Top to bottom: Aaron Wright, Addison Rasmussen (blue shirt), Carson Risner (blue shirt) and Jon Crimmins. On the right, the deceptively ferocious Valen Trujillo.
Quick. Look outside.
It may sound like it’s raining regular rain drops, but there’s a good chance it’s actually birthday cake that’s falling from the heavens above.
There are at least five valued members of Wolf Nation who are celebrating milestones today. Probably more, but my investigative skills only go so far.
You ready to meet the Fab Five? Here we go:
Addison Rasmussen — Gets bonus points for being one of two Coupeville Middle School girls to play football last season and for being the niece of former Wolf hoops legend Jaime (Rasmussen) Burrows.
Even wears almost the same glasses as her aunt, who scored the decisive points in the first-ever state tourney win for a CHS girls’ basketball team in 2000.
Aaron Wright: CHS football co-captain, rampaging soccer beast, youth leader in his church, snowboarder extraordinaire, devoted big brother.
Carson Risner: Football co-captain, basketball enforcer, track thrower, son of one Wolf legend — Jennie (Cross) Prince and grandson of another — Murph Cross.
Will come up out of a scrum, swingin’, ready to take on the entire defensive front by himself, and then, two seconds later, will have the entire opposing team laughing along with him.
Jon Crimmins: From a baseball and tennis stud to the coolest parks ranger in all the land (even Yogi Bear would show some respect), husband of all-time CHS hoops wild woman Jodi (Christensen) Crimmins, pops to two young Coupeville athletes (Aiden and Maggie). Master of the dry, arched eyebrow, quip.
Four Wolves, all united by their zest for life and the smiles they bring to others.
But, like all Hall of Fame inductions, we saved the biggie for last.
Valen Trujillo is sorta what would happen if you took Dennis Rodman and Gandhi and mashed them together. In a good way.
Off the court, she is one of the most genuinely sweet, kind Wolf athletes I have ever met (it’s awfully hard to top Makana Stone).
Whether hugging the life out of teammates like Mattea Miller and Tiffany Briscoe or in the way she approaches her family, coaches and fans, she exudes class and poise rare for someone who is just now turning 15.
The first time she stopped and thanked me for coming to cover one of her volleyball matches, I thought she was being sarcastic at first.
She wasn’t. She was absolutely sincere.
As a CHS freshman, she played volleyball and tennis, showed impressive singing and guitar-playing chops and acquitted herself nicely in anything, and everything, she did.
My only disappointment was that she chose not to play basketball last year.
I say this because my first image of Valen came when she was in 8th grade and stepped on the hardwood, wearing a calm, beatific smile … and then thrashed King’s so badly two of their players ran out of the gym crying.
It was beautiful.
She played absolutely clean, but, like Jon Crimmins‘ wife in her heyday, Valen believed, without a doubt, that every loose ball, every rebound, absolutely, positively should belong to her.
A ruthless, heat-seeking missile of pure destruction on the court, then, a moment later, she was on the bench, gently patting a teammate on the head and whispering encouragement in her ear.
I would love to see Miss Trujillo on the basketball court this year, standing elbow to elbow with Wolf defensive dynamos Julia Myers and Kacie Kiel, ready to drop the boom on unsuspecting foes who see their ever-present smiles and miss the steel behind the eyes.
But, it’s not about me.
Valen needs to do what makes her happy, and the rest of us will be happy for her whatever that is.
So, on this day of rain, when five Wolves who are united by their sunny dispositions share their own personal holiday, ignore the rain and enjoy your day.
And, if there’s any extra cake, you can find me down at Penn Cove. Just sayin’…
Coupeville Sports 