Year in Review: Whidbey athletes shine in 2015

A gold medal in the Pan American Games, a national shooting title, All-American honors and a handful of high school championships were among the many highlights provided by Oak Harbor and Coupeville athletes in 2015.

A gold medal in the Pan American Games, a national shooting title, All-American honors and a handful of high school championships were among the many highlights provided by Oak Harbor and Coupeville athletes in 2015.

January

Dyllan Harris scored 36 points in three quarters in Oak Harbor’s 70-62 basketball win over Marysville Getchell Jan. 16.

The Oak Harbor Middle School eighth-grade boys basketball team, coached by Eric Marshall, finished the season undefeated with a 65-53 win over Mount Baker Middle School of Mount Vernon Jan. 22. The Panthers were also 8-0 as seventh graders.

Coupeville High School junior basketball player Makana Stone was named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 1A female Athlete of the Week for Jan. 26-31.

Stone averaged 20.5 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, three assists and one block and hit 19 of 28 shots (68 percent) in two games.

Mac Carr, a freshman football player at Oak Harbor High School, took part in the 2015 International Bowl Saturday, Jan. 31, in Arlington, Texas. Carr played on the USA U-16 team which lost to Team Canada 34-17.

February

In a game where a loss would eliminate it from playoff contention, the Coupeville boys basketball team came from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to win 60-57 at Port Townsend Feb. 3.

At the state wrestling tournament Feb. 21, Oak Harbor, coached by Peter Esvelt, placed eighth as a team, one of the best finishes in school history. Jackson Constant (285 pounds) took second, Jeremy Vester (138) third, Mark Johnston (145) third and Christian Bertram (120) sixth.

The Coupeville girls basketball team, coached by David and Amy King, completed an undefeated conference season when it beat Klahowya 53-36 Feb. 9, earning its first league title in 13 years.

Oak Harbor graduate Bailey Martinez earned All-American honors for Pacific University (Forest Grove, Ore.) by placing seventh in the 143-pound class at the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association Championships in St. Louis Feb. 13 and 14.

Coupeville grad Cole Weistein earned all-league honors in three events for the Whitman College swim team Feb. 15.

The Oak Harbor 200-freestyle relay team of Micah Geist, Eric Jensen, Derek Volk and Joe Gorman palced 24th at the state meet Feb. 20.

The Oak Harbor High School NJROTC orienteering team, coached by Marc DeLeuze, finished ninth in the Navy National Championships Feb. 15 in Agua Dulce, Calif. The team included Caleb Peek, who placed fifth in the individual standings, Jared Gray, Teo Torres, Trevor Feinberg and Logan Lawhon.

A week later, the Wildcats won the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering title in Carnation and finished first in the WIOL regular-season standings.

Peek earned the regular-season individual title and was fourth in the state finals.

The NJROTC rifle team, coached by Tom Goodman, placed second in the Western Regional Tournament in Phoenix Feb. 21. Colton Baumgardner finished second in the individual regional standings.

The Oak Harbor High School bowling team had its four-year title run snapped when it placed fifth at the state championship tournament Feb. 22 in Bothell.

The team, coached by Jason Youngsman, placed two on the all-state first team, Bryan Hau and Daniel Rutter.

Hua’s state tournament average of 251 was 26 pins better than the runner up.

March

Coupeville’s Stone, who averaged 17 points per game, was named the Olympic League’s Most Valuable Player. David King received Coach of the Year honors, and the Wolves received the league’s Sportsmanship Award.

Oak Harbor’s Harris won the Wesco North basketball scoring title with an average of 20.7 points per game.

Oak Harbor’s eighth-grade AAUY basketball team, coached by Brian and Hannah Knoll, won the SWISH League title March 7.

The OHHS NJROTC rifle team finished 14th in the National Air Rifle Championships in Port Clinton, Ohio.

Peek helped the Cascade Orienteering Club win the National Interscholastic Championship in Media, Penn. He finished 13th in the individual standings.

April

S-Cubed, a group of Oak Harbor High School shooters coached by Goodman, won the club division of the Civilian Marksmanship Program Regionals in Salt Lake City April 9-11. Baumgardner received the Junior Distinguished Air Rifle Badge; he was joined on the team by Hailey Hahn, Abby Holt, Austin McBride and Micah Moss.

Coupeville soccer player Abraham Leyva Elenes scored four goals and handed out four assists in the Wolves’ 11-1 pasting of Chimacum April 16.

May

The OHHS baseball team, coached by Tyson VanDam, defeated Marysville Getchell 8-1 May 5 to finish tied for first in the Wesco North.

Coupeville’s Hailey Hammer earned her 12th varsity letter, lettering all four years in volleyball, basketball and softball.

The Coupeville girls tennis team, coached by Ken Stange, wrapped up the Olympic League championship with a 6-1 win over Chimacum May 7. The Wolves also won the league 1A tournament May 12 with Jacki Ginnings and Valen Trujillo placing first and second in singles. Aaron Curtin was second in the boys district singles tournament May 20 and went on to place eighth at state.

