Hall of Fame | Coupeville Sports

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A class of class acts!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Austin Fields, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Ian Smith, Jacki Ginnings, Sean Donley on April 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hall o’ Fame inductees (clockwise from lower left) Sean Donley, Ian Smith, Jacki Ginnings and Austin Fields.

Strong athletes, better people.

The four Wolf alumni in the 42nd class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame had many different athletic pursuits in their time in the red and black, yet all left a lasting legacy for two reasons.

They were very, very good at their chosen sports, and they handled their affairs with great class.

So, with open arms, we welcome Jacki Ginnings, Austin Fields, Sean Donley and Ian Smith into these hallowed digital walls.

After this, you will find them at the top of the blog under the Legends tab, which shouldn’t be a surprise.

Our first inductee, Donley, was a standout on the soccer field, a team leader who worked his rear off on the pitch and was named team MVP for his efforts.

A deadly goal scorer who was also always willing to do the less glamorous work whenever necessary, Sean was the kind of player every coach was thrilled to see on the first day of practice.

Off the field, he was a sterling co-worker at Christopher’s on Whidbey, never complaining, always looking on the bright side of life, and his piano-playing chops?

Pretty dang impressive.

Donley’s low-key, smooth operator personality was matched by our second inductee, sweet-swinging golf ace Fields.

Son of a pro, and older brother to fellow Hall o’ Fame duffer Christine, Austin went to state three times during his tenure at CHS, while having to drive a harder road than most of his fellow Wolf athletes.

Without a team at Coupeville, Fields trucked himself back and forth, playing first with Oak Harbor, then South Whidbey, over the course of his four years, while always staying out in front of his Wildcat and Falcon “teammates” when it came time to post scores on the course.

Now studying to take over the golfing world as a course designer, Austin is going to continue to etch his name on the world. Of that, I have no doubt.

Our third inductee, Smith, is one of the most accomplished athletes in recent CHS sports history, a three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) who more than held his own in a family of big-time performers.

He had a history of coming up big in the spotlight (ask South Whidbey about the time he plunged a knife through the heart of their boys’ basketball program with a buzzer-beater), but it’s his versatility which truly set him apart.

Smith was named an All-Cascade Conference football player five times from 2008-2010, while being honored at three different positions.

His work in the secondary was noted all three seasons, while he appeared on the honor roll as a wide receiver in 2009, then as a quarterback in his senior campaign.

That was similar to his work on the diamond, where he was a Second-Team pick as a pitcher one time around, then a First-Team nod as an infielder another season.

Through it all, Smith was an absolute rock for his teams, the very definition of a player who lived for team, played for team and gave his last drop of sweat for team.

While the argument over who was better between Ian and older brother James (who, simmer down, will get his day in the Hall as well) will probably never be settled, suffice it to say they both earned every one of their honors.

P.S. — I flipped a coin to decide which brother to put in first. Talk to the quarter, James, cause it did not go your way.

And then we move on to our final inductee on this Sunday, Ginnings.

A highly-accomplished two-sport sensation who excelled on the soccer pitch and the tennis court, Jacki remains one of the most beloved, respected Wolf athletes I have ever witnessed play.

She had more grit than you can imagine, and would fight like a devil to win the day, yet would always emerge at the end with the same serene expression on her face, win or lose.

Ginnings, like her fellow inductees, more often than not came out on top, but she always treated her foes with grace and they usually responded in kind.

Ask her teammates and coaches and the response was overwhelming in a way rarely seen.

They adored Jacki, as an athlete and a person.

The day she graduated, CHS lost a true warrior and a class act, but it also gained a legend to inspire those who will follow her path in the years to come.

