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La Conner High School sophomore Tommy Murdock won the boys’ state 2B 300-meter hurdles title in storybook fashion at Cheney May 26-28. Murdock, who had bolted to an early lead, clipped the final hurdle before tumbling across the finish line. Despite the late fall, it was Murdock who moments later climbed atop the winner’s podium to collect the gold medal in his signature event. “He won pretty decisively,” La Conner head track coach Peter Voorhees said. Murdock clocked a 0:40.76 in the final,...
Chris Omdal stepped into his new role as the La Conner Marina harbormaster last week after career stop where he has always enjoyed meeting folks from all walks of life. That will not change here. Omdal, an avid walker, has already developed an easy rapport with boaters moored at the marina’s floating docks along Swinomish Channel. At the start of the Memorial Day weekend Friday, he donned his safety vest and walked the marina’s guest float area to meet and greet members of the Edmonds Yacht Clu...
Passage of national Title IX legislation 50 years ago began leveling the playing field for female athletes. Now, five La Conner High School senior girls have signed letters of intent to compete for college athletic programs next school year. Juna Swanson, Sarah Cook, Rachel Cram, Emma Keller and Emma Worgum were front and center at Landy James Gym May 17, with their friends, family members and school staff during a 45-minute collegiate athletics letter of intent signing ceremony. “This is a s...
La Conner High School track standout Ellie Marble has qualified in four events at what will be the first state 2B track and field meet in three years starting Thursday, May 26 at Eastern Washington University. She will compete at Cheney in the 300-meter hurdles, shot put, high jump and 4x200 meter relay after having helped lead the Lady Braves to a second-place team finish at bi-district trials in Chehalis last week. Marble placed second in the shot, fourth in the 300 hurdles, fifth in the high...
Lorraine Loomis died nine months ago but her presence was clearly felt Friday during the Swinomish Blessing of the Fleet and First Salmon Ceremony. Loomis truly lived for the sacred springtime ritual – a large community-wide feast and program at the tribal youth center followed by a procession through Swinomish Village leading to a solemn shoreline prayer service marked by a moment of silence for lost fishers. Many of the day’s speakers invoked Loomis’ name, citing her commitment to Nat...
La Conner High School golfers dealt with tough conditions last Thursday in Oak Harbor, but at the end of the day their outlook could not have been sunnier. The boys and girls golf teams weathered drizzly skies and harsh gusts to blow past the competition in post-season tournament play as the Lady Braves – led by senior standout Emma Worgum, a Western Washington University recruit – captured top district honors, advancing from bi-district trials as state 2B qualifiers. “It was pretty breezy and rainy out there,” said La Conner hea...
By capturing the NW2B District track crown in Coupeville on Saturday, the La Conner High School girls completed a three-sport hat trick this year. La Conner girls’ teams had earlier won the district volleyball and basketball championships. They kept pace in track, outpointing host Coupeville 78-47. La Conner was led by multiple event winners Ellie Marble and Kaliana Bill plus strong showings in the relays, Marble won the 300 hurdles and shot put while Bill swept the long jump and triple jump. Marble, Lydia Grossglass and Hannah Cook ran 1...
The La Conner School District’s population has increased over the past decade but projected declines in student enrollment this fall is forcing tough budget personnel cuts ahead of the 2022-2023 academic year. La Conner School Board members dealt with that harsh reality at their Monday study session by reluctantly agreeing to a plan of not renewing contracts of the two most recently hired high school teachers. State funding of school districts is based on student enrollment. The drop from around 600 K-12 students in years prior to the COVID-19...
La Conner youth league teams made an adjustment this spring. The teams had to shift venues after last year’s sale of Hedlin’s ballfield on Maple Avenue. Youth practices and games are now on the La Conner schools campus. The transition has required a team effort on several levels, youth league treasurer and board member Catey Ritchie said. “We really want to thank the school for accommodating the La Conner Little League this year,” Ritchie told the Weekly News. “We couldn’t have had a season without them.” Ritchie praised former board members...
La Conner High School track teams are picking up the pace as the season’s finish line looms ahead. Some dozen La Conner athletes compete in district trials at Coupeville this Saturday. Winners qualify for the state 2B meet May 26-28 at Eastern Washington University. Tommy Murdock, the Braves’ standout hurdler, is on that list in multiple events. Murdock owns the fastest time statewide among 2B contestants in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles. He has clocked a 0:42.46. In the 110-meter hurdles, his per...
I would like to thank the La Conner Middle & High School for the wonderful 2022 spring concert on the evening of April 19. It was truly a tribute to the hard work of two teachers, Ms. Mitchell and Mr. Clark and their students! We were amazed at the complexity of some of the numbers! It is great to be able to sit in the audience and hear the music in person once again. I am looking forward to the future and more outstanding concerts. Kay York Shelter Bay...
The La Conner School Board has chosen the right formula – they hope – to raise student math test scores and provide instructional programs featuring more hands-on problem-solving and critical thinking skills. At their hybrid meeting April 25 the board adopted new K-12 math curricula composed of three separate parts –for the elementary, middle and high schools. The 4-0 vote accepted district staff recommendations to adopt the Bridges to Mathematics component for Grades K-12, iReady Classroom Mathematics for Grades 6-8 and...
The La Conner High School baseball team made major strides with an impressive 6-0 league triumph at Concrete April 26. Braves pitcher Brogan Masonholder earned his first win by tossing a six-hit shutout that secured La Conner a two-game season series sweep of the Lions. “We played with energy and confidence,” coach Jeremiah LeSourd said afterward. “It was a major step forward.” C.J. Edwards started off with a double and was driven home by Nathan Bailey. Leading 1-0, the Braves sent 11 batters to the plate during a five-run outburst keyed b...