At the state 1A track meet May 20, Coupeville’s Stone was fourth in the 400 meters and Dalton Martin placed fifth in the discus. Stone, Marisa Etzell, Sylvia Hurlburt and Lauren Grove placed third in the 4×200 relay in a school record 1:46.64.

Coupeville’s Christina Fields took the Olympic League girls golfing crown May 12, the district title May 19 and then placed sixth at the state 1A tournament May 28. Field recording three top-10 finishes in four trips to state during her high school career. Her fifth place as a junior is the best in CHS history.

Oak Harbor’s Hailey Beecher and Resego Mooki finished 1-2 in the Wesco North girls golf tournament May 12, leading the Wildcats, coached by Andy Wesley, to the team title. At the state 3A tournament May 28, Mooki placed 33rd, Marisa Sligh 37th and Beecher 43rd as Oak Harbor placed ninth as a team.

Oak Harbor graduate Lucas Horrobin won the 50th Annual Whidbey Golf Club’s Men’s Invitational May 24.

Oak Harbor’s John Rodeheffer and Dejon Devroe set school records at the district track meet May 22. Rodeheffer broke his own 3,200-meter mark by 14 seconds with a time of 9:06.85, also a district record. Devroe trimmed the oldest record on the OHHS books with a 1:53.53 in the 800 meters, topping Tom Bailey’s 1:54 (converted from 880 yards) set in 1964.

Devroe lowered the mark to 1:52.61 while winning the state 3A title. Rodeheffer, who qualified for state all four years, placed third in both the 1,600 and 3,200. The Wildcats, coached by Jay Turner, placed ninth as a team.

Amaya Rittierodt, Jenna Cooley, Janae Payne and Matti Miesle finished eighth in the state girls 4×100 relay finals.

Coupeville graduate Hunter Hammer earned All-American honors for Trinity Lutheran College (Everett) by placing third in the shot put in the National Christian College Athletic Association track championships in May. Hammer’s throw of 47-11 was a personal best and school record. Hammer also owns the Trinity discus (152-05) and hammer throw (155-06) school records.

In addition to placing third in the shot put, he finished fifth in the hammer (150-05) and 13th in the discus (132-07) at the NCCAA championships. That performance helped Hammer win the Student-Athlete of the Year Award at Trinity Lutheran.

Oak Harbor graduate Allison Duvenez wrapped up her record-setting track career at Northwest Christian University (Eugene, Ore.). The senior from Oak Harbor holds the NCU record for the 400-meter hurdles (1:06.37) and was a member of the record-setting 4×800 relay team (9:32.56). At one time, she also held the school 400 (1:03.123) and 3,000 steeplechase (12:29.24) records.

In her four years on the school’s cross country and track teams, Duvenez was a two-time All-American, two-time all-Cascade Collegiate Conference member, three-time all-league academic winner and a conference champion in the 5,000 meters.

Coupeville’s Ben Etzell earned the save in the Minnesota Interscholastic Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship game to help St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minn.) take home the first-place trophy.

June

Coupeville High School athletes Julia Myers and Aaron Trumbull received the OlympicLeague.com Scholar-Athlete Awards for 2014-15.

Oak Harbor High School’s Hayley Lundstrom and Devroe were named Athletes of the Year for 2014-15; and in Coupeville, the honor went to Josh Bayne, Curtin and Stone.

Coupeville baseball coach Willie Smith resigned after 19 years of leading the Wolves.

Oak Harbor graduate Kirsten (Horrobin) Ruchaber led Portland’s Jesuit High School to its ninth Oregon state tennis championship in 15 years of coaching. Jesuit’s regular season record is 226-3 under Ruchaber’s watch.

Oak Harbor’s Kaylee Anderson, 14, placed third in her division in the regional Pitch, Hit and Run contest at Safeco Field June 21.

S-Cubed continued its winning ways, taking the Civilian Marksmanship Program national title in the sporter class June 27 in Alabama. Baumgartner set a national individual scoring record and went on to finish second in the individual standings. Hahn was fourth individually, McBride seventh and Holt 52nd.

In addition to winning the overall CMP title with a record score, S-Cubed won the club division and finished 13th overall in the U.S. Junior Olympic championships the previous day.

S-Cubed’s Mara Rouse moved up a class and earned a pair of individual silver medals in the precision division.

July

Oak Harbor native Marti Malloy won the judo gold medal in the 57kg class of the Pan American Games July 12.

Central Whidbey Little League’s 9/10 softball team, coached by Mimi Johnson, qualified for the state tournament.

The North Whidbey Little League 13/14 junior baseball team, coached by Ryan McCarthy, also earned a state berth and finished the year with a 17-2 record.

August

Jon Crimmins, who placed eighth, was the top Coupeville finisher in the half marathon at the Fifth Annual Race the Reserve Aug. 1.

September

Oak Harbor resident Pat Beach was inducted into the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 18. Beach played tight end for the Cougars from 1978-81 and was a first-team All-American.

Oak Harbor’s Lydia Peplinski tallied a hat trick in the Wildcats’ 5-1 win over Lakewood Sept. 8.

