Coupeville and Oak Harbor high school winter athletes are ready to take on the 2016-17 season. Here’s a look at what to expect from each team:
Coupeville Girls Basketball
The two-time defending Olympic League champion Coupeville High School girls basketball team lost just one player from last year’s varsity roster, but that one was a big piece.
Gone is Makana Stone. She twice earned the conference’s Most Valuable Player award and graduated as one of Coupeville’s greatest scorers and rebounders.
With four starters returning and a batch of new quality players, the Wolves look to overcome the loss of Stone.
“We are moving forward,” coach David King said. “We will miss Makana’s leadership and talent, but the returning players understand it’s their time to take on bigger roles. The players need to realize that the burden to do it all cannot fall onto one player. Everyone will have to pick up the pieces that Makana provided the last four years.”
Returning players include seniors Tiffany Briscoe, Lauren Grove and Kailey Kellner; juniors Kyla Briscoe, Mia Littlejohn, Lauren Rose and Allison Wenzel; and sophomore Lindsey Roberts.
Key newcomers, according to King, are senior transfer Charlotte Langille, junior Mikayla Elfrank and sophomores Kalia Littlejohn and Sarah Wright.
In addition, seven incoming freshmen are bringing “a very positive and desire to work hard and win,” King said.
“I believe we have the talent and skill-set to compete again this year for the title,” King said.
He is encouraged by their off-season work: “We had 19 girls at camp this summer playing and 11 participated in a fall league.” Sixteen participated in a recent shooting clinic.
He noted, however, that the other three Olympic League teams have been working as well and they will be “gunning for us.”
To win a third straight crown, the Wolves will need to rebound better, be patient offensively and shoot better, according to King.
It’s time for the program to keep improving, he added. Coupeville qualified for the state tournament last winter but was eliminated in the first round.
“The next step to win a state game would be handling the previously mentioned things,” King said.
King said the Wolves’ strengths are athleticism, competitiveness, selflessness and depth.
“From top to bottom, the drop off, if any, will be very minimal to who starts or who comes off the bench,” King said. “We have seven to nine players who could legitimately be a starter.”
The team’s weaknesses, according to King, are “putting the ball in the basket” and “handling pressure.”
He added, “We allow ourselves to spped up offensively, and that leads to sloppy play. Play knowledge and running them has been an issue.”
Goals this year are to improve the shooting percentages from the field and foul stripe and to able to increase the defensive pressure.
“Each one of us, players and coaches, needs to compete each day and be willing to put the team first,” he said. “If we do that, it is going to be a successful season.”
Coupeville opens the season at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, at the Sedro-Woolley Jamboree.
The first three games are away. The Wolves go to Blaine at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, then play in the Friday Harbor Tip Off Classic Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2 and 3. At the Classic, Coupeville meets the Seattle Academy at 2 p.m. Friday. The outcome of that game will determine who and when it plays Saturday.
“At the beginning of the season we will need to find our way and continue to find our identity as a team without Makana,” King said. “The players have been working very hard since last season — realizing they are talented and can be a very good team — and now with the success and experience of last year along with the success of the fall teams, we are ready to play as one and continue that success.”
Oak Harbor Girls Basketball
The Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team returns several key pieces for last year’s team, and the Wildcats will need every ounce of that talent to be competitive in the rugged Wesco 3A.
Back are a trio of three-year letter winners who will cover some of the elements needed for success in the highly competitive league.
Senior point guard Rashanna Graham returns to handle the ball and get the offense started, senior sharp-shooter Bryn Langrock gives the Wildcats a go-to scoring threat and senior post Julie Jansen provides Oak Harbor with a solid inside presence.
Junior wing players Samantha Hines and Jordan Wood-Pina also lettered last year and will add depth and experience.
Key newcomers, according to coach Jon Atkins, are senior Aujinay Fry; juniors Delijah Common, Lydia Wells and Jhayna Bowie; and freshman Mikaela Cortez.
“Our strength is that we know what to expect as a team,” Atkins said. “Some of the girls have now been with me for four years and know our system and what to do.
“Our weakness is that we have a lot of new parts to the puzzle and figuring out where each one fits might take some time.”
The Wildcats will have five non-league games to put the pieces together before heading into conference action. The league is going away from the divisional format; this year all 13 teams will be grouped together. Wesco includes five teams that placed at last winter’s state tournaments.
