Through rain or shine, cousins Capri Anter (left) and Haylee Armstrong excel across multiple sports. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
A new high school athletic year beckons, ripe with possibilities.
We sit 28 days away from the first practice for Coupeville High School football, 33 away from the start of volleyball, soccer, cheer, girls swim, and cross country.
How will the 2026-2027 school year play out?
No one knows, really, something we were reminded of several years back when a pandemic appeared seemingly out of nowhere to disrupt the established way of life.
Barring any major disruptions, like if an alien spacecraft lands on the prairie and the lil’ green buggers start zapping random cows, you can make some guesses however, based on past performance.
The seniors, that group which forms the CHS Class of 2027, include a number of athletes who I would expect to be front and center as things play out.
From Davin Houston to Lexis Drake, from Riley Lawless to Bella Karr, the elder statesmen should anchor things, even while young guns like Tamsin Ward, Lillian Ketterling, and Wyatt Fitch-Marron likely make their presence felt.
But seeing as how I am fond of making bold, often irrational statements, I hereby proclaim that we are headed into the “Year of the Cousins.”
Yep, 2026-2027 is set up for Capri Anter and Haylee Armstrong to soar even higher, with three Senior Nights on the calendar to provoke tears from their impassioned fan base.
Queens of the hardwood. (Julie Wheat photo)
The duo, who have grown up together on volleyball and basketball courts and softball diamonds, are strongly positioned to rack up major page hits for me here at blog central.
Both are strong athletes capable of filling up a stat sheet, both are personable and outgoing young women, and both have devoted followers.
Moms, dads, aunts and uncles, and especially grandmas are at all their games, home and away seemingly, but it goes beyond that.
Capri and Haylee are also the kind of teenagers joyfully adopted by other families, who often root for the duo as hard as they do their own daughters.
The cousins lead by example, seem to genuinely enjoy their time in the spotlight, and provide stellar examples for their younger teammates, or the little girls (and boys) who aren’t close to high school yet, but are already crowding the fences and benches to get a glimpse of their heroes.
Now, I don’t know either of them away from sports — maybe they’re secretly serial killers and are burying all the bodies at Rhodey and we’ll watch their real story on Netflix one day — but what I do know, what I have seen, through middle and high school, makes me think they’re the real deal.
From someone observing things while bruising my butt on rock-hard bleachers or leaning against rickety wire fences, what I see is this.
I see Haylee and Capri take time out to make sure their family members and friends know how much they appreciate having them at games.
I see them intently listen to their coaches, time and again. They focus; they don’t drift.
I see them honor their teammates, school, and uniform, competing hard every time out, celebrating achievement, but not rubbing it in the faces of their foes.
I see them keep alive the memory of their late cousin, Adam Garcia, in word and deed, and I know he would be proud of that they are accomplishing.
And I see them support each other, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Smashin’ homers and takin’ names. (Jackie Saia photo)
The games will end at some point. That’s a fact.
You like to hope that Capri and Haylee’s final moment together wearing a Wolf uniform will come on a diamond in Eastern Washington in late May next year, with Coupeville softball hoisting a state tourney trophy.
That they will have made highlights on the volleyball and basketball court, before putting the exclamation point on things as part of the Smash Sisters, playing the sport which really seems to define both.
Maybe it will be so. Maybe it won’t.
Either way, they will be together for life, the latest link in a family deeply ingrained in Wolf Nation.
But before they get those diplomas and head off to the next stage of their lives, here’s to hoping Capri and Haylee see all their athletic dreams come true during their senior campaigns.
I’m calling it — this is going to be “The Year of the Cousins,” and the Vegas odds tell us it’s going to be a special one.
The dynamic duo. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
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