CHS cross country runners (l to r) Preston Howard, Carson Field, Landon Roberts, and Thomas Strelow celebrate the season. (Sherry Bonacci photo)
It was a season full of big moments.
The Coupeville High School cross country program won boys and girls league titles this fall, while sending eight runners — including its entire girls’ team — to the state meet.
Senior Mitchell Hall beat the field to win an individual league title, as well, while the Wolf girls earned an academic state title for having the highest team GPA among all 2B schools.
All of that and more was celebrated Thursday, as CHS coach Paige Spangler and her team capped awards season with the final banquet on the fall schedule.
Claire Mayne burns up the trail. (Jackie Saia photo)
Awards:
Captains:
Mitchell Hall Helen Strelow
4-Year Participation:
Mitchell Hall Cristina McGrath Helen Strelow Tate Wyman
Most Improved:
Zeke Allen Erica McGrath
Hardest Worker:
Claire Mayne
Best Teammate:
Claire Mayne Helen Strelow
Cross Country Clown:
Carson Field Landon Roberts
Varsity letter winners:
Reagan Callahan
Carson Field
Easton Green
Mitchell Hall
Preston Howard
Claire Mayne
Cristina McGrath
Erica McGrath
Landon Roberts
George Spear
Helen Strelow
Thomas Strelow
Noelle Western
Tate Wyman
Elizabeth Bitting (left) replaces the departing Paige Spangler (right) as Coupeville High School cross country coach.
Same trails, new boss.
Well, except the new boss is also the old boss.
Coupeville Middle School cross country guru Elizabeth Bitting, who coached the Wolf high school team in 2020, is returning to reclaim the position, but this time for good.
Bitting replaces Paige Spangler, who exits after two seasons at the helm of the CHS program.
The reason for the departure?
Spangler is moving to the East Coast after her husband, who’s in the military, recently received new orders.
Bitting has been the heart and soul of Coupeville’s running programs since they were relaunched in 2018 after a two-decade absence, building the middle school program into a huge success.
CMS boasted 30+ runners this fall, an extraordinary number for a school of its size.
A huge part of that is Bitting, who infuses her students with joy, regardless of whether they are hardcore runners or first-time athletes.
While she has piloted the middle school program the past five seasons, the high school harriers have had four different coaches.
Natasha Bamberger and Luke Samford each did a season before being pulled away by real-world jobs, Bitting agreed to coach both programs for a season, then Spangler joined her on the trails.
This time, Bitting is making the jump to the high school job for good, and the middle school coaching position will be posted.
“I am truly excited about the move. It is time,” Bitting said. “There’ll be no stepping down this time! I have plans! Lots of plans!”
A lifelong runner herself, Bitting was a team captain on a state title-winning harrier team at Mt. San Antonio College.
She also helped launch Dash for the Bash (later renamed Race the Reserve), which raises money for each year’s senior class at Coupeville High School.
Noelle Western made it to the state cross country meet as a mere freshman. (Kerry Western photo)
They were too fast for the storm.
Eight Coupeville High School cross country runners departed Whidbey Island long before the power went off, and stayed off, at home.
Then, while most people back home stared into the unrelenting, inky darkness, the Wolves hit the course at Saturday’s 2B/1B state meet in Pasco.
Having sent a full team to the big dance for the first time since the ’80s, Coupeville unleashed six girls and two boys on the Sun Willows Golf Course.
Senior Mitchell Hall was the first Wolf to hit the tape, finishing 19th in the boys’ race, while the CHS girls claimed 8th in the team standings.
That’s the third top 10 finish for the program, coming on the heels of 4th in 1982 and 8th in 1981.
None of Saturday’s runners were even close to being alive during the age of Madonna, but they acquitted themselves nicely in Paige Spangler’s final moments as Coupeville’s harrier coach.
The trail guru, who coached two seasons at CHS, heads east after this, with her military husband having received new orders.
Before she left, Spangler also got to witness her girls team receive an academic state championship, with the Wolves having the highest GPA of any 2B team.
Coupeville’s girls, fast and smart. (Nicole Strelow photo)
Four of Coupeville’s eight runners at state depart as well, with Helen Strelow, Cristina McGrath, Hall, and Claire Mayne all seniors.
Noelle Western, Erica McGrath, Carson Field, and Reagan Callahan are all underclassmen.
