Henry Wynn (783) tears up the turf at an early-season meet. (John Fisken photo)
He had a nice run.
Coupeville High School junior Henry Wynn capped his first season as a cross country runner Saturday, finishing 26th at the Westside Classic in Tacoma.
The event, run at the American Lake Veterans Golf Course, was the final step before the state meet.
Only one team and the top seven harriers from other teams punched their ticket, leaving Wynn on the outside looking in.
Charles Wright Academy edged Port Townsend for the team title, while Jared Donnel of Bellevue Christian won the individual crown.
Wynn, who was one of just two Wolves running this season, covered the 5,000 meter course in 20:00.1, finishing ahead of 18 rival runners.
Coupeville doesn’t have an active cross country program, so Wynn and sophomore Danny Conlisk trained and traveled with South Whidbey this year, then split with the Falcons once the postseason started.
Conlisk, who has been battling an Achilles tendon injury, wasn’t able to run Saturday, but both Wolves are expected to return next season.
Pick up enough interest from other runners and there’s even an outside chance CHS could be inspired to restart its program, which has a distinguished history including two individual state champs in Nastasha Bamberger (1985) and Tyler King (2010).
Julian Welling and his Wolf teammates captured their third win of the season Friday night, smacking Chimacum 24-6. (John Fisken photos)
Hunter Smith, seen here in an earlier game, hauled in his 10th TD reception of the year, tying the CHS single-season mark.
A true team win.
That’s what the Coupeville High School football squad put together Friday night, riding touchdowns from three different players as it romped to a 24-6 win at Chimacum.
The victory snaps a three-game skid for the Wolves and lifts them to 2-4 in Olympic/Nisqually League play, 3-6 overall.
With one game left on the schedule — next Friday at home against undefeated Cascade Christian — the Wolves have taken a huge step forward from last year’s 1-9 mark.
First-year coach Jon Atkins mixed things up a bit Friday, going for two-point conversions after all three scores.
When Hunter Smith scampered in on attempts after the first and third touchdowns, it was the first successful conversions of the season for CHS.
The Wolves broke the game open early and never let go of the lead.
Hunter Downes dropped the ball into Cameron Toomey-Stout’s hands on an 18-yard scoring strike late in the first quarter to kick things off.
The first of three TD passes on the night for the junior quarterback, it set the tone.
Smith bolted in for two to open an 8-0 lead and Coupeville stretched the margin to double digits with a safety on the first play of the second quarter.
Downes went right back to work, finding the other Toomey-Stout brother, freshman Sean, with a 20-yard pass to run the score to 16-0.
It was the first varsity TD for the young receiver, and a reward, as Sean Toomey-Stout had provided the Wolves with the earlier safety.
He blew up an option play and rode down the pitch man in the end zone.
Coupeville held Chimacum scoreless through the first half, with Cameron Toomey-Stout pilfering a pass — his third pick of the season — and the Wolf line partially blocking a Cowboy punt.
The hosts finally cracked the code midway through the third quarter, when they put together a seven-yard scoring pass.
The conversion failed, however, and the Wolves put the game on ice with a pair of plays from Smith.
After having opposing teams fail to throw his way most of the season, the junior finally got a rare crack at an interception, and immediately made off with it.
His third pick of the season, it gives Smith 11 all-time (he had one as a freshman and seven as a sophomore), leaving him just one shy of Josh Bayne’s CHS career record.
Shortly thereafter Smith continued his quest to attack all of Bayne’s records, hauling in his 10th touchdown reception of the season.
The snag ties Bayne’s single-season mark, and was Downes 16th TD pass this season.
He’s spread his scoring strikes out between Smith (10), Cameron Toomey-Stout (4), Jacob Martin (1) and Sean Toomey-Stout (1).
Downes sits two shy of Joel Walstad’s single-season record of 18 touchdown passes, set in 2014, when his primary target was … yep, Bayne.
Jasmine (left) and Tamika Nastali at work. (John Fisken and Beth Nastali photos)
The day, and the world, belongs to the twins.
Coupeville High School sophomore sensations Tamika and Jasmine (Jazzy) Nastali, who celebrate a joint cake day today, are two of the brightest shining stars living in our town.
Superb athletes — Tamika rakes on the softball diamond while Jasmine is a fleet-footed wonder on the track oval — the duo, like older sister Heather, are also really incredible young women in other parts of life as well.
The Nastali twins are smart, kind, caring, friendly, effervescent even.
Very supportive of each other, and of their many family members, Tamika and Jasmine reflect extremely well on parents Beth and Robert.
There is little doubt the titanic twins are going to accomplish big things, both on the athletic stage and off.
The best thing we can all do right now is get in good with them and hope they remember the small people after they’ve hit the big time.
So happy birthday, Nastali sisters.
You make our small town a much better place with your presence, and we, the fans, want to wish you the best on your birthday, and every day.
May you continue to dazzle the world for a very long time to come.
Wolf defender Megan DePorter is ready to help carry her teammates to their first-ever playoff win. (John Fisken photo)
Into the great unknown.