Shorecrest is moving to 3A after winning the 2A state title last winter. Snohomish, the runner-up in the 4A tournament, drops to 3A this season. Arlington (second), Lynnwood (third) and Edmonds-Woodway (sixth) all placed at state in 3A in 2015-16.
“I think we can be a solid team in Wesco,” Atkins said. “The girls Wesco 3A is one of the most difficult leagues in the state…but I think we can compete.”
The Wildcats missed the district tournament by one game last year, and reaching the postseason is the goal of this season’s team, Atkins said.
“We also want to continue to build the program and have fun doing it,” he added.
Atkins said he is excited about his coaching staff, which now includes Addy Byers, who played DI basketball for the University of Tennessee-Martin, and Steven Bratt, who played college ball at the Oregon Institute of Technology.
The Wildcats join the Oak Harbor boys team at the annual Saturday Night with the ‘Cats scrimmage from 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26.
Oak Harbor hosts Lakewood at 7:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, in the season opener.
Coupeville Boys Basketball
For the Coupeville High School boys basketball team to repeat the success of last season, new players will have to pick up the slack left by the graduation of eight seniors.
The Wolves won nine games in 2015-16, the highest total in recent years. Only two players, senior Gabe Wynn and junior Hunter Smith, return from last year’s varsity roster.
“We are definitely inexperienced, but that is OK,” coach Anthony Smith said. “We have a good work ethic and just need to diagram a few things up.”
Smith said this year’s group played “really well” at summer team camp at the Western Oregon University and that he is “pretty excited about the maturation of the kids.”
The team is showing steady improvement and should be competitive when Olympic League play rolls around, he added.
“We will just have to throw a few kids into the fire,” Smith said. “We have some role players who need to get acclimated to what is going on.”
Smith, Wynn and junior Hunter Downes, up from the junior varsity, should be “our backbone,” Smith said.
Three others who played JV last year, senior Brian Shank and juniors Ariah Bepler and Cameron Toomey-Stout, should provide valuable varsity minutes this year.
The Wolves won’t be very tall, and Shank and Bepler (who is “a leaper,” Smith said), are over 6-feet tall and will be counted on to handle much of the rebounding.
Shank has a nice shooting touch, according to Smith, and will provide some scoring punch.
Four players who weren’t in the program last year should also help, according to Smith
One, Kyle Rockwell, at 6-foot-3, will provide a big body inside.
“He’s a banger,” Smith said. “He’s raw, so we hope to get him up to speed by conference play.”
Joey Lippo and Ethan Spark, who are rejoining the team after taking time off, and Taylor Consford, a transfer from Oak Harbor, should add depth.
In addition to its work ethic, the team’s strengths, according to Smith, are its ability to run the floor, share the basketball and communicate.
These attributes “should help make up for what we lack,” Smith said.
Coupeville begins the season with two home non-league games before beginning Olympic League action. The Wolves host Blaine Tuesday, Nov. 29, and Sultan Friday, Dec. 2, in a pair of 7 p.m. games.
Then the Wolves hit the road for the conference opener at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, against Chimacum.
Oak Harbor Boys Basketball
The Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team will need to grow up in a hurry to improve upon its three-win 2015-16 season.
Oak Harbor returns only two letter winners from last winter, senior guard Adam Nelson and junior post Ozell Jackson.
The Wildcats are “small, young and inexperienced,” according to coach John Weston.
Not the best attributes to build a winning season, but those negative qualities are balanced by “tremendous enthusiasm and buy-in,” Weston said. “I am having a lot of fun with this team so far. I think we have much better team chemistry than we have had in the past, which I believe will help us overcome our inexperience.”
Weston likes his club’s “great attitude and energy.”
In addition, he said the Wildcats “we will be a better defensive team,” adding, “We are also better at attacking the hoop. We really play together.”
The varsity selected the core covenants of “commit, compete and character” and are expected to display these standards on and off the court, Weston said.
Key newcomers, according to Weston, are seniors Justin Ellison, Ty Baker and JJ Mitchell; juniors Weston Whitefoot, Gabe Salinger and Joe Arinaza; and sophomores Haven Brown, Gavin Allen and Kevin Schuldt.
Goals for the season, Weston said, are to be more patient on offense, cut back on turnovers, shoot more free throws than their opponents and improve rebounding efficiency.
