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Posts Tagged ‘CHS Wolves’

Quick hits: Jake Hoagland debuts!!

Posted in Baseball, Football, tagged , , , , , on June 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jake Hoagland wails on the sax. (John Fisken photo)

Jake Hoagland wails on the sax. (John Fisken photo)

Jake Hoagland

Hoagland (far left) and friends celebrate the end of the school year.

With a new high school football season ahead of us, let’s take a look at some of the young men who will play for Coupeville High School for the first time this fall.

When it comes to football, Jake Hoagland is putting the remote down and picking up the pigskin.

Already a successful baseball player for Coupeville High School, he’ll trade watching football for playing it as he enters his sophomore year.

“This year is my first year actually,” Hoagland said. “I enjoy watching football, but now I have the chance to play.”

He’s making the transition after being talked into it by those around him.

“I was kinda coaxed into playing by my friend Hunter Downes and coach (Brett) Smedley also said that I should play, so here I am,” Hoagland said. “My parents were not sure if I was going to play until the first practice.”

Having shown up for those opening spring practices, he plans to keep going, with an eye on snagging passes for Coupeville.

“Right now my strength is receiver and I only plan on playing that position, for now at least,” Hoagland said. “Since this is my first year I don’t have any goals really.

“I just plan on doing my best to support my team.”

While he may not have much football experience, Hoagland does have natural athletic ability and an easy-going nature.

A long-time baseball player, he saw varsity action for the Wolves as a freshman.

Making his first career start in an Olympic League game against Port Townsend, he smacked a pair of hits and knocked in three runs.

When he wasn’t on the diamond, he was also a standout with an instrument, playing a vital role for Jamar Jenkin’s CMS/CHS band.

“I usually spend my time sitting around, but when it comes to my classes I enjoy fitness and band the most,” Hoagland said.

If baseball and music are any indication, expect the scrappy Wolf to play a sweet tune on the football field, as well.

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Quick hits: Alex Turner arrives!!

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , , on June 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Alex Turner (left) with dad ?.

Alex Turner (left) with dad Joseph.

With a new high school football season ahead of us, let’s take a look at some of the young men who will play for Coupeville High School for the first time this fall.

“I like hitting people!”

Before you think Alex Turner is being overly violent, he’s talking about the time he spends on the gridiron.

Turner, who will be a freshman at Coupeville High School in the fall, is entering his eighth year as a football player.

He was introduced to the sport by his dad, Joseph, and has loved the fast-paced, physical game ever since.

“I really don’t know what I’d be doing without football or my dad,” Turner said.

On the field, he lives for the big hit, and continues to put in the behind-the-scenes work necessary to make an impact once he straps on the gear.

“I’m fast, I can hit hard, I’m a good route runner,” Turner said. “I need to work on footing and reading the quarterback’s eyes and getting my wind up.”

Turner is working with a personal trainer on fine-tuning all of his moves.

“He’s helping with that right now; I want to be a better all-around player and to work hard every time I hit the football field.”

Football is not his only game, as Turner is a year-round athlete, having also played basketball and track during his time at Coupeville Middle School.

Away from sports, he spends most of his free time playing video games and working out.

Preparation for that moment when he steps on the field, clad in red and black, ready to lay down a string of hits that will put his name on the lips of Wolf fans everywhere.

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Excellence was born today!!

Posted in Happy birthday, tagged , , , , , , , on June 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Birthday trio (clockwise from top left) Connor McCormick, Allie Hanigan and Sean LeVine.

Birthday trio (clockwise from top left) Connor McCormick, Allie Hanigan and Sean LeVine.

June 11 stands as one of the deeper days for producing excellence in Wolf Nation.

If we wanted to hand out birthday well wishes to everyone and their sister, we could include Jennifer Dohner and Kristi Etzell, moms who sent numerous talented offspring through the halls of Coupeville High School.

But, for the moment, we’ll focus on three who have made a big impact on Wolf sports in the last few years — Allie Hanigan, Connor McCormick and Sean LeVine.

McCormick, who will be a senior at CHS in the fall, has done a bit of everything, and always done it with great passion.

Soccer goalie, deadly doubles player on the tennis court, baseball and football stud in his earlier days and a medal-winning twin threat with Science Club and History Day.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the middle McCormick child as he upholds the family tradition of awesomeness.

LeVine may technically not be a Wolf, having played soccer in his younger days for a different school that shall go unnamed, but his impact on Coupeville sports is undeniable.

His progeny — Micky “Two Fists” LeVine, Jae “Mighty Mite” LeVine and Izzy “The Real Superstar” LeVine, are among the brightest talents in the land, precocious, uber-talented, super smart (and sometimes smart-ass) young women.

Then there is LeVine’s soccer coaching career, which has touched countless lives.

Whether working with youth soccer programs, or guiding the Whidbey Islanders select soccer squad, which brought together players from Coupeville, Oak Harbor and the South end and rattled the big city programs to their core, Sean has guided the growth and development of an entire generation of pitch stars.

Plus, he’s done it all while working as a superhero on the side (he’s a paramedic) and showing an ability to grow an impressive beard. The man is multi-talented.

Topping off our trio is Hanigan, who moved to Coupeville from my birthplace, Kelso, and immediately became a two-sport sensation.

Ruling the volleyball and tennis courts for two years, she was a fearsome hitter who played in much the same way she moves through real life, with epic grace and style.

