Coupeville teams shine in playoff openers
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Plenty of playoff positives for the Coupeville High School athletic teams as the Wolves race into the postseason.
The Coupeville boys and girls track teams both finished first in the Olympic League 1A championship meet Friday at Mickey Clark Field.
The Wolves won their first playoff soccer match in six years with a 3-0 win over Bellevue Christian in the opening round of the district tournament Saturday at Oak Harbor’s Wildcat Memorial Stadium.
The tennis team will send five athletes to the district tournament after a strong showing at the Olympic League 1A tennis tournament Monday in Coupeville.
Track
Coupeville won the boys meet with 119 points, finishing ahead of Klahowya (75.5), Port Townsend (50.5) and Chimacum (16).
The Coupeville girls scored 98 points, followed by Klahowya (85), Port Townsend (68) and Chimacum (19).
In an afternoon full of highlights for the Wolves, Coupeville senior Jacob Smith played the starring role. Smith broke the 31-year-old school record in the 100 meters with 11.12, topping Bill Carstensen’s 11.14 set in 1987.
Smith also owns the school 200 meter mark, which he set at last year’s state meet.
In Friday’s contest, he won the 200 (22.87) and ran on two winning relay teams.
Smith joined Cameron Toomey-Stout, Sean Toomey-Stout and Jean Lund Olsen to take the 4×100 (45.29), and teamed with Henry Wynn, Sean Toomey-Stout and Danny Conlisk on the first-place 4×400 squad (3:39.69).
Sean Toomey-Stout was also a four-time winner, capturing the javelin (131-06) and long jump (18-11.5) as well as the two relays.
Ariah Bepler won three individual events (discus, 110-01; high jump, 6-02; triple jump, 38-07).
Conlisk was first in the 400 (52.46), and Jakobi Baumann won the 110 hurdles (19.69).
The Coupeville girls also had a school-record performance.
Mallory Kortuem broke her own record in the pole vault by six inches, clearing 7-06 to finish second.
She added a win in the 400 (1:01.73) and in two relays with Ashlie Shank, Maya Toomey-Stout and Lindsey Roberts (4×100, 52.44; 4×200, 1:50.18).
Roberts (200, 27.51), Allison Wenzel (discus, 96-08) and Cassidy Moody (long jump, 13-11.5) were other Coupeville winners.
The Wolves qualified 24 athletes (and maybe more) for the district meet May 18 and 19 at Renton Memorial Stadium.
The top three finishers in each event Friday earned berths in the district meet. The marks of the fourth-place finishers will be compared to the fifth-place finishers in the Nisqually League meet, which will be held this weekend, and the best of the two move on to district.
Other Coupeville results from the Olympic League meet
Second, boys: Wynn, 400, 54.97; Ryan Labrador, shot put, 39-02; Thane Peterson, discus, 103-10; pole vault, 9; Chris Battaglia, javelin, 126-11; Cameron Toomey-Stout, long jump, 18-10.75; triple jump, 37-05.25.
Second, girls: Catherine Lhamon, 3,200, 13:03.15; Roberts, 100 hurdles, 15.95; Ja’Tarya Hoskins, 300 hurdles, 54.83; long jump, 13-07.25; Emma Smith, shot put, 32-02; Lauren Bayne, javelin, 106-10; high jump, 4-06; 4×400 (Shank, Natalie Hollrigel, Lucy Sandahl, Lhamon), 5:01.71.
Third, boys: Lund Olsen, 100, 11.72; Conlisk, 200, 23.56; Baumann, 300 hurdles, 48.32; Keahi Sorrows, shot put, 38-11; Battaglia, discus, 103-07.
Third, girls: Maya Toomey-Stout, 100, 13.31; Hoskins, 100 hurdles, 18.12; Emma Smith, discus, 90-02; Bayne, triple jump, 30-11.5.
Soccer
The win qualified the Wolves for the four-team, double-elimination portion of the district tournament. They played Nisqually League champion Vashon Island last night; results were not available at press time.
The tournament continues May 10 and 12 at Orting High School. The top two teams earn berths in the state tournament.
The Wolves will need to win two of three to move on.
Coupeville 3, Bellevue Christian 0
Coach Kyle Nelson said the key to the win was that his club “played together.”
Coupeville’s superior ball handing, passing and speed helped the Wolves dominate possession in the first half and out-shoot the Vikings 12-5.
“This is a bigger field, and we tried to use the space,” Nelson said. “We are kind of a fast break team, so we tried to use that to our advantage.”
Thirteen minutes into the match, Hunter Downes used his head to drive the ball up field for Coupeville. Derek Leyva then delivered a pretty cross to the far post and Sam Wynn rammed it home for a 1-0 lead.
Just past the midway point of the first half, William Nelson split the defense and fired a 15-yard shot from straight on to make it 2-0.
BC had the wind at its back in the second half and cut into Coupeville’s dominant time of possession but couldn’t convert.
The turning point, according to coach Nelson, came at the 24-minute mark.
Coupeville keeper Dewitt Cole made a diving save of a Bellevue Christian rocket shot, then 45 seconds later Aram Leyva, with an assist from Derek Leyva, slammed home another Coupeville goal.
Had Cole not stopped the BC shot, the Vikings would have had the momentum, Nelson said, and cut the lead to one.
“That really turned the tide,” Nelson said.
The win lifted Coupeville’s season record to 7-7-2. The Vikings fell to 9-6.
Tennis
Five Wolves will compete in the district tournament May 16-18 at the Amy Yee Tennis Center in Seattle.
The top four in singles and doubles at the league tournament earned district berths.
Seniors Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger won their third straight league doubles title, defeating teammates Tia Wurzrainer and Avalon Renninger, Sage’s sophomore sister, in the championship match.
Claire Mietus took fourth in singles to advance to the district meet.
Coupeville’s Genna Wright and the duo of Maggie Crimmins and Kameryn St. Onge each lost in the first round and were eliminated.
