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Posts Tagged ‘CHS Wolves’

CHS female athletes set the pace

Posted in standings, tagged , , , , , , on August 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Avalon Renninger is a vital part of Wolf girls tennis and basketball, the two most-successful CHS athletic programs during the Coupeville Sports days. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The girls rule Coupeville High School.

And before you offer an argument, it’s right there in black and white.

This blog launched August 15, 2012, which means it’s been in place for seven complete school years at this point.

In that time, the 10 CHS athletic teams which keep win/loss records have combined to post 19 winning seasons, with 14 of those coming from female athletes.

That’s 73.6%, so the argument is more than done (at least at this moment in time).

Those 10 sports (we’re not counting track or cross country, which operate in their own world of score-keeping) include five girls teams and five boys squads.

On the girls side, all five sports have at least one winning season during the run of Coupeville Sports, while three of the five boys teams have yet to break .500 between 2012-2013 and 2018-2019.

The last seven years have seen Coupeville compete in three different leagues.

Two final years in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference were followed by four years in the Olympic League, then the 2018-2019 school year kicked off the 1A North Sound Conference.

The years spent with Klahowya, Port Townsend, and Chimacum in the Olympic League were the sweet spot, as CHS captured the most league wins of any of the four schools, while claiming 14 of its 19 winning seasons.

Back in the company of private schools like King’s and Cedar Park Christian this past year, the Wolves took a step back, percentage-wise, but still claimed three winning campaigns.

That was one more than CHS totaled across its final two years of being hammered by Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Co. in the old Cascade Conference.

Looking at the results, there are several things which emerge.

The two CHS programs with the highest winning percentages from 2012-2013 to 2018-2019 — girls tennis and girls basketball — only had one coach during that time period.

Ken Stange, who has also guided boys tennis to the fifth-best mark, was already in place long before I left the Coupeville Examiner to start this blog, while girls hoop guru David King was hired right as it began.

Girls tennis holds down the #1 slot, despite taking a step back the past two seasons, while volleyball and softball are rising up the rankings, with each having posted three-straight winning seasons.

Overall, counting league and non-league clashes, Coupeville has compiled a 482-667 record during my blogging days. That’s a .419 winning percentage.

Better than a lot of schools, but no one is going to call us a state powerhouse anytime soon.

As we head into a second season in the North Sound Conference, with the possible promise of a long-anticipated return to 2B a year from now, my hope is for the wins to keep trending upward.

If nothing else, that makes my job easier, and making my job easier is priority #1.

It’s not? Well, it should be.

 

Breakdown by sport:

 

Girls Tennis:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 9-3
2013-2014 6-7
2014-2015 11-3
2015-2016 10-3
2016-2017 6-3
2017-2018 7-8
2018-2019 2-7
(51-34) .600

 

Girls Basketball:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 6-16
2013-2014 10-13
2014-2015 15-7
2015-2016 16-6
2016-2017 15-6
2017-2018 8-14
2018-2019 9-10
(79-72) .523

 

Baseball:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 10-12
2013-2014 14-11
2014-2015 9-10
2015-2016 10-12
2016-2017 11-9
2017-2018 15-6
2018-2019 7-14
(76-74) .507

 

Softball:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 6-16
2013-2014 8-20
2014-2015 7-12
2015-2016 9-11
2016-2017 19-5
2017-2018 12-9
2018-2019 15-10
(76-83) .478

 

Boys Tennis:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 4-4
2013-2014 0-7
2014-2015 4-5
2015-2016 5-3
2016-2017 5-8
2017-2018 6-7
2018-2019 8-6
(32-40) .444

 

Volleyball:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 4-13
2013-2014 3-12
2014-2015 1-11
2015-2016 6-10
2016-2017 11-6
2017-2018 13-5
2018-2019 11-5
(49-62) .441

 

Girls Soccer:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 1-16-0
2013-2014 2-14-0
2014-2015 6-7-1
2015-2016 6-7-3
2016-2017 8-7-1
2017-2018 8-9-0
2018-2019 2-12-1
(33-72-6) .324

 

Boys Soccer:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 3-14-0
2013-2014 5-10-2
2014-2015 3-11-0
2015-2016 5-9-1
2016-2017 4-11-1
2017-2018 7-9-2
2018-2019 6-10-0
(33-74-6) .319

 

Football:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 2-9
2013-2014 4-5
2014-2015 5-5
2015-2016 1-9
2016-2017 3-7
2017-2018 3-7
2018-2019 3-6
(21-48) .304

 

Boys Basketball:

School Year: W/L:
2012-2013 1-21
2013-2014 3-17
2014-2015 7-13
2015-2016 9-11
2016-2017 3-17
2017-2018 7-13
2018-2019 2-16
(32-108) .229

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Time to break the dry spell

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , on July 31, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville High School football hasn’t posted a winning record since 2005, the longest dry spell for any Wolf athletic program. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s an uphill battle.

