Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 779
Orange is a color that has long linked the La Conner and Swinomish communities, perhaps never more so than now, 66 years after the Rainbow Bridge was built. That was much in evidence Friday afternoon when La Conner students, most wearing bright orange shirts bearing the phrase "Every Child Matters," gathered at Whittaker Field to pay homage to victims and survivors of the Indian Residential School era. Superintendent Will Nelson, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, said the annual fall event...
It's often said in sports that the best defense is a good offense. For the youthful La Conner High School volleyball team, which carries three eighth graders – Nora McCormick, Abi Poulton and Reese Bird – on its nine-player roster, the opposite is the case. The Lady Braves, adjusting to heavy graduation losses from its state championship net program, have transitioned this fall from a power hitting team to relying on solid defense and crisp passing. They worked that new approach to good eff...
The La Conner High School boys’ soccer team defeated Grace Academy 3-1 Friday at home for the Braves’ second straight triumph, improving to 2-3 on the campaign going into a big match with NW2B/1B power Mount Vernon Christian Friday, Oct. 6. Coach Galen McKnight’s charges will look to square their season ledger when they host the Hurricanes in a 4 p.m. start. MVC sports a 6-2-1 mark entering this week’s play, having most recently tied St. Georges of Spokane 2-2, blanked Friday Harbor 1-0 and dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Orcas Island. Hurrica...
John Agen and Janie Beasley are vying for La Conner School District Director Position 2 Greater La Conner residents living in the district can attend a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Skagit County Oct. 16 at 6:15 p.m. at Skagit PUD. Register at the League’s website: .skagitlwv.org/Election-Forums.html....
The La Conner High School boys’ soccer team was on point against Crosspoint Saturday. The Braves (1-3) earned their first victory of 2023 with a convincing 5-0 home shutout of non-conference foe Crosspoint Academy, a traditional soccer power from Bremerton and a SeaTac 2B entry. Lane Tenborg paced the winners by scoring twice and assisting on La Conner’s other three goals. Braves’ head coach Galen McKnight described Tenborg’s play as “brilliant.” McKnight also praised Corran Eisen, who broke a scoreless tie with the lone first half goal of the...
The new-look La Conner High School volleyball team, sporting a revamped lineup following heavy graduation losses from last year’s state 2B championship roster, has not lost sight of the immediate task at hand. Which is to collect as many NW2B/1B match triumphs as possible. So far, the Lady Braves (2-4 overall) have checked that box. The team, which dropped early non-league contests with 1A Meridian and Lynden Christian, 1B Neah Bay and 4A Glacier Peak, has won the match that counts most – a straight-sets sweep of conference rival Concrete Sep...
The La Conner High School girls’ soccer team could not find the net at Auburn Adventist Thursday afternoon.On that score, the Lady Braves are in good company. Auburn Adventist has won four matches this fall by shutout. That is why they sit atop SeaTac 2B League standings, The Lady Falcons added NW2B/1B member La Conner to the list, recording a 3-0 non-league triumph, despite several outstanding individual performances cited by first-year coach Maddie Huscher. Huscher praised striker Izzy Villard, right wing Kailey Carlson, right back Aisley Z...
La Conner quarterback Ivory Damien accounted for more than 200 yards in total offense, including a 79-yard first period scoring strike to wideout Logan Burks, but the visiting Braves still fell 48-6 to NW2B grid foe Coupeville at Mickey Clark Field Friday night. Coupeville prevailed on the strength of superior roster depth and a punishing ground attack led by Mike Robinett, who ran for three touchdowns and was effective all night on inside blasts. The Braves also hurt themselves by yielding six...
The drive to reinstate student public service hours as a La Conner High School graduation requirement intersected Monday with a concrete example of the level of community support enjoyed by the school district. School Board members at their 75-minute Sept. 25 hybrid meeting expressed appreciation for a donation of 11 ukuleles by the La Conner Arts Commission to the elementary music program. Board President Susie Deyo cited the commitment demonstrated by the group as a prime reason of the great value for everyone when students engage in the...
The Wahkiakum School District lost its two-year legal challenge seeking increased state funding for campus building and maintenance projects Washington state’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled Sept. 7. La Conner Schools officials feel the southwest Washington district’s pain. “It was too bad that they lost,” La Conner School Board President Susie Deyo said during the local panel’s 45-minute study session Sept. 11. The district had donated $3,000 to the Wahkiakum district’s legal battle. “All together, they raised about $100,000,” Deyo said. The...
The Lady Braves soccer team gained a win in town last Thursday. Lydia Grossglass and Maicy Bowles scored goals and Josi Straathof and Annika Keith recorded key saves for a home non-conference victory over Forest Ridge Sacred Heart High of Bellevue. The La Conner girls’ soccer team (2-2) was slated to open league play at home Tuesday opposite Friday Harbor. Boys soccer The Braves soccer team, meanwhile, played NW2B power and defending state champion Friday Harbor on nearly equal terms at home Friday afternoon. The Wolverines, with the wind at t...
Friday Harbor converted three straight second quarter La Conner turnovers into touchdowns, securing a convincing 41-0 NW2B grid triumph at Whittaker Field on Thursday. Quarterback Whiley McCutcheon threw a pair of scoring tosses to Triston Bremer and ran for another TD – all in the final 5:14 of the opening half –to break open what had been a closely fought defensive battle in the league opener for both teams. With the win, Friday Harbor improved to 2-1 overall. La Conner, fell to 0-2 after a 28-12 setback to 2A Evergreen of Seattle. The tea...
