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Posts Tagged ‘Tyler King’

The students become the teachers!!

Posted in Cross Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Oak Harbor grad Adrianna Royal is in her second season as a cross country and track coach at Southern Oregon University. (Dena Royal photo)

   Tyler King, who has the most state track meet medals in Coupeville High school history, has joined the coaching staff at Seattle University. (Photo property of SU Track and Field)

Two of the best runners to spring from Whidbey Island, Tyler King and Adrianna Royal, have finished their days as college standouts.

But that doesn’t mean they’ve left the track and trails too far behind.

King, who won three state titles for Coupeville High School, two in track (1600 and 3200) and one in cross country, finished his prep career with 11 state meet medals, the most in school history.

That attracted the interest of the University of Washington, where he went on to become an NCAA All-American while competing in both sports for the Huskies.

King was the captain of the 2016 U-Dub harriers, who placed 8th at the national meet, and graduated in 2016.

These days, he’s an assistant coach in both sports for Seattle University, having joined the staff of first-year Redhawk coach Kelly Sullivan.

While it might be his debut at SU, the head coach has a distinguished career, giving King an opportunity to learn from a legend.

A longtime track and cross country coach at Oregon State, after stints at Willamette and Auburn, Sullivan owns 24 Coach of the Year awards.

Royal, who competed for Oak Harbor High School and Sacramento State, has a prominent place on the list of “Wolves who could have been.”

After running in Coupeville during her early days, she took her sterling skills off to the bright lights of Oak Town, where she went to state in the 800 and 1600.

Steeplechase was Royal’s prime sport, however, and she twice placed second in the nation at the Junior Olympics.

When college swung around, she joined premier programs at Sacramento State, where she was a vital part of four straight Big Sky Conference outdoor track and field titles.

Royal graduated in 2016 holding the seventh-best 3,000 meter steeplechase time in school history.

As a coach, she’s a year ahead of King, having accepted a position at Southern Oregon University last year, where she’s an assistant distance running and steeplechase coach.

In Royal’s first year, the Raiders men’s cross country squad won the NAIA title. During track season, four of her distance runners hit All-American times, while one captured a title at 5,000 meters.

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“The Gazelle” glides into history!!

Posted in Track, tagged , , , , on May 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Freshman Maya Toomey-Stout will be the first Wolf track athlete since 2010 to compete at state in four events in one season. (Maria Reyes photo)

The question loomed large at the start of spring.

Which way would “The Gazelle” run?

During her middle school days, Maya Toomey-Stout was a standout in both track and softball, equally capable of stunning foes on the oval or the base-paths.

In Coupeville’s version of The Decision, the Wolf freshman followed up volleyball and basketball stints by choosing to spend her rain-filled spring helping debut the new CHS track facilities.

And it paid off (maybe not for softball coach Kevin McGranahan), as the serene supernova blitzed the field, qualifying for state in four different events.

When she and her teammates land in Cheney this weekend, Toomey-Stout is slated to run in the 100 and 200, while also running a leg on 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 squads.

She’s one of two Whidbey Island athletes to qualify in four events, along with South Whidbey junior Sophia Nielsen, who punched her ticket in the 100 and 300 hurdles, triple jump and long jump.

For Coupeville, Toomey-Stout is the first Wolf to pull off the feat since Tyler King ran in the 800 and 4 x 400, while winning titles in the 1600 and 3200 back in 2010.

Jon Chittim set the gold standard for CHS track athletes, remaining the only Wolf to medal in four events at the same state track meet.

He was a part of three titles (200, 400, 4 x 400) in 2006, while also finishing 7th in the 100, just a second off of a fourth championship.

As far as I can tell from my research, Toomey-Stout is the first Coupeville girl to compete at state in four events in one season.

With the Wolves sitting less than 19 hours from departure for Cheney (7:30 AM Thursday), that tidbit tops our list of facts you can casually drop into conversation if you want to appear to be a track savant.