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The awesomest of the awesome!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Cheer, dance, Hall of Fame, Sylvia Hurlburt, Track on April 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Sylvia Hurlburt, the first still-active CHS athlete to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame. (John Fisken photo)

Sylvia, the teammate. (John Fisken, Kristin Hurlburt and Deb Smith photos)

The toes, the toes… (Michael Stadler photo)

Sylvia inherited the awesome gene from mom Kristin. (John Fisken photo)

Dear Sylvia Hurlburt,

You stepped in to Coupeville High School as a freshman right as Coupeville Sports started up, and, along with the rest of the Class of 2016, have been the first generation of Wolves to have their athletic accomplishments exhaustively detailed on a day-to-day basis.

And yet, it is fair to argue you have perhaps not received your full due.

Today, five days before your birthday, I want to right that (at least a little bit) by bestowing on you an “honor” that no one else has received.

As the sole honoree in the 41st class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, you are the first athlete to be enshrined before graduation.

Yes, even before you-know-who.

A handful of other Wolves still competing have landed in the Hall for creating magical moments, or as part of a team, but, up until this moment, there was always sort of an unwritten rule that we would laud an athletic career after it became a complete career.

But why wait?

I know you’ll be in the Hall, for a ton of reasons, and setting some sort of future date for enshrinement would be pointless.

You’re gonna be in there, you deserve to be in there, so you’re going in now, to stand alongside your aunt Kristan (literally, because when folks hit the Legends tab up on the top of the blog, your name, in alphabetic order, now sits between your aunt and Kyra Ilyankoff.)

You were a superstar before the birth of Coupeville Sports — May 2, 2012 you won three events (100, 200, 4 x 200) as a CMS 8th grader — and you’ll be one long after you move beyond my coverage area.

But during the time this blog has been active (Aug. 2012 to today) you, Sylvia Lawanda (yeah, probably not your real middle name…) Hurlburt, have been as truly transcendent as any one I have covered.

Track, where you have never been able to compete at home due to a crumbling CHS oval, is your first, but far from your last, calling card.

A superb sprinter and a relay anchor with ice in her veins, you’ve been to state with four relay teams (with 3rd and 5th place medals in the 4 x 200), and you currently are one-fourth of the most dangerous squad in the land.

Running along with Lauren Grove, Lindsey Roberts and Makana Stone, you, Sylvia, are part of the current fastest 4 x 200 team in 1A and the second-fastest 4 x 100 unit.

I fully expect you to add more state meet medals to your trophy case when the season winds down in May in Cheney (or maybe Chelan? No, probably not Chelan…).

Pack some sunscreen, for yourself, cause it’s hot over there, and for the other teams, cause they may finish the race with severe wind burn from you lapping them so hard.

But, of course, you are about much more than just track, Miss Hurlburt.

You’re a cheer captain, a strong student, and a highly-accomplished, life-long practitioner of the brutal, beautiful art of ballet.

When I hear athletes complain about the rigors of their sport, I think about sending them your way, because, frankly, they have nothing on dancers.

That you have endured years of bodily abuse (the toes, the toes…) while continuing to perform so elegantly, always amazes me.

And then, of course, towering over everything, over the speed on the oval, the grit on the stage, the spirit on the sideline, the commitment in the classroom, we have you, Sylvia the person.

Even when you’re being snarky, even when you’re dropping side-eye at me as I lamely try to explain why I’ve never traveled to one of your track meets, you remain one of the friendliest, most thoughtful, considerate, truly caring, well-spoken young women I have ever known.

Watching you interact with your teammates, especially in the quiet moments when you don’t know people are watching, I have come to know just how special you truly are.

You’ve been willing to be in a ton of photos, Sylvia, and the funny ones are gold for me here on the blog.

But the ones where you and Makana are hugging each other, and joy spills out of both of you because of your pride and happiness in each others accomplishments, that’s what I will remember.

The moment where you and Lauren are standing alone at the line, heads bowed, holding hands, united by something far, far deeper than being part of the same relay unit, still slays me.

It has been a joy to write about you these past four years, and to be a small slice of your life, even when you’re giving me (well-deserved) grief, Miss Hurlburt.

I hope you know how special we all think you are, as an athlete, yes, but even more as a person.

