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Posts Tagged ‘CHS Wolves’

Swing away (one more time)!!

Posted in Baseball, Softball, tagged Aaron Trumbull, baseball, CHS Wolves, Hailey Hammer, Softball on March 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Former Wolf ace Ben Etzell is back for a third season of college baseball. (Photo property of Saint John’s University)

The spring is alive with the sounds of former Wolves returning to the diamond.

At least four Coupeville High School grads are on college baseball and softball squads this season, with three of them having already seen action.

An early-season update (in alphabetic order):

Ben Etzell — The former Cascade Conference MVP is back on the mound for Saint John’s (Minnesota) after recovering from surgery.

Now a junior, he’s appeared in four games for the Johnnies (5-2), throwing 6.2 innings and collecting a save against Pitt-Bradford.

Etzell has an ERA of 1.35, has whiffed eight batters and is limiting opposing hitters to a .071 batting average.

Through two-plus seasons at Saint John’s, he’s 5-1 with three saves.

Hailey Hammer — After thumping a preseason home run, the Everett Community College sophomore is hitting .385 through five regular season games.

She has six runs, five hits, three walks, a stolen base and an RBI for a team sitting at 3-4.

Aaron Trumbull — The former Wolf first baseman has appeared in one game for Olympic Community College (1-2), eking out a walk and scoring a run in a 7-0 win over Gray’s Harbor.

Monica Vidoni — Wrapping up a two-year run in which she’s played softball, basketball and softball at Rainy River Community College in Minnesota, she’s off to Florida to kick-off her final season.

RRCC takes the field Tuesday in Titusville and will play six games in three days in the Sunshine State.

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A heart as big as the world!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged CHS Wolves, Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day, Hall of Fame, Jae LeVine, Softball on March 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Joltin’ Jae LeVine. (John Fisken photos)

“Flash” gets group-hugged during a volleyball match.

Her scholarly side rises to the top during a road trip.

“Coach, we’ll talk more later, but it’s time for me to go be awesome now.”

We’ve gotta let her in. Otherwise she’ll just knock the door down.

There is no obstacle too big for the Mighty Mite to crush, no challenge too high for JaeBird to fly over, no feat too daunting for Flash to zoom right past.

A young woman of many nicknames, and far more accomplishments, Jae LeVine is joy and giddiness, strength and passion, all wrapped around the biggest lil’ heart to ever stride across the prairie.

She is also, as of today, a certified member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

As if there ever was a doubt.

Miss LeVine will now occupy a spot at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, joining big sis Micky and dad Sean.

Somewhere off to the side multi-talented lil’ sis Izzy plots how long it will be before she too joins the pantheon.

“Soon, soon…”

But today is all about the irrepressible one, the bright, shining supernova who crashes through life, drum sticks in one hand, softball bat in the other, calculator stuck in her back pocket.

Jae “Flash” LeVine is a stellar scholar, a wild woman on the skins and an athlete who has never given less than her all.

Frankly, it’s remarkable that she is an athlete at all.

LeVine has dealt with a Ventricular Septal Defect (a large hole in the inner heart wall that required open heart surgery as a baby) and Aortic Stenosis since birth.

After a brief run as a basketball player, doctors made her quit her favorite sport, but she endured as a volleyball spiker and softball slugger.

Where there is a will, there is a way, and Jae has more will than the rest of us combined.

Instead of moping around, she has embraced each challenge, head held high, impish smile lighting up the galaxy around her.

Along the way, she’s dabbled in drama, been a student leader, kept things hoppin’ at Prairie Center and made the lives of everyone around her immeasurably better.

But this is an athletic hall, and when Jae retires her CHS uniforms, she will leave behind multiple memories which clinch her induction.

I will remember her final moments as a hoops star, before she had to leave the court.

Nailing a three-ball from somewhere out in the parking lot, LeVine put an appropriate cap on her middle school days by promptly dancing back up the court, arms above her head, “Rocky”-style.

As her fan section (which covered the entire bleachers) went bonkers, she alternated pumping her fists by pointing at one fan, then another, before exiting the game in a wave of her own giggles.

I will also remember the night she was playing libero part-time in a volleyball match, which meant she had to keep swapping out her uniform top.

