For only the second time in school history four Coupeville High School students received athlete of the year honors. Brad Sherman, Daniel McDonald, Erica Lamb and Amy Mouw, all seniors and three-sport athletes, got the good news earlier this week.

The split decision was reached after Coupeville head coaches hashed over the tough choice of who should receive the award.

“It really comes down to that we had two boys and two girls who were really deserving,” athletic director and head football coach Ron Bagby said. “They all had their strengths, it was just too hard to determine who was stronger.”

Sherman, who quarterbacked the football team, started as guard on the basketball team and played baseball, was the veteran of the group as he received the award for the second consecutive year.

“Just all of us getting it together is pretty cool,” he said. “It just kind of shows how much athletics meant to all of us.”

Sherman capped off another solid season, receiving all-league first team honors at quarterback and first-team all-league in basketball for the second season in a row. He was also named to the all-area team for basketball this year.

“Brad was a leader both on and off the field the way he conducted himself,” Bagby said.

His highlight of the 2002-2003 season came in a football game against eventual state champion Archbishop Murphy where he threw for 304 yards in a near upset.

“For a while there we had them on the ropes, that was a pretty high point,” Sherman said.

However, after completing four straight years of playing three-sports, taking the league championship in basketball his junior year is his most memorable moment.

“That’s just something that stands out to me as completely awesome,” he said.

Sherman plans on attending Western Washington University next fall, where he would like to walk on to the basketball team.

McDonald, who played football, basketball and ran track was also honored to receive the award.

“I worked really, really hard this year and all the years previous,” he said. “I guess it just kind of goes to show that all the work’s paid off.”

McDonald was named a first-team Northwest A running back in 2002, after leading the Wolves in rushing and touchdowns.

“Daniel is just a plain hard worker,” Bagby said. “He is just the hardest worker you’ll ever see in your life.”

This fall McDonald will move onto Pacific Lutheran University to play running back for Frosty Westering and the Division III Lutes.

“I’m looking forward to his (Westering’s) whole philosophy, his way of life, the whole team attitude,” McDonald said.

On the girls side, Lamb excelled in volleyball, basketball, and softball over four years to earn her award.

“It’s just kind of a culmination of a really good sports career, which can be attributed to all my teammates just as much as me,” she said.

The five state playoff teams she played on over the past two years are a large part of the memories she will carry after high school, however, she will also remember the little things.

“More than any big memories or big events, it was just all the time spent practicing, all the little funny things that happen in the locker room and on the bus rides home and everything that was being part of a team and getting to spend time with your teammates,” she said.

After graduation Lamb is set to attend Brigham Young University where she plans to major in biology. As far as playing sports, she plans on sticking to intramurals.

Mouw has only been at Coupeville for two years after transferring in her junior year, which makes winning the award that much more important to her.

“For me it’s really special because I’ve only been here for two years,” she said. “Knowing that I’ve made an impression is cool.”

In two years she was the only athlete in school history to attend a state competition in six straight seasons with volleyball, basketball and track. She most recently capped off her high school career by claiming the state title in the 800-meters.

Putting the six trips to state aside, one of her most memorable moments at Coupeville came earlier this year while playing her favorite sport, volleyball.

“One of my most memorable moments was beating LaConner this year at districts,” she said. “They beat us twice during the season and they won state, but we can still say we beat them.”

Mouw plans on attending either Western or Skagit Valley Community College in the fall.

Lamb and Mouw have left a large impression and will be sorely missed by those who had the opportunity to coach them.

“Both were outstanding athletes and outstanding students,” girls basketball coach Greg Oldham said. “More than those two attributes they are outstanding people.”