As we hit three weeks and counting until the first official practice of a new fall high school sports season, the Wolf football squad — which opens things Aug. 21 — remains mired in a long dry spell.

It’s been 14 seasons since the Coupeville gridiron team posted a winning record, by far the longest skid for a CHS program.

That run, in which the Wolves have posted one .500 season and 12 losing marks, covers six coaches and four (or maybe five) leagues.

Coupeville is playing an independent, non-conference schedule this season as second-year coach Marcus Carr works on rebuilding the program.

New classification counts happen this year, and will go into effect with the 2020-2021 school year.

With new hard count rules, CHS is expected to finally be allowed to return to 2B at that point, after being one of the smallest 1A schools for many years.

During this year of limbo, the Wolf football program opted to break with the 1A North Sound Conference after one season. Coupeville went 3-6 overall, 0-5 in league play in 2018.

Since they’re not part of a league, the Wolves can only make the playoffs this fall if they go 9-0, something they last accomplished in 1990.

While perfection is the goal, posting a winning record would constitute a major step in the right direction.

You have to go back, through the North Sound Conference, through the 1A Olympic League, through the 1A/2A Cascade Conference, and land in Coupeville’s final year in the 1A Northwest League, to find the last Wolf gridiron team to break .500.

That covers four leagues, or, technically, five.

Coupeville was in the Olympic League from 2014-2018, but the final two seasons the conference linked up with the 1A Nisqually League for football only, creating an eight-team, two-league hybrid.

But four leagues, or five, the point is you have to go back fairly far to find a CHS football team with a positive win/loss record.

The last one was the 2005 edition, coached by longtime football guru Ron Bagby, who put in 26 seasons on the sidelines at Mickey Clark Field.

Those Wolves went 6-5, won four straight games at one point, had a winning record on the road, and finished third in a tough eight-team league.

The Northwest League champs, Friday Harbor, a team Coupeville would reunite with if it goes 2B, went 12-1 that year, losing in the state semifinals.

La Conner, the only other league team the Wolves lost to, were knocked out of the playoffs by Friday Harbor.

The 2005 Northwest League standings:

School League Overall
Friday Harbor 7-0 12-1
La Conner 6-1 8-3
Coupeville 5-2 6-5
CPC-Bothell 3-4 4-6
Orcas Island 3-4 7-5
Annie Wright 2-5 4-5
Concrete 2-5 3-7
Darrington 0-7 0-8

After opening the non-conference schedule with a pair of losses, Coupeville reeled off six wins in seven games, before closing with a pair of defeats.

The first stumble, against La Conner, came in a battle for second-place in the final conference standings, while the second loss came in the playoff opener.

Coupeville’s 2005 schedule:

Blaine — lost 46-20
@Granite Falls — lost 15-13
Tacoma Baptist — won 36-0
@Concrete — won 34-14
Friday Harbor — lost 61-22
@Orcas — won 33-18
Annie Wright — won 42-20
@Darrington — won 35-15
@CPC-Bothell — won 44-22
La Conner — lost 38-22
@Kalama — lost 26-0

After that, it was off to a 1A/2A league which featured private school powers Archbishop Thomas Murphy and King’s, and things haven’t been quite the same since.

How CHS football has done since 2005:

2006 — (4-6) — Ron Bagby
2007 — (5-6) — Ron Bagby
2008 — (0-10) — Ron Bagby
2009 — (4-6) — Ron Bagby
2010 — (2-8) — Jay Silver
2011 — (1-8) — Jay Silver
2012 — (2-9) — Tony Maggio
2013 — (4-5) — Tony Maggio
2014 — (5-5) — Tony Maggio
2015 — (1-9) — Brett Smedley
2016 — (3-7) — Jon Atkins
2017 — (3-7) — Jon Atkins
2018 — (3-6) — Marcus Carr

So, how does that compare with other athletic programs at CHS?

Well, the other nine Wolf teams which keep win/loss records (that excludes track and cross country) have all had a winning season in the 2010’s.