LeVine would zig off the court, disappear for a moment, then reappear, each time acting if she was Superman flying onto the scene.

The final time, instead of merely dropping her discarded uniform top, she whipped it over her head, dropping it into dad Sean’s hands on a dime.

Then exited in a wave of her own giggles.

The softball diamond has been Jae’s refuge, the one sport where doctors have let her play out her dreams for her entire high school career, and she has blossomed out there.

A scrappy defender who sells out for every ball smacked her way at second base, she has become quite adept with her glove, while also developing a nice aggressive streak at the plate.

Through rain and sleet and snow (it’s spring sports … there is no sun), “Flash” is a ball o’ fire, with a little fist-pumping, a whole lot of teammate hugging and much roof-raising when she’s up to shenanigans in the dugout.

Every day, in every way, Jae LeVine proves, in school, in sports, in life, that you, and you alone, dictate the size of your heart and how much you will get out of this life.

She is my hero, and I am very happy to induct her into my Hall o’ Fame.

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Sweet 16, here they come!!

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Makana Stone, Whitman on March 4, 2017| 1 Comment »

Makana Stone roars back up court after scoring in the NCAA tourney. (John Fisken photos)

The pro-Makana crowd likes what they see.

It’s 3-on-1 and yet you know where that rebound is going — right into Stone’s hands.

Staying vocal during her brief time on the bench.

Killers when it matters most.

After losing twice in overtime during the regular season to the University of Puget Sound, Whitman College roared back to knock off the Loggers twice in eight days under the biggest spotlight possible.

First came a win in the championship game of the Northwest Conference tournament, but Saturday night topped that.

Holding off a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Loggers, the Blues and fab frosh Makana Stone stunned UPS 69-67 in the second round of the NCAA D-III basketball tourney.

That sends Whitman to the Sweet 16, where they will face Trinity (Texas) Mar. 10 at a still-to-be-decided spot.

The Blues are 25-4, while their next foes, who hail from San Antonio, are 28-1.

Whitman and Trinity share a unique bond, as they were the only schools to knock off Puget Sound (26-3) this season.

Trinity nipped the Loggers 68-65 at a mid-season tourney hosted by Whitman’s league rival, Pacific Lutheran University.

Puget Sound, which won the regular season title in the Northwest Conference, is a dangerous team and it almost pulled off an astounding comeback Saturday night.

Whitman had jumped out to an 18-8 lead after one quarter, then stretched it to 54-41 heading into the fourth.

UPS finally started scoring, but Whitman still had them seemingly at bay at 66-57, when the Loggers went nuclear from behind the arc.

Back-to-back three-balls cut the lead to 66-63, but Whitman’s ever-steady Casey Poe blunted the rally by knocking down a jumper with 34 seconds on the clock.

After a Poe free throw with 25 ticks left pushed the lead out to six, the Loggers hit one final trey before Whitman escaped.

Coupeville import Stone, making her 12th start of the season, went for four points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal in the win.

Maegen Martin came off the bench to pace Whitman with 16 points, while Chelsi Brewer popped for 14 and Emily Rommel rattled the rim for 11.

Stone has played in 28 of 29 games this season (missing one with an injury), scoring 193 points (6.9 a night) and snagging 175 rebounds (6.3).

She is #2 on the team in rebounding and field goal percentage, while also racking up 30 assists, 14 steals and 11 blocks.

To see the tourney bracket, pop over to:

http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/basketball-women/d3

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Built Wolf tough!!

Posted in A freakin' American hero, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Lauren Grove, three-sport athletes, Tiffany Briscoe on March 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Tiffany Briscoe (left) and Lauren Grove both played a sport in all 12 seasons of their high school career. (Amy King photo)

The three-sport athlete is not dead.

In the five years Coupeville Sports has existed, the number of Wolves upholding the old-school tradition of playing something every season has fluctuated.

And this year, that number is trending upwards.

One week into spring sports practices, it appears 23 CHS students — 13 girls and 10 boys — will pull off the feat in 2016-2017.

That’s a nice bounce from last year, when only 17 reached the mark.

It also stops a downward spiral.

After 18 athletes hit the mark in 2012-2013, we hit a high-water mark of 23 in ’13-’14.

