, as she racked up three more hits across a 14-2 demolishing of highly-ranked Deer Park and a gut-wrenching 8-6 loss to Cle Elum.

With four base-knocks in Richland, she had made a name for herself while the biggies in the sport watched.

After one of her hot smashes back up the middle, the coach from perennial power Castle Rock, camped in the bleachers during his team’s break, pointed at Chloe, and softly said something to his assistant.

The words were unclear, but the approval was obvious.

Coming within a play (or two, at most) of advancing to day two of state and likely earning some hardware, the Wolves capped the second-best performance in program history.

While there was sadness in the aftermath, there was hard-earned pride, and the unmistakable feeling this was the start of a run of success for the Wolf diamond queens.

Chloe likely would have been a full-time starter her senior year, and I firmly believe she was on her way to a true breakout season.

The pandemic denied her that opportunity, but her rep as a big-game killer was already set in stone.

When we talk about the highlights of CHS softball during its four-decade-plus run, Chloe Wheeler, the quiet assassin with the wicked bat, will forever hold a place in that conversation.

So today, we take a moment to pay tribute to her, inducting her into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame for being an inspiration to local athletes at every level.

She worked and she fought, and when Chloe got her chance, she made the absolute most of it. The way you hope every Wolf does.

After this, when you stroll past the top of the blog, you’ll find her hanging out under the Legends tab.

And why not? She earned it.

Posted in Softball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Big buckets, big memories

January 4, 2021 by David Svien

Sisters Kassie (left) and Kayla Lawson were key players for the 2007-2008 CHS girls basketball squad. (Photo poached from Laurie Smith)

It was the best of times.

Jump back 13 years to January 4-5 in the year of Our Lord 2008, and the Coupeville High School girls basketball team was on fire.

Coming off of a two-week break between contests, the Wolves exploded into the new year with back-to-back wins in a 24-hour span, running their winning streak to five games.

While that CHS hoops squad eventually finished 10-10 (at least according to the scorebook), head coach Blake Severns got a taste of what was to come, with super sophomores Megan Smith and Ashley Manker ripping up the hardwood.

The Wolves, as usual, were repping a small school in a league full of athletic heavyweights like Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Cedarcrest, but they were ultra-competitive.

And that was never more apparent than during that two-day stretch in early January, when they won in two different towns, including taking down private school baddie King’s on its home floor.

Coupeville actually swept the two-game season series from the Knights in 07-08, beating the richniks a second time on The Rock Jan. 18.

So they had that going for them, which was really, really nice.

But back to Jan. 4-5, as the Wolves returned to the court after not playing since a Dec. 21 win over Friday Harbor.

Following thumpings of South Whidbey and Granite Falls, that ran their win streak to three, before Christmas and such arrived to shut things down.

Based on what we can glean from the scorebook, the layoff may have slapped some rust on Coupeville’s shooting touch, as it scraped together just two buckets in the first eight minutes, trailing visiting Sultan 10-6 after one frame.

Smith splashed home the first three-ball of the new year, while Shawna West matched her point total with a basket and a free throw.

Charity shots were a problem all night for the Wolves, though, as they converted just one of five from the line in the opening quarter, and finished 9-25.

Yet still won by double-digits, so, maybe free throws are overrated.

Said no coach ever.

The second quarter was a bit better, with Kayla Lawson and Manker each tossing in four points apiece, while the Wolf defense clamped down on the Turk shooters, forcing a 14-14 tie at the half.

With their shooting fingers loosened up, and their defense still locked-in, the Wolves used a 9-3 run in the third to take the lead, then coasted home for the win.

The final frame was a frantic one, however, at least on the scoreboard, as the two squads combined to score 46% of their total points in just one eight-minute stretch.

It was 23-17 at the end of the third, yet the fourth was its own game, with five Wolves scoring (and four successfully hitting free throws!) during a torrid 19-15 battle royal.

Smith tickled the twines for her third trey of the night, while Paige Mueller slipped through the defense for a quick four points, but it was Manker who stood tallest.

Capping a game-high 14-point performance, Coupeville’s inside threat racked up three buckets and a pair of free throws in the final quarter.

On the night, six of nine Wolves to see action scratched their names in the scorebook, with Smith (11), Mueller (6), Kayla Lawson (4), West (4), and Kassie Lawson (3) all scoring.

Marie Hesselgrave, Hayley Ebersole, and Sarah Vass also saw floor time, while future scrappy Wolf star Courtney Boyd was likely creating havoc while cheering from the bench.

While the win was a nice one, Severns and his crew had little time to bask in the afterglow of a 42-32 win.

They were heading off to Shoreline the very next day, their four-game win streak at stake as they prepared to face off with the evil empire.

King’s had the name, but not the game this time out, though, as Coupeville jumped on them early, survived a third-quarter scare, then escaped out the door with the big W.