Volleyball and softball, which have both been to the state tourney recently, are the most-successful, with winning seasons three years running.

Cory Whitmore is the only active CHS coach to have posted a plus-.500 mark in every season at the helm, having guided the spikers to 11-6, 13-5, and 11-5 marks since taking the job prior to the 2016-2017 season.

Softball coach Kevin McGranahan is hot on his heels, with winning seasons in three of four years on the job.

Under his guidance, the Wolf diamond sluggers have gone 19-5, 12-9, and 15-10 the past three springs.

Each CHS program’s last winning season, with ** indicating it came in that team’s most-recent campaign:

Softball (15-10) — spring 2019 — Kevin McGranahan **
Volleyball (11-5) — fall 2018 — Cory Whitmore **
Boys Tennis (8-6) — fall 2018 — Ken Stange **
Baseball (15-6) — spring 2018 — Chris Smith
Girls Tennis (6-3) — spring 2017 — Ken Stange
Girls Basketball (15-6) — winter 2017 — David King
Girls Soccer (8-7-1) — fall 2016 — Troy Cowan
Boys Soccer (10-8) — spring 2012 — Paul Mendes
Boys Basketball (16-5) — winter 2010 — Randy King
Football (6-5) — fall 2005 — Ron Bagby

So, in the end, what does this all mean?

It’s not meant to embarrass the CHS football program, which has had quality players and coaches during these lean years.

But history is history, and it can’t be ignored.

The teams of the past, whether they were highly-successful or struggled, give the current squads something to shoot for, to compare themselves against.

I have faith we’ll see another Wolf football team post a winning record.

So dig deep, 2019 squad. It’s time to get off the schneid.

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Spark lit up the joint

Posted in Boys Basketball, Boys Soccer, Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on July 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ethan Spark celebrates a well-timed three-ball. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

A superb passer and a dangerous scorer, Spark was electrifying on the soccer pitch.

“Just give me the dang ball!”

Splash. Splash. Splash.

It’s the sound of a high-arcing three-point bomb dropping back to Earth and gently snapping the bottom of the net while knifing the collective heart of five rivals.

It’s the sound a soccer ball makes after it travels half the length of the field, exploding off the toes of a marksman, then whistling past defenders and the goalie to bury itself, improbably but wonderfully, in the back of the net.

It’s the sound Ethan Spark made when he worked.

The 2018 Coupeville High School grad was a cold-blooded killer and thriller during his time in a Wolf uniform, and it’s for that we induct him today into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

After this, when you look at the top of the blog, up under the Legends tab, you’ll find Spark hanging out with big sis Jenn, as both of Kali Barrio’s children take up residence in our little digital hall o’ wonders.

During his time on the pitch and hard-court, Ethan was Coupeville’s answer to Scottie Pippen, and I mean that with a deep amount of respect.

Michael Jordan was Michael Jordan, but never forget Pippen was an NBA Hall of Fame player, a six-time champ, and one of the best to ever pick up a basketball.

Spark played alongside Hunter Smith on the basketball court, and the Leyva cousins (Abraham, Aram, and Derek) plus Will Nelson, on the soccer pitch, some of the most electrifying athletes CHS has witnessed.

But they, like Jordan, became better because they had Pippen running alongside them.

On the basketball court, Spark was a fearless shooter, one who lived to gut other team’s with three-balls a-droppin’.

He fully believed he could hit any shot, from any angle on the floor, at any point of the game, and he backed that up more often than not.

And every time Spark elevated, slight smirk on his face, and drilled the bottom out of the net, he opened things up for Smith, and made it tougher for other teams to focus on the high-scoring rampager.

Across two varsity hoops seasons, Spark dropped in 352 points, which puts him #68 on the CHS boys career scoring list, a chart which covers 102 seasons of Wolf basketball.

He could have finished higher if he had been more selfish, but Spark was also a strong, and willing, passer who often delighted in sucking the defense to him, then dishing it to a suddenly wide-open Smith, Joey Lippo, or Gabe Wynn.

Ethan was also fond of teaming up with Hunter Downes as the duo burrowed deep into their rival’s heads.

Not afraid to exchange elbows with larger players, both played with nice lil’ chips on their shoulders, provoking their opponents into lapses in judgement, then strolling away, smirks intact, as the refs punished the other guy.

That carried onto the soccer pitch, where Spark played rough ‘n ready, while also showcasing one of the best scoring touches in the game.