Other fast facts:

Coupeville finished 12th (girls) and 15th (boys) in the team standings at state last season.

Best finishes in school history? The Wolf boys were 4th in 2006 and 2008, the girls 5th in 1984.

Sparking the solid team numbers last year were second-place finishes in the 400 (Makana Stone) and discus (Dalton Martin), two of Coupeville’s nine medals (five boys, four girls).

That was the school’s best showing since 2008.

That year the Wolf boys claimed seven medals, including a title in the 3200 from Kyle King, and the girls brought home two, led by Kyra Ilyankoff’s second-place finish in the javelin.

CHS boasts 15 state titles in track all-time (with another two in cross country).

Best year? 2006, when the Wolf boys stood atop the podium in the 200, 400, 3200 and 4 x 400.

Boys have won 10 of the 15 titles, including the last nine.

Most successful event? The 3200, where Natasha Bamberger (3), Kyle King (3), Tyler King (1) and Jeff Fielding (1) combined to bring home eight titles.

After that, it’s the 1600, with three titles (one each from Bamberger and both King boys), then one title apiece in the 800 (Amy Mouw), 200 and 400 (Chittim) and 4 x 400 (Chittim, Kyle King, Steven McDonald and Chris Hutchinson).

It’s been 2,552 days since a Coupeville boy (Tyler King in 2010) stood atop the podium at state, and 5,107 days since a Wolf girl (Mouw in 2003) gazed down on the track world.

Also, two of the 10 Wolves going to state this year have relatives who own state meet medals.

Sophomore Lindsey Roberts, who brought home three medals as a frosh, is the niece of Jay Roberts, who earned 3rd and 4th place medals in the 4 x 100, in 1986 and ’87, respectively.

Meanwhile, junior Ariah Bepler, making his first trip to Cheney after winning the high jump at districts, needs only to look across the living room to see history.

His dad Mark placed 4th in the discus in ’86.

The senior Bepler also rightfully held the school record in the event for many years (regardless of what the CHS record board said), until Martin passed his mark last spring.

But, that’s a story for another day.

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Medal mania mounts!!

Posted in Track, tagged , , , , on May 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Lindsey Roberts won three medals at the state track meet as a freshman. She’s looking to double that this weekend. (Sherry Roberts photo)

   If Wolf senior Lauren Grove can add two medals this year, she’d exit as one of just nine Wolves to ever bring home five or more medals. (Mindy Grove photo)

They’re running for history.

Of the 10 Coupeville High School athletes headed to the 1A state track and field meet May 25-27, three have previously brought medals home from Cheney.

Junior Jacob Smith, who’s competing in three events this year (100, 200, 4 x 400) finished 4th in the 200 last season.

Two of his traveling companions, senior Lauren Grove and sophomore Lindsey Roberts, are a couple of steps ahead of him, however.

They’re part of an elite group that thrives on excellence.

Take all the countless girls and boys who have competed for CHS track over the decades, and only 21 have claimed three or more state meet medals.

Now, with a strong weekend, the duo can leapfrog their way further up that list.

Grove is running a leg on 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relay units, both of which head to state ranked in the top eight, which is where the medal cutoff sits these days.

If she and her teammates do medal in both events, she’d exit CHS as one of just nine Wolves to bring home five medals all-time.

Meanwhile, Roberts is on a fast track to oval immortality.

Having brought home three medals as a freshman, she’s set to run with Grove on both relay teams, as well as compete in the 100 hurdles.

Snatch medals in all three events and Roberts — who already has one more medal than uncle Jay, an accomplished relay runner himself in the late ’80s — would reach the halfway point of her high school career in fine fashion.

With six medals, she’d sit in a tie for fourth-best all-time, just one away from tying the mark for a female Wolf track star.

After poring over endless on-line records (Coupeville, Oroville and Ritzville start to blend together), and getting help from Facebook sleuths while tracking down ’80s relay teams, I feel confident the list below is at least 12% correct.