Kassie Lawson peppered the rim for a pair of first-quarter buckets as the Wolves came out super-balanced, with six players netting points before the halftime break.

Up 10-6 after one frame, CHS held King’s to just a pair of free throws in the second quarter en route to amassing a 19-8 advantage through 16 minutes.

Then, the Knights woke up. At least for a bit.

Using a 21-11 surge in the third, King’s closed within a single, solitary point at 30-29 headed into the closing eight-minute leg.

To which the Wolves, to a woman, apparently said, “No problemo.”

Smith and West anchored Coupeville down the stretch, combining to score nine of their team’s 12 fourth quarter points, while Manker banked in a bucket and Kassie Lawson drained a key free throw.

It was a very-effective one-two punch, as Smith, who finished with a game-high 14 points, and West, who tallied 10, scored 18 of Coupeville’s 23 second-half points.

Backing them up, Manker finished with six, while Kassie Lawson (5), Mueller (4), and Ebersole (3) also scored in a 42-37 win.

Heading home, things must have looked really good for the Wolves, then 6-3, even though they would have known the remainder of the schedule was going to be brutal.

Just 10 days away was a rematch with King’s.

That turned out to be one of the biggest single-game moments in CHS hoops history, as Kassie Lawson banked in a buzzer-beating three-ball in overtime, sending the Knights weeping to the locker room after a 33-32 Wolf win.

Smith, who would finish her prep career as the #4 scorer in Coupeville girls hoops history (#3 at the time, but Makana Stone was on her way) led the Wolves in 07-08, banking in 255 points.

She was one of three CHS players to break triple digits that season, with Manker (151) and West (122) providing able support.

Posted in Basketball | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

“Badass” Bernhardt the light in the world

December 31, 2020 by David Svien

SarahRose Bernhardt, the very definition of “a truly lovely human being.” (All photos poached from her Facebook account)

SarahRose Bernhardt is special.

Always has been, always will be.

It takes a special talent to light up every room you enter, to make others feel good about themselves, to achieve and inspire without asking for credit.

But that is SarahRose.

We live in a world which has grown harsher in the past few years.

Or, at the very least, one in which people are much more inclined to be abrasive to each other, to demean and ridicule.

There are days where it feels like there is little hope of kindness reclaiming the public mood.

Which is why SarahRose is like a light at the edge of the world, buffeted like the rest of us, but not willing to give up the fight.

In the same year that the Coupeville High School grad and her fiancée, David, returned to find their home burning to the ground, she has endured, and she has prospered.

As a new year dawns, SarahRose is not sitting back. She has moved to the front of the crowd, pursuing a medical calling at the height of a worldwide pandemic.

In the pictures she and her proud parents have posted, we see a young woman who pulls on fire gear, hefts a saw half the size of her body, and moves into action.

“Badass” Bernhardt (far right), ready to battle whatever comes her way.

We see a brilliant student, a talented dancer — an actress and cheerleader during her high school days — who, clad in PPE from head to toe, brings healthcare right to the front doors of those in need.

Working for Dispatch Health out of Seattle, SarahRose is, like the others she works with, a reassuring face in a troubled time.

That she would make this decision, to be part of the solution at a moment of crisis, is not surprising to me.

While I don’t think I’ve seen her in person since back in the Videoville days, SarahRose, like her parents and siblings, was always something special.

She graduated from CHS in 2004, after being a member of the Hi Q Academic Quiz Bowl team, serving as a school board rep, participating in the Learning Partner program, and being a group leader for Honor Society.

Not content to stop there, SarahRose was also a tutor, an active volunteer in the community, and a team leader for the Wolf cheer squad.

Graduation from the University of Washington, after a similar string of accomplishments, arrived in 2008.

In her post-school days, she used her love of dance to inspire countless people through her work at places such as Barre3 Bellevue and Daybreaker Seattle.

And now, a frontline worker in a troubled time, a continuing ray of hope in all she achieves, and how she reaches those goals.

A day at the beach with her fiancée and the doggos.

As I said before, SarahRose has never been one for beating her chest, screaming out why she rules (even if she does), and expecting folks to get in line and bow to her.

Too bad, cause we’re going to do the latter part right now.

That’s because we’re capping 2020 by inducting SarahRose Bernhardt into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Since it’s technically a digital shrine to athletic achievement, she’ll be listed as a cheerleader, even if she’s really going in for that and a billion other things.

After this, if you wander past the top of the blog and look under the Legends tab, that’s where you’ll find her hanging out.

At least on-line.

In real life, SarahRose will be found where need arises, where her skills and hard work will accomplish much, where she can leave behind an impact on the world she moves through.

She is a badass, and she is the light, and she makes her hometown proud, every day.

Posted in Hall o' Fame | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

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