2011 was a good year for Whidbey athletes; here’s a look at some of the highlights:
January
The Oak Harbor High School cheer team, coached by Robin Gohn, places fourth and Coupeville, coached by Sylvia Arnold, finishes sixth in their respective divisions at the state finals.
Mike Washington Jr. scores 40 points, the second most in school history, in Oak Harbor High School’s 71-62 win over Meadowdale.
February
Jason Youngsman’s Oak Harbor High School bowling team (state MVP Jacob Miller, Mike Kincy, Bryan Perrine, Eric Larce, Carlton Johnson and alternate Brendan McCardle) wins the state title.
Oak Harbor seventh-grader Blake Smith wins his class at the Washington folkstyle wrestling championships.
For the first time since 1998, the Wildcat boys basketball team, coached by Mike Washington Sr., qualifies for the district tournament, where it wins its first playoff game since 1996.
OHHS wrestling coach Mike Crebbin is named Regional Coach of the Year, and six of his wrestlers (Jennifer Fremd, fifth; Brandon Stratton, seventh; Corey Trimbur, eighth; Jahleel Vester, eighth; Cody Fakkema and Bailey Martinez) qualify for state.
The Wildcat swimmers finish 10th in state behind Yale Rosen, Josh Jepsen, Jacob Jepson, Brandon Vagt, Ben Cardinal and Price Hu. Coupeville’s Cole Weinstein also places at state.
Coupeville’s Kyle King, running for Eastern Washington University, wins the Big Sky Conference indoor 5,000 meters.
March
Oak Harbor grads Evan Wilson and John Hu earn All-American status for the Stevens Institute of Tech-noloy swim team. Evans finishes his career with three individual and three relay school records.
Washington Jr. earns all-league honors while leading Wesco in scoring.
Oak Harbor’s Thomas Chandler earns his third All-American ranking for the Air Force Academy by placing 15th in the NCAA small bore rifle championships.
Alex McClain throws a no-hitter as Coupeville defeats Nooksack Valley 10-0.
Mark Johnston (117 pounds) and Wiatt Charlesworth (132) win middle school wrestling district titles.
Ethan Tack, Taliah Black and Emily Huffer set NWAC records at the Age Group Sectional Championships.
April
Miller rolls a 300 in the Northwest Tour for youth bowlers.
Aaron Boesch is selected for the all-state football game.
May
Lauren Bayne, Lilly Hammitt and Kelly Gruenwald of the Island Flyers win the level 4 state tumbling title.
Oak Harbor grad Bridgette Walker sets the Pepperdine 400 meter record and finishes her career with five school relay records.
Coupeville’s Ian Smith (baseball), Grayson Knott (soccer) and Ben Hayes (soccer); and Oak Harbor’s Jay Stout (baseball), Rosen (baseball) and Michael Shevchuk (soccer) earn first-team all-league honors.
Coupeville’s Austin Fields and Oak Harbor’s Judd Ford (fourth time), Greg Martin, Millie Goebel and Annie Leete qualify for the state golf meet.
Eric McCardle wins his fourth Whidbey Golf and Country Club Invitational.
Oak Harbor’s Josiah Miller, Allison Duvenez and Adrianna Royal all place in the state 3A track meet and are joined by qualifiers Sarah Young, Christina Alexander, Jalanie Bobo, Janessa Ramos, Maura McKole, Christina Wicker, Carlton Johnson, Connor Meyer, Chris Opdyke and Janelle Yoshimoto.
Coupeville, coached by Randy King, finishes seventh in the boys state 1A track meet as Tyler King (three seconds), Hunter Hammer and Mitch Pelroy place. Kyra Ilyankoff and Madison Tisa-McPhee place for the CHS girls.
June
The Whidbey Island team of Jerry Crabtree, Annette Zimmer, Laney Rathun and Laura Meders places second in the state women’s bowling championship.
The Flyers’ Hammitt wins regional titles in Utah in tumbling and trampoline.
Coupeville’s Tyler King and Cassidi Rosenkrance and Oak Harbor’s Ford and Duvenez are named their school’s Athletes of the Year.
Rosen is selected second-team all-state in baseball.
Randy King resigns after 20 years as Coupeville’s boys basketball coach.
Ocki Dureau and Jenny Pak win the WG&CC ladies two-person best-ball tournament.
July
Royal and Wicker finish second at the national Junior Olympic track meet. Alex Laiblin, Hannah Bressler, Laura Rodeheffer, John Rodeheffer and Dakota Powers also earn spots in the national meet.
Sam Pedersen, who won the regional title in May, places 39th at the world CrossFit championships.
NWAC’s John Hu and Huffer win at the Pacific Northwest Swim championships.
Heath Warren, a 1994 Oak Harbor grad, wins his division in the National Physique Committee bodybuildng championships.
August
The Oak Harbor Legion baseball team finishes third at state.
The Oak Harbor cheer squad dominates the competition at the National Cheer Association’s camp at the University of Washington and earns a national bid.
September
The Oak Harbor boys and girls cross country teams win their divisions at the Three-Course Challenge in Oregon.
October
Former OHHS quarterback Marshall Lobbestael, playing for WSU, wins a national player of the week award in the Cougars’ win over Colorado.
Josiah Miller breaks the school record he set a week earlier with six touchdowns as the Wildcats beat Mount Vernon.
Price Hu, Ciara Hu and Laura Rosen of the NWAC are named to the USA Swimming Scholastic All-American roster.
Jim McCleery sets a national age group swimming record (1:23.58) in the 6,000 meters.
Mariel Empinado (eighth-grade girls), Kaitlyn Chelberg (seventh-grade girls) and Logan Clark (eighth-grade boys) win district middle school cross country titles.
November
The Oak Harbor girls place 10th and the boys 11th at the state cross country meet after the boys finished first and the girls second in October’s district meet. Representing the ‘Cats, coached by Eric Peterson and Andy Wesley, were Matt Reith, Joshua Schrum, John Rodeheffer, John Kaltenbach, Esai Cunningham, Stephen Miller, Dakota Powers, Bressler, Heather Dale, Wicker, Laiblin, Taylor VonGrey, Ashely Everett and Carlie Kenny.
Oak Harbor grads Carson McKole (Central soccer), Jen Jansen (Northwestern College volleyball), Boesch (Santa Monica football) and Rodrick Rumble (Idaho State football) earn first-team all-league honors. Rumble is also a first-team All-American choice, and McKole adds a spot on the all-academic team. Greg Wolfe (Shoreline soccer) is named Northern Region MVP. Clair Thiel (Concordia College volleyball) ends her career with the school blocks record and three all-academic team awards.
John Rodeheffer and Wicker earn All-American honors at the national Junior Olympic cross country meet; Laura Rodeheffer and Harrison Keating also compete.
The Oak Harbor girls swim team is 17th at state with the help of Ciara Hu, Karina Concepcion, Therese Desquitado, Angela Johnson, Olivia Meyer, Irysh Concepcion, Mollie Briddell and Nicole Vogt.
Hu and football players Josiah Miller, Cody Hernkind, Brent Ryan and Jeremy Foster are first-team all-league.
The Wildcat football team, coached by Jay Turner, finishes the year 8-2 and sets several scoring records.
McCleery, Allan Mc- Dougall and Harvey Prosser set Pacific Northwest Swimming masters records.
Pelroy is named the Cascade Conference’s football Special Teams Player of the Year and teammate Dalton Engle is first-team punter.
December
Washington Jr. scores 41 points in a 66-62 double overtime win over Everett.
Laura Rosen sets five NWAC team records at the Washington State Senior Championship.