Cue the corrections in five, four, three…

Most state track and field medals in CHS history:

Tyler King (11) – Two state titles, five 2nds, two 4ths, one 6th, one 8th

Kyle King (10) – Five state titles, two 2nds, one 4th, one 5th, one 6th

Makana Stone (7) – Two 2nds, two 3rds, one 4th, one 5th, one 6th

Natasha Bamberger (6) – Four state titles, one 2nd, one 3rd

Chad Gale (6) – One 2nd, three 3rds, one 4th, one 6th

Bill Carstensen (5) – One 3rd, three 4ths, one 6th

Jon Chittim (5) – Three state titles, one 2nd, one 7th

Yashmeen Knox (5) – One 4th, one 6th, two 7ths, one 8th

Jeff Fielding (4) – One state title, one 2nd, two 5ths

Sylvia Hurlburt (4) – Two 3rds, one 5th, one 6th

Dalton Martin (4) – One 2nd, one 5th, two 8ths

Brian Miller (4) – One 3rd, one 4th, one 5th, one 6th

Madison Tisa-McPhee (4) – One 3rd, one 5th, one 7th, one 8th

Ed Cook (3) – One 2nd, one 5th, one 6th

Lauren Grove (3) – Two 3rds, one 6th

Hunter Hammer (3) – One 6th, two 8ths

Kyra Ilyankoff (3) – One 2nd, one 3rd, one 4th

Janiece Jenkins (3) – One 5th, one 6th, one 8th

Amy Mouw (3) – One state title, one 2nd, one 8th

Lindsey Roberts (3) – One 3rd, one 4th, one 6th

Pete Rosenkranz (3) – Two 2nds, one 3rd

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Run to glory, again!!

Posted in Cross Country, Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on February 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

The only thing that tasted better than this sandwich to Tyler King? Winning state titles.

   The only thing that tasted better than this sandwich to Tyler King? Winning state titles.

It has been 2,297 days since a Coupeville High School athlete last celebrated a state title.

As Oak Harbor wrestler Sam Zook basks in the moment of ruling over every other wrestler who took the mat in the 285-pound class this year in 3A, Cow Town’s dry spell looms a little larger.

To find Coupeville’s last time atop the ultimate podium, you have to go back to Nov. 6, 2010.

It was a Saturday and CHS senior Tyler King was busy crushing the field at the WIAA 1A state cross country championships.

His nearest rival, Todd Jackson of Elma, was an astounding 31 seconds off of his pace, and King could have strolled home backwards using a walker and still won.

It was a bittersweet moment, as King joined fellow harrier Natasha Bamberger, who won the girls title in 1985, as the only Wolves to win a state title outside of track.

I say bittersweet because Coupeville didn’t have an active cross country program during Tyler’s four-year career, so he trained and traveled with Oak Harbor, then a 4A school.

Competing at the highest level, he had steadily worked his way upwards at the state meet, from 98th as a freshman to 22nd as a sophomore and 5th as a junior.

Entering his senior season, King had his eyes on a 4A title, only to be denied when OHHS dropped to 3A.

With the downward movement, school officials also decided to end the agreement they had with Coupeville.

While King could still train and travel with Oak Harbor during the regular season, he would no longer wear Wildcat purple and gold, and, when the postseason hit, he was headed back to 1A as a lone Wolf.

He took the demotion in stride, won every race he entered his final prep season and exited as a state champ.

Then promptly went on to a stellar track and cross country career as a scholarship athlete at the University of Washington, one of the few Wolf alumni to truly excel in big-time college sports.

Meanwhile, Nov. 6, 2010 sits there, and the further away we get from it, the bigger the question becomes — who’s next?

Who will be the next Wolf athlete or team to truly seize a moment and stand astride the prep sports world?

Coupeville has come close, at least in track — Dalton Martin (discus) and Makana Stone (400) were both second-place finishers just this past spring — but never fully grabbed the ring since King.