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Big moments, big stars!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Kit Manzanares, Taya Boonstra, upsets on March 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Taya Boonstra, a queen of volleyball, basketball, softball, cheer and photo-bombing during her time as a Wolf.

Kit Manzanares is joined by Boonstra (middle with David King), and Jodi Crimmins (top) and Linda Cheshier, who had big roles in big moments.

Game-changers.

The athletes who are part of the 40th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame were just that.

We’re mixing it up a bit today, with two athletes, four-sport whiz kid Taya Boonstra and three-sport rampaging beast Kit Manzanares, being joined by two great moments, one a solo effort, one very much a team accomplishment.

After this, both moments, and both of our athletes for all seasons, will be found at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

Our first moment comes to us courtesy of Jodi (Christensen) Crimmins, who’s already in the Hall for her career work on the hardwood.

Today we’re remembering one night (Jan. 11, 1994), in a bit of a lost season, when the senior whirlwind came within a steal of getting a triple-double the hard way.

Playing on the road at Meridian, Jodi collected 13 points, 12 rebounds and a season-high nine steals, doing all she could to keep a severely undermanned team afloat.

While she couldn’t save the Wolves, who were missing key players Misty Sellgren and Emily Wodjenski, while a third (Marlys West) spent the night chained to the bench with foul trouble, Christensen went down fighting like always.

“Jodi had an out-of-sight game,” her coach, Deb Whittaker, told me at the time. “She played an outstanding game.”

Of course, that quote could have fit Jodi every time she took the floor.

Our second moment arrived Feb. 7, 1992, when the CHS girls’ basketball team pulled off one of the biggest upset wins in program history.

Hosting a King’s squad that came in at 16-1 and ranked #4 in the state, the Wolves, behind Linda Cheshier, Emily (Vracin) Kosderka and Sellgren, stunned the hoops universe.

Hitting 23 free throws, including 14 in the fourth quarter, Coupeville toppled the Knights 55-39, blowing the roof off the CHS gym.

“It’s an incredible boost for us. It was our turn, and we wanted this one really bad,” Vracin said in the moments after the game.

The wily senior dropped in seven, while Cheshier banked home 17, Sellgren netted 11 and Joli Smith tickled the twine for four.

“The first two quarters (when they led 33-18) were the best we’ve ever played,” legendary Wolf coach Phyllis Textor said. “This was the biggest win of the season. Make that the biggest win in many a season.”

Joining our two bright, shining moments is Manzanares, one of the first breakout players I covered back in my early days as a writer at the Whidbey News-Times.

The father of current Wolf star Ryan Griggs, Kit was a star in every sport he picked up for Coupeville. Football, basketball, track, he could do it all and do it all well.

A strong mix of height, speed and power, he tore up defenses on the gridiron, was a tower of power alongside Virgil Roehl and Boom Phomvongkoth on the hardwood and showed blazing speed on the oval, where he went to state.

His ability to raise his game regardless of the sport is matched by Boonstra, who was rock-solid in volleyball, basketball and softball, while also helping anchor the Wolf cheer squad.

One of the smartest, friendliest, most energetic forces of nature ever to stroll through the hallways at CHS, Taya also joins McKayla and McKenzie Bailey and Hunter Hammer as the absolute gold standard when it came to pulling off photo-bombs as an athlete.

While always remaining fully aware of everything going on around her in the game, Boonstra had an uncanny ability to know just when the camera was going to click, and where best to position herself for maximum impact.

Plus, she bakes incredible cookies.

No, seriously, I mean Hall o’ Fame-worthy cookies. Yeah, that good.

There’s a billion reasons to honor Tatiana, but let’s face it, after she delivered fresh-baked cookies to me at a softball game last spring, she was guaranteed induction.

Yes, I’m that easy.

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The Fantastic Four return to save the day!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged block party, Boom Phomvongkoth, Brad Haslam, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Julia Myers, Lexie Black on March 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Julie Myers (top, right) is joined by fellow inductees (l to r) Brad Haslam, Boom Phomvongkoth and Lexie Black.