When the Coupeville High School girls’ soccer squad opens the playoffs Saturday, the Wolves will be facing a foe they haven’t played before — at least on the pitch.
While CHS memorably clashed with Charles Wright Academy in a sometimes-brutal basketball playoff game last winter, the two schools don’t appear to have met on the soccer field before.
So, as you prepare for Soccerageddon 2016, here’s a cheat sheet.
What: District 3 girls’ soccer playoff game.
Where: Wildcat Memorial Stadium in Oak Harbor (1 Wildcat Way), which is covered and seats 3,000.
When: 1:30 PM kickoff, Saturday, Oct. 29
Admission prices:
$8 Adults/Non-ASB
$5 Students with ASB
$5 Sr. Citizens (62+)
$4 Elementary
At stake: Winner advances to face Nisqually League champ Cascade Christian Nov. 1 in the double-elimination round of districts, from which three of four teams qualify for state.
Common foes: None. They would have had one, but Bellevue Christian, which split games with CWA this season, cancelled its late season non-conference match-up with Coupeville because of “a shortage of players.”
BC is also in the playoffs, on the other side of the bracket, so the Wolves still might get that game, just with a lot more riding on the outcome.
So, you have the basics down cold. But what about the trivia, in case you need common ground to talk to a Charles Wright fan?
Boom.
CWA is a private K-12 school located in Tacoma. It’s associated with the Episcopal Church, but doesn’t push one religious doctrine to its 700+ student body.
It was founded in 1957 as an all-boys school. Opening with 40 students, it graduated its first senior class (14 of them) in 1964.
The school went co-ed in 1970 and is named after a guy who never stepped foot in our state.
Charles Barstow Wright was a Pennsylvania businessman who chose Tacoma as the Pacific terminus for the transcontinental railroad.
While the school is named in his honor, there’s never been a direct connection between the academy and the Wright family.
And lastly, but maybe most importantly, the school mascot is NOT a scruffy little dog, as CWA hails the Tarrier, not the Terrier.
And what’s a Tarrier?
It’s a name given to Irish workers who worked on building the railroad so important to the original Charles Wright, though it almost lost the mascot battle on day one.
Apparently there was a pretty heated fight back in the day (1962 or so), with the runner-up being Hodag.
And if you wouldn’t have been super excited to have your school mascot be named for a legendary 200-pound, seven-foot-long lizard with razor sharp spikes for teeth which (allegedly) stalked lumberjacks, there’s just something wrong with you.
The Hodag monster was “the living embodiment of deceased lumber oxen, filled with rage and hatred towards mankind for forcing upon them an enslaved existence during their previous life” and you can read much more here:
Lauren Rose, seen here in an earlier match, had a team-high 16 assists Thursday night. (John Fisken photo)
“I’m very happy with our fight tonight.”
Roaring from behind while playing in front of a hostile crowd Thursday, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad almost pulled off a miracle win.
But while the Wolves ran out of gas a point or two from keeping their league record flawless, CHS coach Cory Whitmore was still impressed with the fight he saw from his players.
“Klahowya is a very good team and at their house they play even better,” he said. “We never gave up and got battle-tested going into districts.”
The Eagles escaped with a 27-25, 25-16, 26-28, 19-25, 15-12 win, making up a bit for Coupeville winning a five-set thriller the first time these two schools squared off in Silverdale back in Sept.
In between, the Wolves slammed Klahowya in straight sets during the one time they faced-off on Whidbey, and, if a fourth showdown is coming, it will be on Coupeville’s turf.
CHS, which is 7-1 in 1A Olympic League play, 10-4 overall, has one more regular season match Saturday at Port Townsend (0-8, 2-12).
After that, the Wolves carry a #1 seed into districts Saturday, Nov. 5.
Win two matches (while not losing more than one) that day in their own gym and they punch their ticket to state.
Klahowya (6-3, 7-7) will have to win a loser-out game against Seattle Christian Nov. 3 to make it to the double-elimination round of districts.
Thursday, the Eagles opened strongly, but the Wolves responded.
“We lost a tight first set and didn’t let it determine the entire rest of the match,” Whitmore said. “Our defense was scrappy and lit a fire.”
Hope Lodell led the attack, firing off eight aces on her serve while also going low for a team-high 21 digs.
She was joined on the stat sheet by Katrina McGranahan (nine kills, seven aces), Lauren Rose (16 assists), Ashley Menges (11 assists), Valen Trujillo (nine digs) and Mikayla Elfrank (eight kills).
JV stays red-hot:
With the varsity match being a long one, the young guns got the short end of the stick on the road. As the ferry revved its motor in the distance, the two schools played just a single set.
The results? Same old, same old, as Coupeville crushed Klahowya 25-16 to nab its ninth straight win.
The JV squad sits at 8-0 in league play, 11-2 overall and will go for a perfect conference season when it faces Port Townsend.
While the Wolves time on the floor was limited Thursday, they continued to shine brightly.
“We had to play pretty quickly but we did play well,” said Wolf JV coach Kristin Bridges. “We are growing into a really cohesive unit.”