There are few things more grueling than running a marathon. One of those is battling cancer. A La Conner native knows all about the former, having previously run the Denver Colfax Marathon. Now she’s helping bring greater awareness to the latter by raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as she trains for the Chicago Marathon in October. Morgan Harlan, a 2020 Baylor University grad now teaching kindergarten in Denver, is hoping to raise $4,000 for LLS by running the urban Chicago cours...
The La Conner High School baseball team ripped nine hits, drew 10 walks, and received solid outings from pitchers Nathan Bailey and Haydin Dinuis when the Braves hosted Orcas Island Friday afternoon. But it wasn’t enough to overcome crucial defensive lapses as the Vikings posted a 14-7 NW2B/1B victory. “We had too many errant throws at critical times,” Braves coach Jeremiah LeSourd said afterward of his young club, which fell to 1-7 in conference play. “It led to extra bases and too many earned runs,” LeSourd said. However, the Braves st...
Don’t talk about the Rexville Grange in the past tense. Membership may be small and the calendar light, but this Grange is alive and well. Built in 1927, the Rexville Grange has hosted potlucks, weddings and receptions, rummage sales, art shows, dances, memorial services, service projects, polling sites and parties in its 95 years. As an official Red Cross shelter, it housed 300 people displaced by the 1990 Fir Island flood and offers its grounds to all farmers who need to keep farm machinery o...
Earth Day is Friday. Those acting locally include the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, which will give away tree saplings, and Kelly Harper, who is organizing a Snee Oosh beach cleanup. Heavens knows, more trees need to be planted and more debris removed from beaches. But local actions need to advance beyond individual acts to governmental, institutional and corporate policies that bring decisions that greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The La Conner Regional Library committing to getting 100% of its electricity from solar panels is exactly the...
A Shelter Bay man who for seven years has appraised and analyzed area properties learned the true value of real estate while growing up here. Danny Hagen embraced the community of his youth, returning to La Conner after having played college basketball and competed in track and field at California Lutheran University, a married man seeking the ideal location to raise a family. “I loved my time in La Conner so much that as soon as my wife and I found out we were going to be parents, we knew we h...
A La Conner High School alum is tackling a full college course load while spending several hours each week at the rugby pitch. Maizie McCollum, a 2019 graduate, is president and forwards captain of the Eastern Washington University Banshees, the school’s women’s rugby club team. A golfer and basketball player at La Conner, she discovered rugby at the university’s campus in Cheney. “I’ve always known about rugby, but it wasn’t until my freshman year at EWU that I started playing competitively,” M...
It was Good Friday on the calendar, but anything but a good Friday for the La Conner High School baseball and softball teams. Both lost league home doubleheaders to Coupeville. In the girls’ softball twinbill, the defending NW2B/1B champions routed La Conner 23-0 and 21-1, limiting the Lady Braves to just a pair of base hits total in the two games. Coupeville remains unbeaten (5-0) in conference action. Meanwhile, the boys fell 10-2 and 21-4 to the Wolves, who improved to 5-1 in NW2B/1B standings, one game back of undefeated league-leader F...
Sarah Cook delivered countless highlights while helping La Conner High School to a 23-2 mark and fourth place finish at the 2022 Girls’ 2B Hardwood Classic in Spokane. Since then, the senior has received many post-season honors. The latest is her inclusion on a popular sports website’s list of the 15 must-see shooting guards in Washington high school girls’ basketball. Cook was chosen along with Ellensburg’s Dylan Philip, Lynden Christian’s Libby Stump and other standouts from programs across all enrollment classifications in the state. “T...
Ryan Booth can check several boxes on his resume: National Park Service ranger, Washington State University assistant professor of history, and Fulbright Scholar, to name a few. Now add film star to the list. Booth, a 1995 La Conner High School graduate, provides expert commentary in several segments of a new documentary about Black soldiers who served in the U.S. Army more than a century ago. “Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts” premiered last weekend at the Seattle International Fil...
The past seven years have transformed the relationship between the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Skagit County and local tax districts like the La Conner School District, Fire District 13 and the La Conner Regional Library. As the Swinomish Senate prepares to announce its 2022 voluntary contributions to these partners, this is a good time to reflect on their importance to our shared community and all that we have achieved together. History could have turned out very differently. After a 2014 federal court decision removed close to a...
Ellie Marble has been a central figure in La Conner High School’s last two state 2B Volleyball championship runs. So, it seems only appropriate that Marble would verbally commit to attend and play volleyball at Central Washington University after her 2023 graduation. Marble, a 6’0” junior outside hitter and the Washington State Coaches Association 2021 2B Player of the Year, announced her choice of the Ellensburg campus on social media last week. At Central, she will play for a top-flight NCAA Division II program guided by head coach Mario...
A major fire struck downtown Friday Harbor Thursday morning. The next day the town’s high school baseball team, the defending NW2B2B/1B champions, was equally hot. The Wolverines (5-0 in league) opened their April 8 conference game at La Conner with three consecutive line drive hits, setting the tone for a convincing 13-0 triumph. The youthful Braves (1-4) were coming off a ten-run victory the week before over Concrete. But Friday Harbor made sure the home team did not win a second straight game. “Friday Harbor,” coach Jeremiah LeSourd conce...
