The Coupeville High School athletic teams found what they were looking for when they joined the Olympic League last fall – wins.

After years of being the smallest Cascade Conference school by far in enrollment, Coupeville joined the Olympic League’s four-team 1A division last year to compete against similar-sized schools. As a result, the Wolves put together one of their most successful athletic years in a decade.

Coupeville posted a 41-31 (.569) record in Olympic League contests. In its previous three years in the Cascade Conference, it won only 88 of 360 (.244).

In theory, the larger the school, the better its athletic teams because of a bigger pool from which to draw athletes.

Coupeville, at 225 students, is the smallest 1A school in the state. The next smallest public school in the Cascade Conference, South Whidbey, has 398 students, over 50 percent more than Coupeville.

During the 2013-14 school year, Coupeville was approached by Port Townsend and Chimacum about joining them and Klahowya in a 1A division of the Olympic League.

The Olympic League, which now has 11 members, was willing to divide its conference into two divisions (2A and 1A), something the Cascade Conference resisted, and not require the 1A schools to play the 2A teams.

Coupeville began considering changing conferences after the 2011 football season when its team lost 20 of its 35 players to injuries.

As a small school, Coupeville lacks depth and is forced to rely on sophomores and freshman, who are more susceptible to injury because of their lack of physical maturity.

The Cascade Conference tried to help Coupeville by allowing its football team to play as an independent during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. That enabled Coupeville get more wins and keep players on the field, but it did not alleviate the concerns of the other CHS teams.

Port Townsend (327) and Chimacum (237) are closer in enrollment to Coupeville than any of the Cascade Conference schools. Klahowya, however, is the third-largest 1A school in the state with 456 students.

The impact of the league switch was immediate for Coupeville. Its fall athletic teams (football, boys tennis, girls soccer and volleyball) combined to win 11 of 24 (.458) league games after winning only 19 of 115 (.165) in its final three years in the Cascade Conference.

During basketball season, the Wolves were 12-6 (.667) in the Olympic League. They were 11-73 (.131) in the Cascade Conference from 2011-2014.

In fact, the girls team went undefeated in conference action and won its first league title in 13 years.

In the spring, the baseball, boys soccer, softball and girls tennis teams went 41-31 (.569) after going 58-106 (.354) in the Cascade Conference. The tennis team won the league title with a spotless record.

School size played a prominent role in wins and losses for Coupeville in the Olympic League as well.

Coupeville finished the year 31-14 (.689) against similar sized Chimacum and Port Townsend. Only three of the 10 Coupeville teams were able to top much bigger Klahowya, as the Wolves went 7-18 (.28) against the Eagles. The league champion Coupeville girls basketball and tennis teams collected six of those wins; the softball team gathered the other.

One could argue Coupeville won more games last year because it had better athletes than previous years. However, there was only a slight uptick in non-league wins. Coupeville finished 27-53 (.386) in non-conference games after going 44-81 (.352) over the previous three years.

Girls basketball coach David King said playing against smaller schools last year gave his “athletes confidence when they stepped on the court.”

“In the Olympic League, we knew if we followed our game plan and executed it, we gave ourselves a chance to win,” he added. “Against some teams in the Cascade Conference, we would have had to play close to a perfect game to win.”

The change in leagues resulted in more wins, but it wasn’t without problems.

The Olympic League provided quality competition, track coach Randy King said, but dealing with the ferry schedule was a negative: “We left some meets early and left at 6:30 a.m. for most of our qualifying meets.”

Volleyball coach Breanne Smedley said playing schools of similar size made the “competition more even” but the travel was difficult.

“Games occasionally needed to be rescheduled or stopped short due to the ferry schedule,” Smedley said. “Additionally, match times are earlier due to ferries, causing students to miss more school.”

Another concern raised by coaches was the size of the division.

“Having more teams to compete against is always a good thing,” David King said.

So, was it a good move?

Even with the travel hassles, Randy King said Coupeville should remain in the Olympic League as long as it is a 1A school.

David King said, “Is it a long-term solution? I don’t know. I would imagine that our school size would be a determining factor down the road.”