October

Peplinski’s teammate Caylie Etherington scored three times in Oak Harbor’s 3-1 win over Anacortes Oct. 2.

The Oak Harbor High School volleyball team, coached by Kerri Molitor, and the swim team, coached by Erin Bull, received academic Outstanding Team Awards from the Washington State Interscholastic Activities Association for posting 3.75 and 3.59 team grade-point averages. The Wildcat soccer team, coached by Mike Lonborg, earned a Distinguished Team Award for its 3.13 GPA.

Tracy Voss, John Geragotelis, Sean Hall, Ron Coleman and Josh Hubbard combined to win the Whidbey Golf Club annual Five-ball Fall Tournament Oct. 10.

The Coupeville High School boys tennis team, coached by Ken Stange, clinched the Olympic League championship with a win over Chimacum/Port Townsend Oct. 14. At the league singles tournament Oct. 24, Sebastian Davis and Connor McCormick finished first and second.

Wildcat United, the combined cross country team of Oak Harbor and North Whidbey middle schools coached by Mike Briddell, won the league championship at Skagit Valley College Oct. 21. Patricia Miessner won an individual title in the eighth-grade girls race.

Sophomore Mac Nuanez, filling in for injured Princeton Lollar, tied a school record with six touchdowns in Oak Harbor’s 55-20 win over Meadowdale Oct. 30.

November

Lollar ran for 249 yards and three touchdowns but Oak Harbor was knocked out of the playoffs with a 49-35 loss to Juanita Nov. 6.

The Coupeville High School football team was the victim of a record-setting performance by Vashon Island’s Bryce Hoisington Nov. 6. Hoisington rushed for a state record 573 yards and nine touchdowns against the Wolves.

Sixteen Wildcats received first-team all-Wesco honors when conference awards were announced in November: swimmers Marissa Morris, Mariel Empinado, Sydney Dickinson, Baelee Whitinger and Jillian Pape; football players Dyllan Harris, Sam Zook, Kevin Reyes, Michael Corfman, Quinn Karney and Lollar; volleyball player Claire Anderson; tennis players Jackson Wezeman, Rodrigo Columbo, Raymond Paraiso and Calib Byers; and cross country runner Alex Smith.

Coupeville High School first-team, all-leaguers were football players Wiley Hesselgrave, C.J. Smith, Brendan Gilbert, Hunter Smith and Clay Reilly; soccer players Jennifer Spark, Mia Littlejohn and Kalia Littlejohn; and volleyball players Valen Trujillo, Sydney Autio and Katrina McGranahan.

Trujillo set a school single-season digs record with 157.

Pape placed 13th in the 50 freestyle in the state 3A swim meet Nov. 14; Taliah Black was 21st in the 100 breaststroke. Pape, Black, Eric Sugatan and Whitinger were 22nd in the 200 medley relay; and Pape, Empinado, Black and Sugatan were 22nd in the 200 free relay.

Darlene (Epps) Brasch, a 1968 graduate of Oak Harbor High School, was inducted into the Northwest Nazarene Athletic Hall of Fame Nov. 13. Brasch coached volleyball at NNU from 1989-2000, won three conference Coach of the Year Awards and retired with the most volleyball coaching wins at NNU, 264.

Oak Harbor graduates Christina Wicker (all-conference at MIT) and Hannah Bressler (all-region at Willamette) earned college cross country honors. Dejon Devroe (Trinity Lutheran, Everett) finished 32nd in the National Christian College championship meet Nov. 14.

Coupeville grad Tyler King finished fifth and helped the University of Washington men’s cross country team win its first-ever Division I Western Regional title Nov. 13.

December

Redshirt freshman Kayleigh Harper, an Oak Harbor graduate playing for the Western Washington University volleyball team, helped the Vikings reach the national semifinals. Harper was second in the conference and fifth in the country (first among freshmen) in blocks per set.

Harper, a middle blocker, was named to the season’s All-West Region second team, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference first team, the West Regional all-tournament team and the NCAA Division II Championship all-tournament team. Harper was also the HERO Sports Division II Rookie of the Year.

Zook won the 285-pound title and Outstanding Wrestler honors at the Edmonds Invitational Wrestling Tournament Dec. 5. He again took MVP honors while winning the Graham Morin Tournament Dec. 19.

Coupeville’s Stone was selected as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 1A female Player of the Week for Dec. 7-12. In three games, Stone averaged 23 points, 15 rebounds, four steals, two assists and one block. She also won the state honor once last season (Jan. 26-31).

Olivia Tungate, an Oak Harbor High School sophomore, won the 200-yard backstroke at the Washington State Senior Championships Dec. 17-20 at Federal Way.

Tungate, who swims for King Aquatics, clocked a 2:02.31 to win the 200 back.

She also finished in the top 10 in her five other swims: fourth, 200 butterfly, 2:05.65; fifth, 200 freestyle, 1:53.32; fifth, 100 back, 57.47; seventh, 100 free, 52.60; and 10th, 100 fly, 57.89.

Harris scored 40 points, the fourth-highest single-game total in Oak Harbor High School history, but the Wildcats basketball team lost 79-57 to Skyline Dec. 28.