Coupeville Sports

Stuff happened.

Just sayin’…

The Year of our Lord 2025 is heading towards the exit, but a scan back through the headlines reveals quite a bit went down here in Cow Town.

Here’s some of what transpired, broken down into 15 pretty random bullet points.

Why 15? Why ask why?

1 — People left and people came.

Among those exiting jobs were CHS volleyball coaches Cory Whitmore and Ashley Menges, and soccer gurus Kimberly Kisch and Robert Wood.

Plus, CMS basketball coaches Makana Stone and RayLynn Ratcliff, CMS volleyball coaches Kristina Hooks and Cris Matochi, as well as CHS/CMS Athletic Director Brad Sherman, though he remains as CHS boys’ basketball coach.

Also no longer in their previous job?

CHS/CMS Principal Geoff Kappes and Vice Principal Allyson Cundiff, plus music teacher Jamar Jenkins, Business Manager Brian Gianello, and janitorial legend Dan Verduzco, whose post-basketball game playlists rocked the prairie well into the night.

New additions include CHS Principal Dan Berard, CMS Principal/Athletic Director Becky Cays, Athletic Secretary Amber Waldner, CHS soccer coaches Jasmine Ader and Jim Kunz, CHS volleyball leaders Scout Smith and Tianna Carlson, and CMS spiker coaches Shaloma Allen and Katie Rohrbach.

Smith is also working as the CHS girls’ basketball varsity head coach this winter, with Megan Richter taking a season off for the birth of her second child.

2 — Folks went to state.

Lone Wolf swimmer Finn Price made his second trip to the big splash in early 2025 and is back in late 2025 to begin the chase for a third, and final, journey to the year’s biggest meet. After that, he’ll head to Whitman College to pursue aquatic excellence at the next level.

Also punching state tickets were CHS track stars and the Wolf softball team in the spring, then both boys’ and girls’ cross country in the fall.

Thirteen Wolves made it to state for their efforts around the oval, with nine earning medals in Eastern Washington.

Leading the way was senior Cael Wilson, who collected three medals — 2nd in the high jump, 5th in the 4 x 400 relay, and 6th in the pole vault — while also tying a school record in the high jump which had stood untouched for 25 years.

His final launch of six feet, four inches matched Rich Wilson (no relation), who had held the mark alone since the spring of 2000.

While track was running wild, Wolf softball was putting together the second-best performance in program history.

Aaron Lucero’s sluggers finished 20-3 while splitting four games at the 2B state tourney, beating both Colfax and Raymond-South Bend in loser-out games and capping a run in which seniors Mia Farris, Madison McMillan, Chloe Marzocca, Jada Heaton, and Taylor Brotemarkle combined to spark CHS to 64 wins across four seasons.

Finally, this fall, Elizabeth Bitting’s harriers sent 12 runners to the state cross country meet, the first time since the program was reborn eight years ago that the Wolves had two complete teams advance to the season’s final run.

3 — Coupeville reclaims The Bucket.

Senior quarterback Chase Anderson ran for three touchdowns and threw for another as the Wolves destroyed host South Whidbey 35-6 in the year’s biggest football game.

That snapped a seven-year dry spell for CHS in the Island rivalry clash in which the Falcons won six straight while the 2020 game was cancelled by the pandemic.

This time around, the Wolves exploded for 28 points in the second half, while senior Aiden O’Neill picked off a pair of South Whidbey passes to seal the deal.

4 — Girls’ soccer returns to the pitch.

There were 1,050 days between games, but the CHS female booters revived their program after a two-year shutdown due to a lack of players.

With a roster rich in 8th and 9th graders, and led by their lone senior, Frankie Tenore, the young Wolves not only returned, but prospered, closing the season on a 3-1-1 run while peppering rival goaltenders from every direction.

5 — Girls’ tennis players get off the bus.

It took a little longer than planned, but new tennis courts were finally finished at CHS, allowing the Wolf netters to once again host home matches after playing exclusively on the road for far too long.