But then the numbers started to slip, from 20 in ’14-’15 to last year’s low of 17.

Now, we’ve rebounded to tie our best mark.

Why the increase this year?

In two words, fresh blood, as 10 freshmen (five girls, five boys) took advantage of all of their opportunities.

In fact, the frosh nipped the juniors, who fielded seven iron men/women, while the sophomores had four and the seniors just a piddly two.

But those two seniors, Lauren Grove and Tiffany Briscoe, are true believers, having played a sport in all 12 seasons of their high school careers.

That tops last year, when just one ’16 grad, Jared Helmstadter, achieved the perfecto.

Barring injury or distractions, we could have as many as four athletes pull off a 12-for-12 run in ’18, as juniors Lauren Rose, Allison Wenzel, Cameron Toomey-Stout and Hunter Smith are flawless to this point at 9-for-9.

Why does any of this matter?

For a lot of reasons, with the first being the simple fact Coupeville is a small school, even by 1A standards, and needs bodies in uniforms.

Also, the age of specialization is a crock, unless you’re in the top .001% of your sport nationally (and no one in Cow Town fits that bill these days).

College coaches repeatedly say the same thing — they want athletes who have played more than one sport. You may have a specialty, or a favorite, but try pushing yourself.

The proof is right before our eyes.

When we look at CHS grads who have gone on to successfully play college sports in recent years, whether it’s Tyler King at U-Dub, Kyle King at Oklahoma, Makana Stone at Whitman or Ben Etzell at Saint John’s, one fact remains — they all played 2-3 sports every year in high school.

Whether you want to move on to the next level or high school is the end of the road for you athletically, push yourself. Try something new.

It’s good for the school. It’s better for you.

3-sport athletes in 2016-2017:

Tiffany Briscoe – senior (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Hunter Downes – junior (football, basketball, track)
Mikayla Elfrank – junior (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Lauren Grove – senior (soccer, basketball, track)
Mason Grove – freshman (tennis, basketball, soccer)
Elliott Johnson – freshman (tennis, basketball, baseball)
Gavin Knoblich – freshman (football, basketball, baseball)
Nicole Lester – sophomore (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Joey Lippo – junior (tennis, basketball, baseball)
Emma Mathusek – freshman (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Avalon Renninger – freshman (soccer, basketball, tennis)
Lindsey Roberts – sophomore (soccer, basketball, track)
Lauren Rose – junior (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Ema Smith – sophomore (soccer, basketball, track)
Hunter Smith – junior (football, basketball, baseball)
Scout Smith – freshman (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Cameron Toomey-Stout – junior (football, basketball, track)
Maya Toomey-Stout – freshman (volleyball, basketball, track)
Sean Toomey-Stout – freshman (football, basketball, track)
Ulrik Wells – freshman (football, basketball, baseball)
Allison Wenzel – junior (volleyball, basketball, track)
Sarah Wright – sophomore (volleyball, basketball, softball)
Tia Wurzrainer – freshman (soccer, basketball, tennis)

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Making a big splash!!

Posted in Swim, tagged CHS Wolves, Cole Weinstein, school record, swimming, Whitman on March 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Cole Weinstein

Makana Stone is not the only former Coupeville standout tearing up things at Whitman College these days.

Wolf grad Cole Weinstein is busy rewriting the school’s record books and was tabbed as Co-Swimmer of the Year by the Northwest Conference.

He claimed three first-places finishes at the conference meet in mid-Feb., winning the 400 individual medley and 1,650 free while swimming a leg on a triumphant 400 free relay unit.

Weinstein’s time in the 400 IM (3:58.64) broke the school and league record.

In addition to his three firsts, he racked up a second-place finish in the 500 free and a third in the 800 free relay, helping Whitman cruise to the conference title.

Now a three-time, First-Team All-League pick, Weinstein is off to the NCAA D-III championships in Texas Mar. 15-18.

While there he’s scheduled to compete in the 400 IM, 500 free and 200 breaststroke.

It will be his second appearance at the national championships.

A senior at Whitman, Weinstein is majoring in film and media studies.

Before heading to Whitman, he had a very successful run with the North Whidbey Aquatic Club and competed in the pool for Oak Harbor High School, like older sister Rachel, since Coupeville doesn’t have a facility or team.

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