Domination.

It’s the common trait when you look at the members of the 39th class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Regardless of the sport, the four athletes, one who is going into the Hall for a second time, towered above their rivals on a regular basis, more than earning them enshrinement in these hallowed digital walls.

After this, when you want to find Julia Myers, Boom Phomvongkoth, Brad Haslam or two-time inductee Lexie Black, who is being honored today for putting together the ultimate block party, all you’ll have to do is look to the top of the blog and find the Legends tab.

We’re kicking things off with the Lexinator, who is already in the joint, one of the first to be inducted.

Today we’re honoring her performance on Mar. 4, 2005, when the six-foot-two enforcer extraordinaire rejected 10 shots by Zillah, helping her CHS girls’ basketball squad capture a 45-41 win at the state tourney.

Coupeville won two games at state that year, finishing 8th and bringing home the third (and so far final) banner in program history.

Black’s ten-spot, and the 14 total blocks by the Wolves in the game, remain the gold standard to this day. No player, and no team, have ever topped those marks in a 1A girls game, more than a decade later.

Now Lex Luthor is counting down the days until she’ll be a mom, and you know the child is gonna pop out and immediately slap the doctor across the room, just like their mom did to so many errant shots.

Our second inductee, Phomvongkoth, was a little lower to the ground than Black, but he was just as much of a scrapper on the hardwood.

One of the first players I covered back in my Whidbey News-Times Sports Editor days, Boom went all-out all the time, slamming to the floor, harassing rival ball-handlers and knocking down big shots of his own.

It took me a bit to get the spelling of his last name down, but I could see his talent, and his love for the game, from the first moment he strode out into the CHS gym.

When the Tom Roehl Roundball Classic brought Wolf alumni back to town in Dec., Boom was among the returning veterans.

He might be down a few hairs on the head these days (who’s not?), but the skill-set and inner fire were still there, and he still looks like he could school some young punks, if necessary.

Our third inductee, Haslam, was one of the most imposing high school athletes I ever covered.

Which is funny, because off the field, he’s a supremely nice guy, easy-going and laid-back.

But put him on the gridiron and he was an animal, de-cleating anyone who tried to get in his way as he led the blocking charge for the undefeated 1990 CHS football squad.

A superb kicker with a cannon for a leg, he knocked down field goals from uncanny range, as well, earning his keep on offense, defense and special teams.

Equally skilled as a hoops player, Haslam’s biggest impact came on the diamond, though.

A four-time All-League selection as a pitcher, the ’92 grad made batters tremble in the box. Seriously. I saw it happen.

Tall, burly and (in the moment) looking like he was going to murder you, Haslam remains the most overpowering high school pitcher I have ever witnessed on a day-to-day basis.

Our final inductee, Myers, shares a lot in common with Haslam.

No, she wasn’t all that tall, and no one would describe her as burly, but, like her compatriot, she was a supremely nice person off the field (and one of the best ever when it came to taking goofy photos) who played like a beast between the lines.

Whether smacking tennis balls, shutting down fools as a soccer goalie, or droppin’ elbows as a rebounding machine on the basketball court, Julia was a stone-cold killer.

Injuries were the only thing that ever slowed her down, but she fought through some horrific ones and still stalked her prey, knee brace glinting under the lights, slight smirk on her face as she watched her rivals souls shrivel up and blow away.

A vital part of the first Wolf girls’ hoops team to win a league title in 13 years during her senior campaign, “Elbows” always had the heart of a champion.

If we have to win one game to save the universe, I want Julia on our team. Cause when the final buzzer sounds, she’ll be the last one standing.

Of that I have no doubt.

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Welcome the fab four!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Alumni, Bill Riley, CHS Wolves, Corey Cross, Haley Sherman, Hall of Fame, Hayley Waterman, Videoville on March 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Bill Riley (top left) is joined by (clockwise) Haley Sherman, Corey Cross and Hayley Waterman (blue shirt).

We’re bringing the generations together.