Like his older sister and her bionic leg, Ethan was the guy the Wolves went to when they needed someone to crush a ball from deep in his own territory.

He could air the ball out, but also showed a sometimes uncanny touch, using his long shots as weapons, and not just as a way to clear the ball from his own side of the field.

With 17 career goals, Spark stands #5 on the CHS boys soccer career scoring chart, though he’s being a bit short-changed.

Injuries took away much of his senior season, preventing him from keeping pace with Nelson, who tallied 20 scores across four seasons.

But, when he was healthy, Spark was Pippen, fully capable of roasting teams by himself, but also a highly-efficient set-up man, his passes slicing through defenses to set up the Leyva trio for a hail of goals.

And yet, with all the three-balls and the game-busting penalty kicks, the moment I will most remember from his career didn’t involve a single point.

It came during his freshman season, when he was a fast-rising JV hoops star intent on blowing up everyone in his sight.

Sometimes literally.

Chasing a loose ball as it careened towards the sideline, Spark reached the point where 99% of players would stop, then jammed the gas pedal through the floor.

Flinging his arm out at the last millisecond to redirect the ball back onto the court, he exploded through a wall of chairs.

CHS players and coaches flew through the air like bowling pins, as Spark spun towards the locker room door and completely, absolutely destroyed a large water jug that was minding its own business.

Complete devastation ruled the land. Referees stood with their mouths agape.

Bodies and chairs were everywhere, and in the middle of where the tornado touched down stood Spark, drenched head to toe in water.

From somewhere to his left, Wolf coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh plucked himself from the floor, shaking his head.

“You crazy man! You crazy… and I like it!!”

Slight nod, slight smirk, and Spark loped away to the other end of the court, having taken the first step on a rampage which would carry him to the Hall of Fame.

Scottie Pippen would have been proud.

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A star, now and forever

Posted in Girls Basketball, Girls Soccer, Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on July 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ema Smith fires up the offense during a senior-season game. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Sister Ciara is part of a large fan club for the ever-outgoing star.

Ema in her natural environment, entertaining everyone around her.

“I’m kind of a big deal, you know.”

Ema Smith is one cool cat.

In a sea of high school athletes, she stood out for many reasons, but the biggest was her attitude.

Nothing seemed to ruffle her all that much, even when she was down on the floor rippin’ arms off as she came away with every loose ball, every wayward rebound.

Ema played with intensity, fought with passion, always showed great heart and a willingness to step up in the big moment, regardless of the sport, but she never lost the grin.

The half-smirk, the wink and a nod to her coach, the whispered one-liner, complete with arched eyebrow, that made a tense teammate relax.

She is the closest thing Coupeville has to having its own Matthew McConaughey.

Talent carries you a certain distance, hard work takes you the rest of the way, but attitude – how you conduct yourself, how you handle your business – is what sets true legends apart from the crowd.

It’s what makes the people in the stands remember you always.

And no one is going to forget Ema anytime soon.

She arrived in town as a middle schooler, red hair flashing in the sun as she leaned out the passenger window of the family car, firing off finger guns at passerby and intoning “Alright, alright, alright.”

OK, maybe not, but Ema did become part of the fabric of Wolf athletics in less than 2.1 seconds, immediately contributing to every team she played on.

From the softball diamond, where she was a hard-hitting warrior until injuries slowed her roll (but just a bit), to the soccer pitch, the track oval, and the basketball hard-court, she was a star who soared even higher by being willing to accept her role.

That carried over off the field, where Ema has been one of the quickest to embrace younger athletes coming up behind her.

When she couldn’t take the softball field herself, she stepped into the dugout and worked as a volunteer with little league squads.

During her own basketball season, Ema worked the scorer’s table at middle school games, offering advice and (frequent) hugs to the girls who would one day replace her in the CHS lineup.

Theses days she’s the swim instructor with the biggest fan club, spreading the love some more in the weeks leading up to her departure to college.

Of course, there’s her photo game, as well, where Ema excelled as both a subject and the person operating the camera.

She shot a ton of photos across several Booster Club Crab Feeds, and they showcased an already-assured eye.

Some people just point and click, but Ema is already telling stories with her camera. She knows how to draw out her subjects, and captures images which captivate the viewer.

Put her in front of the camera, and she rivaled all-time greats like the “Photo Bomb Queens” themselves, McKayla, McKenzie and Mollie Bailey.