The new-look La Conner High School volleyball team, beset with heavy graduation losses, produced quite familiar results at NW2B foe Concrete Thursday night. The defending state 2B title winners forged a straight-sets triumph in their league debut, after successive setbacks to tough 1A net programs Lynden Christian and Meridian and a 3-1 loss to a talented 1B Neah Bay club Wednesday at Landy James Gym. Neah Bay swept NW2B Coupeville, a team La Conner is expected to vie for conference top honors, during its long two-match road swing from Cape...
All wasn’t lost when the new-look La Conner High School girls’ soccer team dropped two tough non-league tests to open the 2023 campaign. First-year coach Maddie Huscher was encouraged by her club’s effort in an 8-1 setback to North Mason and 7-0 shutout defeat at Northwest House of Seattle last week. “It was tough competition playing a team not in our division,” Huscher told the Weekly News after the road trip to Northwest, “but it was a great learning experience. We played on a turf field, something we aren’t used to.” Huscher said the team’s...
C.J. Edwards reeled off a 53-yard touchdown run, Ivory Damien delivered a 45-yard scoring strike to Tommy Murdock and the La Conner High School defense recovered five fumbles, but the Braves still fell 28-12 to Evergreen of Seattle in their grid opener at Whittaker Field Friday night. The difference, even more than the Wolverines' 16-point margin of victory, was in roster depth. Evergreen is a 2A King County program that rolls out 57 players. The 2B Braves, by contrast, suit up 20, two of them f...
The vibe coming out of the Pac-12 Conference this summer couldn't have been more grim. But a La Conner High School alum is providing a rare bit of good news, especially in her hometown, ahead of what will be the final year of the Conference of Champions as it is known. Ashley Watkins, a 2017 La Conner grad, has been elevated to director of football operations at Washington State University, the youngest sports administrator to serve in that capacity within the Pac-12. Her promotion was...
After slogging through a spring and summer beset with budget woes, La Conner Schools officials and staff shifted gears last week to focus on what they do best – create priceless memories for local students and families. The 2023-2024 year launched with a soft-start half-week of instruction beginning with Aug. 29 Braves Day orientation activities. Building principals Heather Fakkema-Hovde and Christine Tripp said Braves Day, which provided a relaxed atmosphere for students to meet teachers and advisors, obtain class schedules, pose for photos an...
Longtime La Conner Schools counselor Lori Buher has retired, but she is still offering timely advice. Buher suggested that the district resume its requirement that La Conner High students complete public service hours in order to graduate at the school board’s Aug. 14 study session. The board was listening. “We recognize that volunteering connects students to the community,” Board President Susie Deyo said then, noting that the board has retained its policy promoting student public service. The graduation requirement was set aside during the C...
New La Conner High School head volleyball coach Pam Keller is succeeding a legend and her young team is following in the footsteps of the four-time defending state 2B net champions. But optimism was clearly in the air – and on the freshly painted floor at Landy James Gym – when the Lady Braves opened pre-season workouts last week. "This crew is working pretty dang hard," Keller, who assisted retired state Hall of Fame coach Suzanne Marble for more than two decades, told the Weekly News pri...
Sweet Sixteen. A milestone birthday, for sure. But it has added significance for the La Conner High School football program. Sweet sixteen is the number of players on the Braves’ preseason roster this year. That’s about twice as many who turned out at this time last August. Ultimately, head coach Charlie Edwards and his staff were able to cobble together a young group with enough depth – though, barely – to complete its 2022 11-man grid schedule, forging a respectable 2-6 mark given the circumstances. Edwards, who began his third season...
Maddie Huscher has swapped out her rock-climbing boots for soccer coaching cleats this fall. Huscher, the reigning Northwest Region Teacher of the Year and who has sponsored the middle school climbing club, will spend the next few weeks on flat ground as La Conner High School’s new girls’ soccer coach. Huscher greeted a young but enthusiastic roster to pre-season workouts this week. In a way, though, Huscher will be employing climbing techniques with the Lady Braves. She will be looking to help guide the youthful Lady Braves up NW1B/2B sta...
A year ago, the best offense for the La Conner High School boys’ soccer team was a good defense. That script will flip in 2023, however, as a deep roster with plenty of playmakers will be more aggressive on the offensive side of the pitch. Blessed with a solid core of returnees from a club that dropped tight 2-0 and 3-0 matches with Mount Vernon Christian and highlighted the 2022 campaign with a 1-0 shutout win over NW2B/1B rival Coupeville, head coach Galen McKnight envisions a more robust attack this fall. “We have a big incoming junior class...
When given a real-world assignment last school year, La Conner High School students nailed it. Both literally and figuratively. The school’s construction class, taught by Daniel Castillo, built a tiny house as part of career and technology curriculum and the finished product was recently delivered to the tiny home village on Pease Road in Burlington. Burlington Mayor Steve Sexton and representatives of the Low Income Housing Institute, which paid for the materials used on the project, were present when the student-built house arrived. “My onl...
The grass, they say, is always greener on the other side. In the case of C.J. Woods, that is even true of the Arizona desert. Woods, the youthful and personable La Conner High School boys’ head basketball coach and athletics director, has stepped down to assume a similar dual position at Chinle High School, which boasts top-flight sports facilities. The Apache County, Arizona school is the subject of an acclaimed Netflix documentary. “It’s a really bittersweet feeling,” Woods, 28, who last winter led the underdog Braves to a Northwest 2B Bi-D...
Summer school is all about enhancing student performance. And at La Conner Schools, student performance comes in multiple ways, shapes and forms and is not limited to pencil and paper drills. Elementary school pupils provided a perfect example Thursday afternoon, presenting a rendition of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" before a standing room-only audience of proud family members and friends. Superintendent Will Nelson and Braves Club Director Marlene Brenton attended. They crafted the...