Pope John Paul II and Chewelah claimed the girls and boys team titles, respectively, at Saturday’s championships, with PJP-II edging Garfield-Palouse by a single point.
Josie McLaughlin of St. George’s and Ciaran St. Hilaire of Tri-Cities Prep won individual crowns.
CHS female harriers excel in the classroom as well as on the course. (Helen Strelow artwork)
Our cross country runners are smarter than your cross country runners.
Coupeville High School’s female harriers qualified as a team for this Saturday’s state meet, and while the Wolves are in Pasco, they’ll receive an extra honor.
That’s because CHS girls’ cross country is an academic state champion, with its runners combining for the best GPA among all 2B schools participating in the sport.
The Wolf team, which includes Helen Strelow, Claire Mayne, Noelle Western, Reagan Callahan, and Erica and Cristine McGrath, compiled a 3.969 GPA.
Coupeville is coached by Paige Spangler.
The state champion honor is bestowed by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and Gesa Credit Union.
CHS will receive a plaque at the state meet, with runners each earning a special patch and medallion.
Other 2B schools honored for fall sports include Okanogan (boys’ cross country and girls’ soccer), Saint Georges (boys’ soccer), Liberty (football), and Asotin (volleyball).
Fab frosh Noelle Western is going to the state cross country meet, and her teammates are coming with her. (Kerry Western photo)
Party like it’s 1982!
That year, British new wave kings Duran Duran released Hungry Like the Wolf, which went on to win the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.
Meanwhile, the Coupeville High School girls cross country team claimed 4th place at the state meet, the best finish in school history for a harrier squad.
Now, 40 years later, a new group of award-hungry Wolves has arrived to stake their own claim to greatness.
Running as a pack Thursday, the Coupeville girls finished 3rd at the Tri-District meet at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, punching their ticket as a team to the state meet.
That race goes down Saturday, Nov. 5 in Pasco, where CHS boys Mitchell Hall and Carson Field will join their female compatriots, having qualified as individuals.
The top three teams, and best 21 runners in each race advanced.
It’s the second trip to state for Hall, Claire Mayne, and Helen Strelow, as all three qualified as individuals last season.
Field, Noelle Western, Cristina McGrath, Reagan Callahan, and Erica McGrath will be making their state meet debuts.
“Very excited for all of them,” said CHS coach Paige Spangler. “They’ve worked so hard this season!!!”
Coupeville senior Helen Strelow is a two-time state meet qualifier. (Jackie Saia photo)
Getting an entire team through to Pasco marks a major milestone as Coupeville nears the end of year five of the rebirth of its cross country program.
The Wolf boys finished 5th in the team standings at both the 1976 and 1977 state meets, while the CHS girls were 8th in 1981 and 4th in 1982.
Add in individual state titles for Natasha Bamberger (1985) and Tyler King (2010), and the Wolf program has a proud history.
But it also went into hibernation in the ’90s — King won his title as a solo artist training and traveling with Oak Harbor — and stayed dormant until being relaunched in 2018.
Bamberger, Luke Samford, and Elizabeth Bitting each coached a season, while Spangler is in her second, and final year, as she and her husband are moving to the East coast in December.
Under their combined tutelage, Danny Conlisk and Catherine Lhamon made it to state as individuals, then the three-pack last year, and now they’ll cram the van for the trip.
The Wolf girls qualified by notching 104 points Thursday, holding off Mount Vernon Christian (114) and Bellevue-based Summit Classical Christian (116).
Pope John Paul II, which hails from Lacey, was a clear front-runner with just 15 points, with Tacoma’s Covenant (90) claiming second among the seven schools which fielded a full girls team.
On the boys side, it was PJP-II (19), MVC (84), and Covenant (87) qualifying as teams, with Orcas Island (100) and Coupeville (106) just missing out.
Hall had the best performance of any Wolf, finishing 3rd in his race, with Catelin King of PJP-II and Asher Ingram of Northwest Christian (Lacey) earning individual titles on the 5,000-meter course.
Carson Field is state bound for the first time. (Jackie Saia photo)
Mitchell Hall (3rd) 17:49.2
Carson Field (16th) 19:11.4
Landon Roberts (27th) 20:24.4
Tate Wyman (41st) 21:48.8 Preston Howard (42nd) 21:50.1 George Spear (43rd) 21:50.7 Easton Green (50th) 22:28.8