Ema never met a photo she couldn’t be a part of, on or off the field, and losing her to college is a major blow for Coupeville Sports as it hunts for those sweet, sweet page views.

Of course, at the top of all of this, is her performance while in uniform.

If her body had held up, Ema could have played a crucial role for a CHS softball program which has reached new heights in recent years.

But, while that wasn’t meant to be, her impact on the Wolf basketball squad can’t be denied.

A deft passer, a strong rebounder, and a defender with a nice little chip on her shoulder, Ema could also put the ball in the basket on a regular basis.

While playing with top-notch scorers like Lindsey Roberts and Mikayla Elfrank limited her touches at times, she always stepped up and took advantage of her opportunities.

A deadly threat from behind the three-point arc, Ema carried the team for a stretch during her senior season, especially when a crunched finger sent Roberts to the ER.

That injury came in a game down in the wilds of Sultan, a contest Coupeville desperately needed to win, to snap a losing skid and hold on to a top playoff slot.

Roberts was hospital-bound, the Turk fans were shaking the roof of the gym, the Wolves needed a spark, and whammo, Miss Cool Cat picked up the ball and went to work.

Scoring six of her game-high 14 in the fourth, Ema drilled a jumper, flipped a running layup through a maze of defenders, then banked home another bucket while three Turks hung all over her.

A big-time performance delivered under the blazing glare of the spotlight, it lifted CHS to a season-defining win.

By the time she finished, Ema retired with 228 career points, making her the #48 all-time scorer in modern Wolf girls hoops history, a period which stretches from 1974-2019.

But, as shown in the Sultan game, it wasn’t how many points she scored, but when she scored them.

And that we know, that, after that game, she probably fist-bumped every single person in the Sultan gym, including the locals, as she exited, mega-grin on her face, enjoying every last moment.

Ema is truly a one-of-a-kind person, both as an athlete and a young woman, and she will go far in life.

That we here in Central Whidbey got to experience a slice of her story was sweet. As she gets ready to go write the next chapter, we want to take a moment to honor her.

Her induction into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame today is based on many things.

Ema has stats, she has talent, she has fight and desire, but, most of all, she’s got that elusive quality that makes someone truly memorable.

After this, when you look at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, she’ll be easy to find.

She’ll be the one everyone else gravitates toward, cause she’s a star, baby. Now and forever.

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Jordyn Rogers soars, one spike at a time

Posted in Softball, Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on July 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Jordyn Rogers, heaving the shot put as an 8th grader, was a three-sport athlete at Coupeville Middle School. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Rogers put in strong work at a summer volleyball camp at the University of Florida.

There’s another one on the way.

When Jordyn Rogers hits high school in September, she’ll be following in the footsteps of older siblings Chris and Ashleigh Battaglia, who have both been successful in multiple sports.

But the little sister is intent on making a name for herself, and recently spent a chunk of her summer getting ready for her debut as a freshman volleyball player.

Rogers took part in a summer spiker camp at the University of Florida, a school she’d like to attend once she hits college age.

While there, the incoming Wolf freshman was selected as a camper of the day while fine-tuning her volleyball skill set.

A three-sport athlete at CMS, where she played basketball and competed in track and field to go with volleyball, Rogers plans to shake things up a bit at the high school level.

She currently plans to drop basketball, and switch out track and field for softball when spring rolls around.

The one thing staying the same is volleyball, which she has played at both the school and club level.

“Volleyball is my favorite sport because it makes me happy and it’s fun learning the different things about it,” Rogers said.

“I would like to focus mainly on volleyball and try my best to be a part of every function they have, but stay active throughout the school year.”

Away from the court, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, while, in the classroom, she’s fascinated with what’s happening in the atmosphere.

“I love to learn about weather and would like to have a future in that field,” Rogers said.

While her brother and sister have set a positive example for her, on and off the playing field, her parents, Brian and Amanda Rogers, have played a crucial role in her life.

“My parents have always believed in me,” Jordyn said. “And when I wanted a bigger challenge, they would help with that.”

Like all young volleyball players, she’s working hard on every aspect of her game, from serves to sets to spikes.

But she’s also focusing on the smaller, but sometimes even more important skills, such as meshing well with her teammates. Having a well-rounded game should translate to future success.

“Being an athlete challenges me to always do my best and helps me to be more of a team player,” Rogers said. “I think my strengths are sportsmanship and dedication.

“I would like to work on keeping my head up and always striving to be a better team player.”

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