The four athletes who comprise the 38th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame are two guys from the early ’70s and two women from the 2000s.

But, regardless of when they played, they all left a sizable impact on their alma mater.

So, with that, we’d like to welcome Bill Riley, Haley Sherman, Corey Cross and Hayley Waterman to these hallowed digital walls.

After this, you’ll find them up at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, where they and their accomplishments will live on as long as Coupeville Sports does.

Our first two inductees, Riley and Cross, were two of the five athletes named by legendary Coupeville High School coach Bob Barker when I asked him who were the best he had seen here in Cow Town.

The other three?

That’s for me to know and you to wonder until I get around to writing that article.

For now, we want to talk about Cross, whose name still looms large over his hometown.

He was a 10-time letter winner (four in baseball, three each in football and basketball), 12 if you count rugby (which I previously was not aware had ever been a sport at CHS … back to the research desk!) and his name heads up the list of Male Athlete of the Year winners.

Cross actually won the honor twice, in 1970-1971 and 1971-1972, setting the standard for all who have come after him.

But what makes him truly worthy of induction is not just the awards. It’s the way people respond when you bring his name up in conversation.

Jaws drop. Eyes bug. Words like “incredible athlete” and “the best I’ve ever seen” come tumbling out.

Every single time.

Riley, a superb two-sport star for CHS (football and basketball), gets some of that same treatment, especially from his former coaches.

A First-Team All-League selection during his time on the hardwood, it’s there that I’ve actually been able to track some stats down, and they are still as impressive 40+ years down the road.

In ’71-’72 Riley averaged 18.7 points and 14.8 rebounds a game, then he turned that up a notch or two the next season, banging away for 23.9 and 14.4 a night.

As I’ve worked my way through years and years of Wolf athletic history, the only hoops player who I’ve found with a higher single-season scoring average than Riley’s 23.9 was Jeff Stone and his immortal 27 a game from ’69-’70.

So, pretty dang good company.

Our third inductee, Sherman, is our youngest, but there’s no need to wait for time to pass.

Haley was an impact player in both volleyball and softball, helping carry a very-thin Wolf diamond squad to the state tourney in her senior season in 2014.

Despite playing through an ankle injury she suffered at districts, The Shermanator was a standout on defense (gunnin’ down fools from left field) and at the plate, as CHS broke a 12-year dry spell, making its second-ever appearance at the big dance in the fast-pitch era.

A hard worker with a superb sense of humor, Haley was always one of the most radiant athletes we had, a true daughter of the prairie who made her large fan section (she’s basically related to 89% of the town) very proud.

Making people proud came naturally to our fourth inductee.

Waterman doesn’t have the showy stats some of the others had, but that’s largely because she took one for the team. Game after game.

In the early days of girls’ soccer at CHS, wins were few and far between. Really, really far between.

But if it wasn’t for talented booters like Hayley, who sacrificed to build the program, it wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is today, at a point where the Wolves are fighting for league titles and making repeat visits to the playoffs.

Waterman was a wild woman on the pitch, and remains one of the most incredible people I have ever known off the field.

Long before she went on to study cellular and molecular biology in college and then start doing lab work that I can’t understand even when she tries to explain it in simple terms, Hayley was brilliant.

In high school, she did every extracurricular thing you could think of (all at the same time), shepherded all her brothers and sisters (including future soccer star Paige) and still found time to be indispensable at Videoville.

It was there and later at David’s DVD Den, where she was half of The Wonder Twins with Kate Harbour, that she achieved true greatness.

The afternoon where the two created an entire fake section of DVD’s, all crafted to look like “The Brown Bunny,” a film that had scandalized our boss, just for a brief laugh, is just the tip of their shenanigans.

I have had some God awful jobs in my life, but the 15 years I spent managing video stores will always balance out the crud, and the Wonder Twins are, hands down, the best part of those years.

Sports hall of fames? Nice, sure.

But in the true Hall o’ Fame of life, Hayley and Kate will always be my first inductees.

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