Allie is walking, talking class personified and even though she’s moved on to college life, she’s not easily forgotten.

As individuals or as a group, the terrific trio of McCormick, LeVine and Hanigan make the rest of us look better for being loosely connected to them.

Here’s to happy birthdays for all three, this year and in the future.

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“My favorite part is when we work as a team!!”

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on June 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Shank

   Ashlie Shank (center) hangs out with basketball teammates Lindsey Roberts (left) and Ema Smith.

shank

A ferry ride home during track season, with (l to r) Emma Smith, Shank, Maddy Hilkey, Teo Keilwitz and Roberts.

Sports excellence is a family tradition.

Now it’s the little sister’s turn.

Following in the footsteps of brothers Matt and Brian, Ashlie Shank will become the third, and final, member of her family to wear the red and black for Coupeville High School.

Add in her other older siblings, who played sports back in Utah before dad Jim Shank came to the Island to become Coupeville Schools Superintendent, and the idea of Shanks excelling on the court is an easily accepted one.

Ashlie, who will be a freshman at CHS in the fall, plans to play volleyball and basketball for the Wolves.

As a middle schooler, she also competed in track and field and always had a strong presence in the stands when her brothers were playing football, tennis and basketball.

Her first action as a high school athlete will come on the volleyball court, where she’ll be entering her fourth year in the sport.

“I started playing in sixth grade mostly because my mom (Sallie) wanted me to play,” Shank said. “But I also wanted to follow my sister’s footsteps and play volleyball in high school.”

Shank, who is part of a large, close-knit group of friends that includes fellow Wolf athletes Maddy Hilkey, Emma Smith, Ashley Menges and Lindsey Roberts, loves how the sport encourages teammates to help each other out.

“My favorite part about volleyball is when we work as a team,” Shank said. “Getting on the court with my teammates and working together gets me excited, making me want to play more.”

After some thought, she picks setting as her strength, while she’d like to work on her hitting and passing.

As she goes forth, the final link in the Shank athletic dynasty, she knows she has a loyal fan base always there to support her.

“My parents and my big brother, Matt, have made a big impact on me,” Shank said. “My parents help me to improve whether it’s in sports or school, and they are always there for me.

“As for Matt, he helped me to be more confident in sports and to never give up,” she added. “I want to be just like him when I am in high school.”

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Big bats, big hearts!!

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , , on June 8, 2015| 2 Comments »

Hope Lodell (Becca Lodell photo)

Hope “The Surgeon” Lodell breaks out the gun show. (Rebecca Lodell photo)

(Kolby photo)

  Dinner time at Boomer’s Drive-In for the Storm and coach Ron Wright. (Kolby Doerge photo)

“We are more than a combined team from Mt. Vernon and Coupeville/South Whidbey. We have become a family that lifts each other up and stands behind one another when times get tough.”

Those thoughts from NW Storm coach Kolby Doerge perfectly capture what the select softball squad has accomplished.

It gives players such as Wolves Hope Lodell, Sarah Wright, Katrina McGranahan and Lauren Rose a way to build their skills, but also a way to build their characters.

And, if they win a bunch of games along the way, so much the better.

Pounding the ball with authority over the weekend, the Storm came close to bringing home another tourney title, but were turned away at the end.

“We won some and lost some,” said the philosophical Doerge.

The Storm opened with a hard-fought loss to the eventual tourney champ, falling in the final inning to the Bellingham Bash in a slugfest.

Mount Vernon’s Tyanna Wittman crushed a 225-foot grand slam to pace the Storm, while South Whidbey hurler Bella Northup tossed a “gem of a game.”

Bouncing right back from a loss in “the game of the weekend,” the Storm found themselves in a hole in game two.

Down 7-0 after a rough first inning, the Storm held firm and rallied, pouring in 14 runs of their own in a two-inning span to shred the Seattle Fury.

“It really tested the heart of the team,” Doerge said. “Giving up seven runs in the first inning I called a time out to give one message to the team. I said the rules say they have to let us bat once, too!

“Katrina was the pitcher in this game and the true measure of a leader is how they respond to adversity,” he added. “I gave her the option to come out after the first inning. She said no, took the ball and shut the door on a solid team from the city.

“As a coach that was the response I wanted! We both agreed afterwards that she showed maturity in the moment that will help her as her career progresses.”

From there, the Storm lost two of their final three, but ended things on a positive note, winning their final game Sunday.

Lodell and Wright earned MVP honors, with The Surgeon (Lodell) being tabbed in game two for a gorgeous running left-handed bunt.

Wright claimed game three honors for “her outstanding defense behind the plate and her consistent power at the plate.”

Rose broke out of a slump, as well, lashing a three-run home run against a Canadian squad.

“I had a quick message. Keep it simple, swing for the fence,” Doerge said. “The inning prior to the at-bat, I mention how one of the best hitters in baseball, Robinson Cano, couldn’t buy a hit, but, like Lauren, he was one solid hit away from getting back in the groove.

“She did just that.”

With next weekend’s Thunder in the Valley Tournament in Skagit County looming, Doerge sent his victorious squad back to their homes with a positive message ringing in their ears.

“My final post-game comments energized the girls,” Doerge said. “The one thing I know about the Thunder Tournament is that there is a Storm rolling in!!

“They almost came out of there cleats with excitement. Gotta love it!”

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