The Wolves have 17 individual state titles, two in cross country and 15 in track, but are one of the few schools in the state to have never taken a team championship.

That 117-year drought looms large, especially since no CHS team has won a SINGLE game or match in a state tourney since girls basketball beat Zillah 45-41 Mar. 4, 2005.

Overall, Wolf teams are 19-49 at state all-time.

Girls basketball tops the chart with seven wins, while the 2002 softball team came the closest to a title, winning four of five games and finishing 3rd.

So, what’s the point of all of this?

There are two things at play here.

The first is honoring King’s state title, and keeping it fresh in people’s minds, by inducting the moment into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Tyler is already in the Hall for his career (which includes two state track titles to go with his cross country championship), but, after this, the events of Nov. 6, 2010 will also be enshrined under the Legends tab at the top of the blog.

And, secondly, it’s to challenge the current (and future) Wolf athletes.

Step up.

If you want to join the eight CHS students who have won a state title, you need to be willing to do what they did — put in the work, fully commit and believe in yourselves.

CHS is a small school, but smaller schools win state titles all the time.

It is not the size of the student body, but the size of those students hearts and the depth of their desire.

There is no reason to fear any other school out there, or step back when you enter a bigger gym or stadium.

You can rule the state.

There is absolutely no reason Coupeville can not bring home more state titles — as individuals, or, finally, as a team.

Put your phones down. You can pick them back up when it’s time to take a photo in front of a state title banner.

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Wolves return to trail again!!

Posted in Cross Country, tagged , , , , on August 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville High School sophomore Danny Conlisk will compete in cross country this fall, training and traveling with South Whidbey while competing as a Wolf. (John Fisken photo)

   CHS sophomore Danny Conlisk will run cross country this fall, training and traveling with South Whidbey while competing as a Wolf. (John Fisken photo)

Six years ago Tyler King was the fastest cross country runner among all 1A athletes in Washington state.

When he ran away with a state championship in 2010, kicking off his senior year at Coupeville High School, he joined Natasha Bamberger atop the podium, 25 years after she won the girls title in 1985.

But, no Wolf has competed in cross country since King’s title run.

And, Coupeville didn’t actually have a team in 2010, with the program having been shut down years earlier.

King traveled and trained with Oak Harbor, but competed as a (very successful) one-man Wolf squad.

That followed on the heels of his first three years, when he actually competed under Oak Harbor’s banner and went to state at the 4A level each season.

The agreement between the two schools changed before King’s senior campaign, and then was dropped after OHHS reverted to being a 3A school.

In recent years, CHS athletes have been able to travel and train with fellow 1A school South Whidbey, but compete as Wolves, if Coupeville doesn’t offer their sport.

The most obvious case was Austin and Christine Fields, who qualified for state in golf all four years they each competed.

Now, at least one Wolf, and possibly as many as four, are following in King’s huge footprints.

Coupeville sophomore Danny Conlisk, who went to state in the 800 and 4 x 400 as a freshman, is signed up and will kickoff cross country practice at 12:01 AM Monday morning at Camp Casey with South Whidbey.

Three other Wolf track stars — Abby Parker, Lauren Bayne and Henry Wynn — have expressed interest in cross country, and may join Conlisk in the coming days.

If they do, they will compete alongside the Falcons in the regular season, then split off when the postseason arrives.

South Whidbey competes in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference, while Coupeville runners will line up opposite their counterparts in the 1A Olympic League to start off any postseason run.

Conlisk’s commitment, and the possibility of other Wolves being interested, has revived interest in CHS re-starting its own cross country program.

Coupeville teams finished in the Top 10 at state five times between 1975-1982.

To bring the sport back to CHS would take some work, however.

“We would have to do a cost breakdown for coaching, bus, interest (other than four kids) etc.,” said CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith. “We would also have to figure out a home course, which are generally on golf courses or some semblance of trails that are maintained.

“So not much but something worth looking into.”

Until then Conlisk (and possible company) will simply go rogue like King before them.

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