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Posts Tagged ‘Liza Zustiak’

On a horse? That young woman is unbeatable!

Posted in Horse sports, tagged , , , , on October 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Liza Zustiak and her faithful steed.

One of Coupeville’s hardest-working young athletes needs our help.

Liza Zustiak, a sophomore at CHS, plays basketball and competes in track and field for the Wolves, while also putting in plenty of hours in the equestrian world.

She’s largely self-financed in that field, popping up on Facebook seeking work cleaning stalls and such to pay her own way.

Now, Zustiak is asking for a bit of help to meet the financial requirements to compete with the Interscholastic Equestrian Association.

IEA is a nonprofit group which gives riders in grades 4-12 a chance to vie in team and individual equestrian competition.

Zustiak is hoping to compete in Hunt seat and Western, and there could be a big payoff at the end, as those who make it to nationals have a chance to win scholarships.

The biggest prize in 2022 was a cool million dollars.

To be able to compete in five shows between October and January, Zustiak needs to raise $450, and a $70 fee per discipline.

The talented, outgoing young woman, who is a daughter, niece, cousin, and sister to CHS grads, is hard at work raising money one stall at a time, but Wolf Nation can get her over the top.

Think about helping one of Coupeville’s best and brightest achieve her dreams and pop over to:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/iea-fundraising

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“We hustled so hard!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Liza Zustiak prepares to launch a pass. (Jackie Saia photo)

Kassie O’Neil is going into the weekend full of positive feelings.

While her Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad was nipped 27-26 Friday night by visiting Friday Harbor, it was the way the Wolves played which pleased their coach.

Playing less than 24 hours after a somewhat lackluster loss against big-school rival Mount Vernon, the CHS young guns brought the excitement to the hardwood.

“We hustled so hard,” O’Neil said. “Way different energy than last night.

“If only our baskets fell, we would have had it,” she added. “But they had a lot of great looks and everyone played well.”

The loss drops the Wolves to 6-8 on the season, and now, after playing three times in four days, they’ll sit for a bit.

The Coupeville varsity has a road game at Auburn Adventist Academy next Thursday, Feb. 2, but the small private school doesn’t field a JV girls’ team.

So, O’Neil’s squad will sit until Feb. 7, when they host La Conner in their home finale, before closing the season on the road at Friday Harbor Feb. 10.

Facing off with the visiting Wolverines, Coupeville fell behind early, but then carved the lead down as the game progressed.

Friday Harbor went to the first break up 10-4, but the Wolves netted a pair of three-balls in the second frame, with Desi Ramirez-Vasquez and Madison McMillan makin’ the net pop from long distance.

Coupeville got its third, and final trey in the third quarter, this time off the sweet-shooting fingertips of Kierra Thayer and trailed 25-18 heading into the final eight minutes.

Clamping down on defense, the Wolves limited Friday Harbor to just a single fourth-quarter bucket, closing the game on an 8-2 run which came up just a single, solitary point short of forcing overtime.

Ramirez-Vasquez paced CHS with a team-high seven points, with McMillan popping for six, and Reese Wilkinson knocking down four.

Thayer (3), Skylar Parker (2), Liza Zustiak (2), and Brynn Parker (2) also scored, with Bryley Gilbert, Teagan Calkins, Kassidy Upchurch, Kayla Arnold, and Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo all seeing floor time.

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Slow start stings JV girls

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Teagan Calkins fires off a shot. (Jackie Saia photo)

Liza Zustiak is part of the sisterhood.

The Coupeville High School freshman tallied her first bucket as a high school hoops star Saturday, providing the biggest bright spot during a long, somewhat rough afternoon for the JV girls basketball squad.

Stung by a slow start, the Wolves fell 38-16 at Forks, dropping their record to 2-3 in non-conference play.

Coupeville’s young guns get some time to work on things, not playing again until the new year.

Next up for the JV girls is a home game Jan. 4 against Granite Falls.

Until then, Wolf coach Kassie O’Neil and her squad will try and rediscover their groove.

“We did not play our game (today),” O’Neil said. “Got a lot of work to do.

“But hopefully we can use these failures to propel us forward and learn from,” she added. “That’s really all we can do right now.”

Forks took control of the game early, jumping on Coupeville to the tune of 17-4 in the first quarter.

Things got better after that, with the Wolves battling their hosts to a 6-6 tie in the second frame and putting up a close fight in the fourth quarter.

But CHS also went scoreless in the third, and that eight-minute drought didn’t help matters.

Madison McMillan and Kierra Thayer paced the Wolves with six points apiece, with Zustiak and Kayla Arnold each adding a bucket.

Brynn Parker, Teagan Calkins, Bryley Gilbert, Skylar Parker, Reese Wilkinson, Jada Heaton, and Desi Ramirez-Vasquez also saw floor time for Coupeville.

Madison McMillan leads the JV girls in scoring this season. (Jackie Saia photo)

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CMS runners hit the trail

Posted in Cross Country, Middle School, tagged , , , , on September 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Ivy Rudat returns for another season of cross country. (Jackie Saia photo)

The future is bright. And young.

When the Coupeville Middle School cross country team opens competition Saturday at the Carl Westling Invitational in Langley, half of the 15-athlete team will be 6th graders.

CMS coach Elizabeth Bitting only has a handful of veterans, with 8th grader Liza Zustiak entering her third year in the program.

Aleksia Jump is in her second year, with Ivy Rudat and Axel Marshall having participated in last year’s intramural season during the Covid shutdown.

Bitting, always among the most-positive of Wolf coaches, is rarin’ to get going.

“There is an amazing group of sixth-grade athletes! So full of energy and excitement to participate in their first season of a middle school sport,” she said.

“There is so much potential with these athletes!,” Bitting added. “With their enthusiasm and the hard work I have seen them put into workouts, I can’t wait to see what Saturday brings.”

The Westling Invitational is the kickoff to a seven-race schedule for CMS.

“This is always a fun first race to get the runner’s feet wet,” Bitting said. “In fact, with the weather forecasted, they may actually get their feet wet!!!”

 

The CMS roster:

 

8th grade:

Easton Green
Aleksia Jump
Noelle Western
Liza Zustiak

 

7th grade:

Zach Blitch
Axel Marshall
Ivy Rudat

 

6th grade:

Wyatt Fitch-Marron
Beckett Green
Emma McFadden
Laken Simpson
Mikayla Wagner
Mary Western
Marin Winger
Devon Wyman

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