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With 160 career points, Mason Grove enters the 2019-2020 hoops season as the top active CHS scorer. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Fellow senior Scout Smith has 142 points, topping all active girls.

With 139 points and two seasons left to play, junior Chelsea Prescott could chomp her way up the career scoring chart.

Hawthorne Wolfe knocked down 158 points last season, most-ever scored by a Wolf freshman boy across 102 seasons of action.

It’s the best time of the year.

We’re not saying basketball is the best sport of them all, but … yeah, actually we are saying basketball is the best sport of them all.

Facts are facts.

And there’s going to be a lot of basketball going down over the next four to five months.

The Coupeville Middle School boys travel to Shoreline Wednesday to face King’s Junior High in the first games of the season.

Then, six days from now, the CHS girls and boys open practice, with their first games slated for the first week of December.

Toss in the CMS girls, who take the court in February, and there’s hoops action a’plenty.

As basketball unfolds, a little side game I have is keeping track of who scores for the high school teams, and how that affects their standings on the career scoring chart.

Through my research, I’ve tracked 102 seasons of CHS boys action and 45 years of girls play, and, while I’m not 100% there (pre-1960’s is a wasteland for reliable stats), I have a pretty good list.

So, as we head towards a new season, #103 and #46, where do the current players sit in the race for the school’s career scoring records? Glad you asked.

The charts below represent all of the players who COULD return, not necessarily those who WILL return.

In the case of one player, Ja’Kenya Hoskins, a leg injury suffered during a dodge-ball tourney, will keep her sidelined for awhile.

She stays on the list however, as the hope is she makes it back sometime during the season.

With the others, until practice gets fully rolling, we won’t know if anyone suddenly lost their love of hoops and decided to take the winter off.

Hopefully not, but you never know.

So, here’s what’s possible:

 

GIRLS (224 players on career chart):

Scout Smith – Senior – 142 points – #79
Chelsea Prescott – Junior – 139 points – #81
Avalon Renninger – Senior – 59 points – #118
Hannah Davidson – Senior – 42 points – #136
Tia Wurzrainer – Senior – 18 points – #165
Izzy Wells – Sophomore – 11 points – #178
Mollie Bailey – Junior – 8 points – #184
Ja’Kenya Hoskins – Sophomore – 5 points – #203
Anya Leavell – Sophomore – 4 points – #205

 

BOYS (391 players on career chart):

Mason Grove – Senior – 160 points – #153
Hawthorne Wolfe – Sophomore – 158 points – #154
Sean Toomey-Stout – Senior – 122 points – #170
Jered Brown – Senior – 100 points – #183
Ulrik Wells – Senior – 78 points – #200
Gavin Knoblich – Senior – 70 points – #212
Jacobi Pilgrim – Senior – 44 points – #253
Koa Davison – Senior – 11 points – #330
Jean Lund-Olsen – Senior – 7 points – #353
Xavier Murdy – Sophomore – 4 points – #368
Daniel Olson – Junior – 3 points – #374

 

The CHS career scoring marks are safe for now, with Brianne King sitting at 1549 and the duo of Jeff Stone and Mike Bagby tied at 1137.

But, current players can make serious inroads this season.

For Smith and Prescott, the Top 50 is less than 100 points away, with Annette Jameson sitting at #50 with 223 points.

On the boys side, Grove and Wolfe have a little bit further to go, with #100 currently being Terry Roberts and his 277 career points.

Time for everyone to start shootin’.

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Coupeville grad Makana Stone, now a senior at Whitman College, opens her basketball season Friday in Spokane. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They’re on their final lap.

Two of the best athletes to come out of Coupeville High School, Nick Streubel and Makana Stone, are in the process of wrapping equally-stellar college athletic careers.

Streubel is in the final weeks of his time as an offensive lineman at Central Washington University, while Stone tips off her senior season Friday with the Whitman College women’s basketball team.

A two-time All-Conference pick while playing with the Blues, Stone is on target to become just the ninth Whitman woman in the modern era to top 1,000 career points.

The former Wolf, who has helped the Blues compile a 68-17 record during her three seasons on campus, also has a solid chance of finishing in the Top 10 all-time in numerous other categories.

Which is pretty dang good, as the school dates its women’s hoops program back to 1902.

Whitman’s official record book is missing stats from 1903-1969, but that’s not as bad as it might sound at first, as women’s college sports exist in two vastly different worlds — pre and post Title IX.

Playing in the modern era, where scoring is greatly ramped up, Stone’s numbers can stand with the best Whitman has produced.

She is already #6 all-time in offensive rebounds, #7 in both defensive rebounds and total rebounds, and #10 in field goal made.

Whitman opens its 25-game regular season schedule with an appearance at the Whit Classic in Spokane.