A program led by young guns Tenley Stuurmans and Dahlia Miller is on the upswing, and now fans don’t have to travel way down the road to witness the serve and volley action.

That’s a win-win.

6 — Wolves honored by rival coaches.

The year brought a number of awards for CHS athletes, with Northwest 2B/1B League coaches tabbing multiple Wolves as First-Team All-Conference selections.

That included:

Boys Basketball — Chase Anderson

Baseball — Landon Roberts, Camden Glover

Softball — Mia Farris, Madison McMillan, Teagan Calkins, Adeline Maynes 

Football — Chase Anderson, Camden Glover, Riley Lawless, Davin Houston, Malachi Somes

Girls Soccer — Tamsin Ward

Volleyball — Teagan Calkins

7 — Kyle King is still fast.

The 2008 CHS grad, a five-time state track and field champ as a Wolf, won the huge Marine Corps Marathon for the third time, besting a field of 35,000 runners.

That follows on the heels of wins in 2022 and 2024.

8 — Makana Stone gets a new gig.

The Wolf legend, having retired after a successful professional overseas basketball career, was hired to lead the Walla Walla University women’s basketball program.

That decision is what sports experts call a slam dunk.

9 — Trio share Athlete of the Year honors.

Three Wolf seniors received their school’s highest athletic honor at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

On the girls’ side of things, seniors Lyla Stuurmans and Mia Farris were announced as co-winners, with Farris being honored for a second-straight year, while Landon Roberts kept family tradition alive by earning the male award.

He follows in the footsteps of dad Jon, mom Sherry, and big sis Lindsey, who all received Athlete of the Year distinction during their own school days.

10 — Five decades for the field.

Mickey Clark Field hit the big 5-0 while I was off-Island in West Virginia — a moment that should have gotten some fanfare from the school.

Chimacum was the first visitor on Sept. 19, 1975, for a football clash, and five decades later, the grass has many stories to tell.

 

11 — No more balls hitting cars driving by.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally, a backstop built for the reality of fastpitch softball has risen on the prairie.

Built during the offseason, it’ll make its debut this coming spring, as we all adjust to not watching teenage girls sprint into oncoming traffic in pursuit of fouled-off balls.

12 — The school board keeps on cruisin’.

Directors Nancy Conard, Morgan White, and Bryan Sherman swept to re-election victories, with none of the three drawing an opponent.

The lack of registered rivals was not due to apathy, but a resounding stamp of approval to a board of professionals who approach their jobs with calm reasoning and deep commitment. Unlike some other boards in the region…

13 — The ol’ ball coach is honored.

Former CHS football coach Orson Christensen, one of the true giants in the industry, was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Nebraska Wesleyan University for his work as a coach and athletic director.

Couldn’t happen to a better guy.

14 — The future is now, and it’s fast.

During the spring, Tamsin Ward and Diesel Eck, then in 8th and 7th grade, respectively, delivered landmark middle school track and field seasons.

Eck captured 13 wins as a thrower and runner, the best single-season performance by a CMS boy in the time period I can verify (2008-2025), while Ward won 16 events, second only to Lindsey Roberts 19-win performance back in the day.

Ward, who would go on to score a team-high 15 goals on the soccer pitch as a CHS freshman this fall, finished her middle school days with a school-record 39 victories.

Then, this fall, CMS 8th grader Anna Powers finished 1st or 2nd in five of seven cross country races.

15 — Basketball begins once more.

“God’s Chosen Sport” is back at the forefront of the prep sports world as 2025 prepares to fade into 2026, with Chase Anderson having cracked the 700-point career scoring club in his last game.

Plus, putting a cap on a very-successful middle school boys’ hoops season, previously unheralded 7th grader Henry Tierney shot the prettiest pair of free throws I have ever witnessed in a Coupeville gym.

In a world of countless three-balls missing the rim entirely and sailing off into the wild blue yonder, fundamentals still exist.

There is hope as we sail into 2026.

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