The season will be a success, he added, if “everyone in our program truly commits and buys-in.”
Weston noted that the Wildcats lost a handful of close games last winter and they “need to find a way” to win those tight contests.
The third annual Saturday Night with the ‘Cats is 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, when the Oak Harbor boys and girls teams hold a public scrimmage. The event will include a three-point contest, prizes and games for the youth attending.
Saturday Night with the ’Cats is free but donations will be accepted at the door.
Oak Harbor begins the season with two 7:15 p.m. away games, first at Monroe Tuesday, Nov. 29, and then at Lakewood Friday, Dec. 2.
The first home game is with Mount Baker at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.
Oak Harbor Wrestling
Four state qualifiers from 2015-16 — two each from the boys and girls teams — form the nucleus of this winter’s Oak Harbor High School wrestling squad.
Back for the boys are senior Sam Zook, who finished third in state in the heavyweight class last year, and state participant sophomore Blake Servatius (106 pounds).
On the girls side, senior Meredith Bain, who was seventh at 190-pounds at state last season, and state qualifier senior Caitlyn Woodworth (155) return.
Also back for Oak Harbor are senior Josh Margraf, a state academic selection, and sophomore Blake McBride, a state alternate.
Other returning letter winners are seniors Colton Burdick, Lucas Nickelson, William Nickelson and Nick Dugan and sophomores Zion Gomez, Caleb Fitzgerald and Michael Fisken.
Key newcomers are senior John Long and junior Dylan Sanchez, according to coach Larry Falcon.
“We are a younger team again this year with some sophomores that are returning from a great freshman season,” Falcons said. “We gained many more freshmen and sophomores this season that were not here last year.”
The team has more than 60 members, including 12 girls (nine of whom are freshmen), and has outgrown its practice facility in the OHHS mat room.
Extra mats are placed in the field house to accommodate the large turnout, Falcon said.
While the younger wrestlers make up the majority of the team, the Wildcats have “a core of upperclassmen that help bring the experience and attitude of ‘Cor Aut Mors’ (the team motto) to the mat,” Falcon said.
The seniors “have set the tone” for practice, Falcon said, and the goal is to focus on each match leading to up to the state tournament.
“The team is hard working and is hungry for competition,” he said. “We are growing with each practice and going to be filling all weight classes (on the boys team).”
The team’s depth will make the varsity wrestlers “work harder to maintain their spots and improve as a team,” Falcon said.
With the leadership of Bain and Woodworth, the young girls team “should be able to create some great competition this season,” he added.
The goal is to improve throughout the season, Falcon said.
“Every match, every tournament and every dual we want to learn how to become better and become great.”
The Wildcats host their annual Purple and Gold Scrimmage at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, when wrestlers battle for starting spots. This is a fundraiser for the team, and admission is by donation.
Oak Harbor, 7-4 last year, starts the season at Mount Vernon at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1.
The first home meet is a double dual with Meadowdale and Kamiak at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8.
Oak Harbor Cheer
The Oak Harbor High School competitive cheer team began practicing last week in its quest to qualify for the state tournament Jan. 28.
The keys to earning that state berth, according to coach Kimberly Schmal, are “hard work and determination, as well as pushing themselves to do bigger and better stunts.”
Schmal said her team has the drive to “bring home some trophies” but will have to overcome its youth.
The core of the team is formed by returning letter winners Sarah Peele, Faith Lamb, Jacklyn Curtis, Katie Schisler and Shyanne King.
Key newcomers, Schmal said, are Aspen Kemper and Jada Jones.
Oak Harbor Swim and Dive
Details about the Wildcat swim and dive team were not available at press time.
Oak Harbor begins the season at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, when Everett visits John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool.
Ozell Jackson, left, will provide some height for the Oak Harbor lineup. (Photo by John Fisken)
Bryn Langrock provides Oak Harbor with a strong scoring threat. (Photo by John Fisken)
Starter Mia Littlejohn returns to lead the Coupeville girls basketball team. (Photo by John Fisken)
William Nickelson, right, is among a large group of returning letter winners for the Oak Harbor wrestling team. (Photo by John Fisken)
Senior Gabe Wynn will provide leadership for this year’s Coupeville boys basketball team. (Photo by John Fisken)