The Blues play Concordia University of Texas Friday, before facing Carroll College of Montana Saturday.

The regular season stretches through late February, with the top four teams from the Northwest Conference advancing to the league’s postseason tourney Feb. 27 and 29.

Whitman has made it to the tourney in each of Stone’s seasons, finishing 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd in regular season play.

The Blues won the NWC postseason tourney during her freshman season, before advancing all the way to the Elite 8 of the NCAA D-III championships.

Stone and Co. made it back to the national tourney the next year, falling in the first round, before being denied a bid last season despite a strong 20-7 record.

Seniors Mady Burdett and Lily Gustafson and juniors Taylor Chambers and Kaelan Shamseldin join Stone as leaders on an experience-packed roster which was picked to win the league title in a preseason coach’s poll.

Whitman is also ranked #21 in the first D3hoops.com poll.

 

Makana’s career numbers (2016-2019):

Points – 928
Offensive Rebounds – 236
Defensive Rebounds – 376
Total Rebounds – 612
Assists – 123
Steals – 65
Blocks – 39
Field Goals – 394 of 781 (50.4%)
Free Throws – 139 of 199 (69.8%)
Games – 83
Starts – 66
Minutes – 1876

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John Engstrom (back row, far left) finally enters the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

John Engstrom was the small town boy who hit the big time, and made the big time sit up and take notice.

The descendant of one of Whidbey’s pioneer families (his mom was an Engle), he rose from being a three-sport athlete and class valedictorian at Coupeville High School to thriving as one of Seattle’s most-respected newsmen.

Now, the late writer picks up one more honor, as we induct him into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

There are a fair share of former Wolf stars whose names I know, having run across them in my hunt for stats and stories, but whose tales remain largely foreign to me.

Thanks to Charlie Burrow, who nominated Engstrom for induction, I can finally put more of a face to the name.

One down, several hundred to go, and this reminder – if there is a Coupeville athlete from the past you want to see go into our digital Hall o’ Fame, don’t assume I know their full story.

Come forward, let me know. I need your help to fill in the blanks.

With Engstrom, who graduated from CHS in 1959, we have a man who excelled in football, basketball, baseball, and the classroom during his time as a Wolf.

His name popped up during my attempts to track down all the buckets scored by Coupeville hoops stars, as he pumped in points as a junior and senior.

Playing alongside “Big” Mike Criscuola, who may be the true #1 scorer in program history (the records of the time are spotty, at best), Engstrom was Coupeville’s #2 scorer during his senior season.

That was the year the Wolves shocked the pundits by finishing second in the six-team Northwest District tournament.

Reducing to a mere paragraph or two in the pre-tourney breakdown, Coupeville stunned Sultan and Darrington, before narrowly falling to a rampaging La Conner squad in the title game.

It would be 11 years before the Wolves would become the first Whidbey Island boys hoops team to win a district crown (the immortal 69-70 CHS team coached by Bob Barker), but Big Mike, Engstrom, Sandy Roberts, and Co. made believers of all the non-believers.

After graduation from Coupeville, Engstrom attended the University of Washington, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education and a masters in education.

Spring-boarding from his time on the school paper, he went on to write for United Press International and have a long career as a sports writer, editor, travel writer, and TV critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

He and wife Susan Paynter, a revered P-I columnist, retired in 2009 when the newspaper brought its print edition to a close.

The couple lived on the Oregon coast afterwards, until Engstrom lost a battle with acute myeloid leukemia at age 72 in 2014.

On his passing, his newspaper colleagues hailed him as “a terrific supportive boss, just a wonderful human being.”

“A steadier, more laid-back person you could not find,” said another.

Among Engstrom’s many high points during his journalism career was covering the Seattle SuperSonics during their NBA championship season in 1979.

Whether camping in his fifth wheel trailer while documenting Eastern Washington wheat farmers, or living in Spain during Franco’s reign, the former Wolf was the ultimate journalist, one who impacted all of his co-workers in positive ways.

He was “a gentleman, a lovely man, a favorite colleague,” who was “all class and grace.”

And now, a bit late, but very well-deserved, he joins our lil’ digital Hall of Fame.

After this, when you look up at the top of the blog, go peek under the Legends tab, and you’ll find Engstrom camped out where he’s always belonged.

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Avalon Renninger is one of Coupeville’s top returning hoops stars. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.met)

Hawthorne Wolfe led the Wolf boys in scoring last year as a freshman.

The countdown to hard-court mania begins.

The Coupeville High School basketball teams take the floor for the first day of practice Monday, Nov. 18, with the season-opening games two weeks later.

