Montana Western senior Mitch Pelroy, the elder statesman of Coupeville athletes playing college ball. (Haylee Sauer photo)
L to r, top to bottom: Hailey Hammer, Ben Etzell, Monica Vidoni, Zane Bundy, Jenn Spark, Makana Stone, Dalton Martin, Nick Streubel, Jeremey Copenhaver.
The boss has retired, but there are plenty of former Wolves ready to follow in his footsteps.
This spring brought an end to a stellar five-year run as a D-1 scholarship athlete at the University of Washington for All-American cross country and track star Tyler King.
The Coupeville High School grad, who won three state titles in his days in the red and black, was the only former Wolf competing at the highest level of college sports last year.
While his graduation leaves CHS without any D-1 athletes, the Wolves still have at least 10 former athletes aiming to play college sports this coming school year.
They are:
Zane Bundy — The life-long soccer star became a football kicker during his senior year at CHS and his booming leg drew the attention of Santa Barbara City College.
The college frosh will compete for a spot with a team which went 5-5 in 2015.
The Vaqueros open a 10-game regular season Sept. 3 at Ventura.
Jeremy Copenhaver — While not a Wolf grad, he attended Coupeville schools from kindergarten to sophomore year, before his family moved to the East Coast.
He graduated from Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.
The lanky soccer star is pursuing his pitch dream at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Florida, where the freshman will vie for time with a D-2 squad which went 2-12 last year.
Ben Etzell — The former Cascade Conference MVP will be a junior at Saint John’s University in Minnesota, where he has played two years of baseball for the Johnnies.
After going 1-0 with two saves as a freshman, Etzell was dominant on the mound this spring, compiling a 4-1 mark for a squad which broke the school record for wins at 32-14.
The Johnnies played six games in the NCAA D-3 playoffs, finishing runner-up in the Midwest Regional, one team away from advancing to the eight-team national championship.
Etzell tossed a complete game win at regionals, beating North Central College 8-2 in an elimination game.
Hailey Hammer — The softball slugger will be a sophomore at Everett Community College.
She battled through injuries as a freshman to play in 12 games for a 16-22 Trojan squad, hitting .300 with nine hits, including an out-of-the-park home-run.
Dalton Martin — The only Wolf to ever win three throwing medals at the same state track meet (2nd in discus, 8th in shot put and javelin as a senior), he’ll be a freshman at Everett CC this year.
By joining the Trojan track squad, he follows in the footsteps of Hunter Hammer, who preceded Martin as a standout thrower at CHS before starting his college career at EVCC.
Mitch Pelroy — With King’s graduation, he becomes the elder statesman of Wolf grads playing college ball.
He’ll be a senior at Montana Western this year, where the Bulldogs are coming off a 7-3 season in which they finished ranked #16 in the nation among all NAIA schools.
After red-shirting a year, Pelroy has played in 28 games over the past three seasons, ripping off 795 yards in kickoff and punt returns (28.4 yards per game).
As a defensive back, he’s collected 51 tackles (three for loss of yardage), and is officially credited with breaking up four passes.
Montana Western opens Aug. 27 against Dickinson State.
Jennifer Spark — A stellar defender with an explosive kicking leg, the former Wolf soccer captain will be a freshman at Tacoma Community College.
The Titans, who went 8-9-3 last season, open play at a tourney in late August.
Makana Stone — The two-time CHS Female Athlete of the Year is leaving track and soccer behind to focus solely on basketball as she heads to Whitman College as part of a superb seven-athlete recruiting class.
Stone, who averaged 19.4 points and 15.3 rebounds as a Wolf senior, earning unanimous 1A Olympic League MVP honors for the second straight year, led Coupeville to state for the first time in a decade.
At Whitman, she will join a top-tier NCAA D-3 program which went 17-8 last season.
Nick Streubel — The Big Hurt is a red-shirt sophomore at Central Washington University, which went 5-5 last season.
The lineman, who is majoring in Law and Justice and minoring in Psychology, will help the Wildcats kick off their season Sept. 3 against Portland State.
Monica Vidoni — The only former Wolf to play three sports at the college level last season, she is returning to Rainy River Community College in Minnesota for her sophomore year.
As a freshman, she played volleyball, basketball and softball for the Voyageurs, with her biggest impact coming on the diamond.
She mashed the ball to a .306 tune, cracking three home runs and two doubles as part of her 19 hits.
Vidoni scored 17 runs and collected 12 RBI for a 30-13 squad.
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