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Posts Tagged ‘Emilee Crichton’

Maddy Neitzel, a high-flying Wolf cheer hero. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

This blog turns nine years old August 15, and to mark the occasion, I’m picking what I view as the best nine Wolf athletes from each active CHS sport.

To be eligible, you had to play for the Wolves between Aug. 2012-Aug. 2021, AKA the “Coupeville Sports” years.

So here we go. Each day between Aug. 2-15, a different sport and (probably) a different argument.

 

Cheer is a sport.

So, now that we’ve ended that discussion, who are the best nine athletes to wear the uniform during my blogging years?

That’s a really tough one, as how do you grade a sport where, most times at least, no one is scoring points?

I guess, in the end, you (with you being me) flip a coin and pick those young women who stood out for being truly loud ‘n proud, the ones whose work on the sidelines lingers the longest in the memory.

You could make a case for a lot of Wolves who aren’t on this list, but in this brief moment, here’s nine who I think could bring as much spirit as need be, regardless if Coupeville was ahead or behind.

Mica Shipley, forever chasin’ that cheer life, from little girl to college superstar.

Nicole Becker — My former co-worker at Christopher’s, a bright, personable ball o’ fire who devotes countless hours to working with Special Olympics athletes in honor of her sister.

Kiara Burdge — The first freshman cheerleader ever awarded the Wolf award, and a team leader from day one.

Kylie Burdge — Big sis could light up a stadium like few others, a brilliant young woman who soared in the classroom and on the field.

Emilee Crichton — My next-door neighbor for many years, as bright and personable as anyone you’re likely to meet.

Sylvia Hurlburt — She was born to be a star, and never let her fervent fan club down. Always front and center. Always.

Breeanna Messner — A four-sport sensation, she played volleyball and cheered during the same season, and was awesome at both.

McKenzie Meyer — So much energy and excitement crackling through every atom in her body, plus she’s a true-blue Videoville alum, which gets her extra props.

Maddy Neitzel — She touched the heavens as a flier, and brought grace and style to her sideline work, a perennially-positive cheerleader if there ever was.

Mica Shipley — A high flyer who led CHS cheer back to competition (and a 3rd place finish at state). Now she’s an NCAA D-1 cheerleader, possibly a first for Wolf alums.

Look up spirit in the dictionary and you’ll see a photo of McKenzie Meyer.

 

Next up: We head to the pitch to honor the best male booters.

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Miss Emilee Crichton: Superstar. (Photos courtesy John Fisken and Vicki Crichton-Wells)

Miss Emilee Crichton: Superstar. (Photos courtesy John Fisken, Shelli Trumbull and Vicki Crichton-Wells)

So, this one time, I almost hit Coupeville High School’s cheer captain with my car…

In my defense, we’re next door neighbors and I chronically forget to look behind me when I back up and I … yep, I’m an idiot.

But anyway, I tapped my brakes in time, Emilee Crichton got to enjoy her suddenly more-hazardous-than-necessary passage up our joint driveway without having to pick pieces of moss (my auto exterior is kinda, sorta going back to nature) off her car, and all was well.

Of course, she got her subtle revenge when she nominated me for the Winter Cold Water Challenge, forcing me back into the icy waters of Penn Cove a month earlier than I had planned.

Nicely played, Crichton, nicely played.

As she celebrates her 18th birthday today and wraps up her senior year at CHS, she remains what she has always been — a genuinely sweet, likeable, friendly, smart, successful young woman.

Whether she’s hangin’ out next door or taking off to conquer the outside world, I wish her the best. Because she is the best.

I even promise to look behind me at least 37% of the time I back up from now on.

It’s a start, at least…

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Shark! Ice shark on the horizon!!

Shark! Ice shark on the horizon!!

Cause I'm stupid.

Cause I’m stupid.

Damn you, Facebook. I wasn’t ready to go back in the water yet.

It hasn’t been a full four months since the last time Penn Cove assaulted my nether regions with ice water up the trunks.

Nov. 22, 2013 — Day 222 — I came out of the water and walked away for the year, having beaten my two previous years, when I totaled 167 and 133 days  in the less-than-balmy waters of the aquatic temptress that sits in front of my house.

And here I am, March 14 (way too early in the year), going back down the Hill O’ Death — which held up remarkably well during the winter, I must say — and plunging back in.

All cause I got called out by my neighbor, one Ms. Emilee Crichton, Coupeville High School cheer captain and all-around pretty awesome person.

The “cold water challenge,” “winter challenge,” whatever you want to call it, is sweeping the nation (or, Coupeville, at least), as everyone nominates other people for the challenge, then run into the waters off of Whidbey and run back out, generally screaming like banshees.

It’s cute, the way people act like they’ve never felt cold water before.

When Ms. Crichton called my name out on camera, there was no avoiding it. Well, there was, but then I would have felt like a wuss.

Only thing is, if I go back in, I go back in. I stay in longer than the average I’m seeing (15 seconds) on the videos being posted and then I go back in for day two, and three, and four and so on.

So, I went back in, and you know what, it wasn’t that cold. Certainly nothing like it was in November.

So, yeah, it ain’t no big thing. Now, I nominate you all to go back in a second time…

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Emilee Crichton: Best of the best

Emilee Crichton: Best of the best

Emilee Crichton is used to tumbling, but not like this.

The Coupeville High School senior, a captain on the Wolf cheer squad, suffered a badly bruised kidney and chest wall Wednesday after a hard fall.

The fall did NOT take place during cheer, but I am prohibited from telling you where or how she fell or the slightly embarrassed Ms. Crichton, who is my next door neighbor, has implied she might send me on a similar fall.

The injury will sideline her from leading her cheer squad for several weeks at least, and possibly the remainder of the basketball season, said mom Vicki Crichton-Wells.

“She hit very hard,” said Crichton-Wells. “We took her to the ER after school and thank goodness no broken ribs.

“Doc said she is grounded for at least two weeks,” she added. “We are just glad she is OK.”

Even when she was potentially knocked loopy, Crichton knew that wasn’t enough to avoid going toe-to-toe with Coupeville’s #1 education enforcer.

“Dang kid still wanted to go to school,” said her mom. “Didn’t want to miss English, she said, because Mrs. Ballard was giving them a new essay…”

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