Both the Wolf girls and boys are currently scheduled to play more than 50% of their regular season games away from Cow Town, with the girls taking a bigger hit.

Playing for new coaches Scott Fox and Megan Smith, who replace the retired David and Amy King, the CHS girls get just seven of 18 games on their home floor.

Meanwhile, the Wolf boys, who will operate under returning coaches Brad Sherman and Chris Smith, get nine of 19 at their place.

Doubleheaders will play a large role, as there are 11 scheduled – five at home, six on the road.

And last, but not least, there’s a weird quirk to the league schedule.

King’s, which has two teams intent on playing for state titles, approached the other five North Sound Conference schools and proposed playing just one league game with each, instead of the normal two.

That would allow the Knights to stuff their schedule with large-school rivals such as Rainier Beach and Tumwater, which, in theory would better prepare King’s for the postseason run.

On the girls side, all five schools accepted, leaving King’s to play just five league games, while everyone else will compete in nine.

Two schools on the boys side – South Whidbey and Cedar Park Christian – declined, however, and will still play home-and-away with the Knights.

So, that leaves Coupeville, Sultan, and Granite Falls with nine league games, King’s with seven, and the South Whidbey and Cedar Park boys as the only teams with the full 10 contests.

The change affects only basketball.

With that said, here’s an up to the moment look at CHS varsity basketball schedules.

 

To stay up to date, you can always check:

School:

http://coupeville.tandem.co/

League:

http://www.nscathletics.com/index.php?pid=0.60.0.0.200

 

GIRLS:

Tues-Dec. 3 — @Darrington (5:00)
Wed-Dec. 4 — @Oak Harbor (5:40)
Sat-Dec. 7 — Orcas Island (3:30)
Wed-Dec. 11 — @Friday Harbor (4:30)
Fri-Dec. 13 — Concrete (5:15)
Sat-Dec. 14 — @Bush (12:00)
Tues-Dec. 17 — @Sultan (6:45) *
Thur-Dec. 19 — @Port Townsend (6:00)
Sat-Dec. 21 — Nooksack Valley (1:00)
Fri-Jan. 3 — @Chimacum (5:45)
Tues-Jan. 7 — Cedar Park Christian (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 10 — Sultan (6:45) *
Tues-Jan. 14 — @Granite Falls (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 17 — @South Whidbey (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 24 — @Cedar Park Christian (5:00) *
Tues-Jan. 28 — @King’s (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 31 — Granite Falls (6:45) *
Tues-Feb. 4 — South Whidbey (6:45) *

 

BOYS:

Tues-Dec. 3 — @Darrington (6:45)
Wed-Dec. 4 — @Oak Harbor (7:15)
Sat-Dec. 7 — Orcas Island (5:00)
Wed-Dec. 11 — @Friday Harbor (6:00)
Fri-Dec. 13 — Concrete (7:00)
Sat-Dec. 14 — @Bush (3:00)
Tues-Dec. 17 — Chimacum (7:30)
Thur-Dec. 19 — Port Townsend (6:00)
Sat-Dec. 21 — Nooksack Valley (2:45)
Fri-Jan. 3 — @Chimacum (7:30)
Tues-Jan. 7 — @Granite Falls (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 10 — Sultan (6:45) *
Tues-Jan. 14 — Cedar Park Christian (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 17 — @South Whidbey (6:45) *
Tues-Jan. 21 — @King’s (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 24 — @Cedar Park Christian (6:45) *
Tues-Jan. 28 — South Whidbey (6:45) *
Fri-Jan. 31 — Granite Falls (6:45) *
Tues-Feb. 4 — @Sultan (6:45) *

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Coupeville grad Makana Stone was honored by Whitman College for her athletic and academic performance. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville’s Makana Stone was one of six student/athletes honored recently by Whitman College.

The former Wolf, who is headed into her senior year at the Walla Walla school, and her compatriots were hailed at the fourth annual fall awards picnic.

Whitman’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which is made up of current athletes, chose two top performers each from last year’s freshman, sophomore, and junior classes.

The picnic was a way to bring together athletes from all 15 Blues varsity sports programs, while also including the incoming freshmen recruiting classes.

A barbecue was served and Whitman’s new Athletic Director, Kim Chandler, made her debut at the event.

The winners from the 2018-2019 school year:

Freshmen:

Bella White (swim)

Michael Chang (swim)

Sophomores:

Sage Ali (lacrosse)

Peter Sephens (soccer)

Juniors:

Makana Stone (basketball)

Travis Craven (baseball)

Whitman women’s basketball kicks off a new season with an exhibition game Nov. 2 in Ellensburg against Central Washington University.

The first game to count in the win/loss standings arrives Nov. 15 when the Blues host Concordia University during the 2019 Whit Classic.

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