Freshman Maya Toomey-Stout will be the first Wolf track athlete since 2010 to compete at state in four events in one season. (Maria Reyes photo)
The question loomed large at the start of spring.
Which way would “The Gazelle” run?
During her middle school days, Maya Toomey-Stout was a standout in both track and softball, equally capable of stunning foes on the oval or the base-paths.
In Coupeville’s version of The Decision, the Wolf freshman followed up volleyball and basketball stints by choosing to spend her rain-filled spring helping debut the new CHS track facilities.
And it paid off (maybe not for softball coach Kevin McGranahan), as the serene supernova blitzed the field, qualifying for state in four different events.
When she and her teammates land in Cheney this weekend, Toomey-Stout is slated to run in the 100 and 200, while also running a leg on 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 squads.
She’s one of two Whidbey Island athletes to qualify in four events, along with South Whidbey junior Sophia Nielsen, who punched her ticket in the 100 and 300 hurdles, triple jump and long jump.
For Coupeville, Toomey-Stout is the first Wolf to pull off the feat since Tyler King ran in the 800 and 4 x 400, while winning titles in the 1600 and 3200 back in 2010.
Jon Chittim set the gold standard for CHS track athletes, remaining the only Wolf to medal in four events at the same state track meet.
He was a part of three titles (200, 400, 4 x 400) in 2006, while also finishing 7th in the 100, just a second off of a fourth championship.
As far as I can tell from my research, Toomey-Stout is the first Coupeville girl to compete at state in four events in one season.
With the Wolves sitting less than 19 hours from departure for Cheney (7:30 AM Thursday), that tidbit tops our list of facts you can casually drop into conversation if you want to appear to be a track savant.
Other fast facts:
Coupeville finished 12th (girls) and 15th (boys) in the team standings at state last season.
Best finishes in school history? The Wolf boys were 4th in 2006 and 2008, the girls 5th in 1984.
Sparking the solid team numbers last year were second-place finishes in the 400 (Makana Stone) and discus (Dalton Martin), two of Coupeville’s nine medals (five boys, four girls).
That was the school’s best showing since 2008.
That year the Wolf boys claimed seven medals, including a title in the 3200 from Kyle King, and the girls brought home two, led by Kyra Ilyankoff’s second-place finish in the javelin.
CHS boasts 15 state titles in track all-time (with another two in cross country).
Best year? 2006, when the Wolf boys stood atop the podium in the 200, 400, 3200 and 4 x 400.
Boys have won 10 of the 15 titles, including the last nine.
Most successful event? The 3200, where Natasha Bamberger (3), Kyle King (3), Tyler King (1) and Jeff Fielding (1) combined to bring home eight titles.
After that, it’s the 1600, with three titles (one each from Bamberger and both King boys), then one title apiece in the 800 (Amy Mouw), 200 and 400 (Chittim) and 4 x 400 (Chittim, Kyle King, Steven McDonald and Chris Hutchinson).
It’s been 2,552 days since a Coupeville boy (Tyler King in 2010) stood atop the podium at state, and 5,107 days since a Wolf girl (Mouw in 2003) gazed down on the track world.
Also, two of the 10 Wolves going to state this year have relatives who own state meet medals.
Sophomore Lindsey Roberts, who brought home three medals as a frosh, is the niece of Jay Roberts, who earned 3rd and 4th place medals in the 4 x 100, in 1986 and ’87, respectively.
Meanwhile, junior Ariah Bepler, making his first trip to Cheney after winning the high jump at districts, needs only to look across the living room to see history.
His dad Mark placed 4th in the discus in ’86.
The senior Bepler also rightfully held the school record in the event for many years (regardless of what the CHS record board said), until Martin passed his mark last spring.
But, that’s a story for another day.
