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La Conner loves a winner. And the community is always up for a parade. Townspeople and tourists alike enjoyed both Saturday afternoon, turning out to honor the arrival of La Conner High School's 2B volleyball champions from Yakima. The day before they secured the program's seventh state title. Crowds gathered at Gilkey Square and lined First Street to greet the team as it rode through town shortly after 12 p.m. on Hook & Ladder fire trucks, feted with music from the pep band and cheered on with...
THE AWARD IS EVEN LARGER – La Conner Schools' Andy Wheeler, director of special programs, left, and ceramic arts teacher Steve DeLeon accept a $4,500 check, a gift from Epting Foundation Trustee Kathleen Faulkner, Nov. 9. See original story...
If practice makes perfect, the La Conner High School volleyball team should be perfectly ready to defend the state 2B net crown it has worn since 2019. Just moments after securing a berth to the state tournament in Yakima by sweeping Coupeville in straight sets Nov. 2 at Landy James Gym, head coach Suzanne Marble put her bi-district title team through a practice session. Work remains to be done for the Lady Braves, who bring a 14-3 overall mark to the SunDome tomorrow, Nov. 10, when they begin...
It was a case of less is more when the eight-man La Conner High School football team closed out its season at Lummi Nov. 1. The Braves (2-6) exceeded their prior season point total with an explosive 56-6 non-conference victory. La Conner, which normally plays an 11-man format, had just four days to prepare for this contest. Looking to end a rebuilding year on a positive note, the Braves had little trouble adjusting to the quick turnaround and eight-man game. "It was a fun game to be a part of,"...
La Conner Schools officials are fired up about the district’s arts program’s newest addition. It is, after all, a kiln for students to use to fire pottery. The acquisition is made possible by a $2,500 donation from the Anacortes-based Rick Epting Foundation, accepted at the school board’s October meeting. Director of Special Programs Andy Wheeler explained that the Epting Foundation, an all-volunteer organization that raises money for the arts, had decided on a gift of up to $1,500. Wheeler checked with teachers and heard from Steve DeLeo...
She's already in the state coaches' Hall of Fame. Now Suzanne Marble is having her name affixed to a space closer to home, off the corridors of Landy James Gym, where she has guided the school's storied volleyball program to six state titles in three decades. The school board voted unanimously to name the gymnasium's women's locker room area after Marble in recognition of her vast impact upon district students and athletes since arriving here in the early 1990s at their Oct. 24 meeting. A...
The road to a seventh state volleyball championship may well go through Manson. If so, the Lady Braves will have to bypass the speed bumps they encountered during a two-day Eastern Washington swing last week that saw La Conner drop matches to 2B Manson and 1A Chelan. The defending state volleyball champions rebounded from those setbacks with a convincing straight-sets home triumph over 2A Squalicum on Friday, Oct. 28. This was the kind of win that bodes well for post-season, which opens...
By Bill Reynolds Ilwaco High School did a victory jig with a 23-0 non-league triumph – the Fishermen's first of the season – when its relentless run game finally wore down the Braves for two fourth period touchdowns Thursday, Oct. 27. Leading 8-0, Ilwaco doubled its margin when running back Dylan Pelas dashed in from five yards out and Sam Needham caught a two-point conversion toss from Ethan Hopkins with 9:40 to play. The Fishermen added an insurance score with 6:03 remaining on a 10-yard Kyl...
At its meeting Oct. 24, the La Conner School board heard reports from middle school and high school students who attended Cispus Leadership Camp in Randle, near the base of Mount Rainier, last summer. The students reported enjoying the experience, saying they had been introduced to problem-solving and leadership skills, gleaned new fundraising ideas, were encouraged to brainstorm and received instruction in how to promote inclusion, kindness and empathy. “I think we all grew a lot,” said high schooler Hadley Shears. La Conner was the sma...
Ellie Marble is well known in regional volleyball circles and at Central Washington University, where the La Conner High School standout is a prized recruit for veteran head coach Mario Andaya's program. The 6'-0" senior outside hitter and reigning Washington State 2B Player of the Year is also getting plenty of national recognition. Marble was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Week for Oct. 3-9 after having led the Lady Braves to key conference net triumphs and...
La Conner High School senior Thomas Kitchen and his Braves teammates unleashed heat that Providence Classical Christian defenders couldn't handle during conference boys' home soccer action Friday night. Kitchen delivered a laser shot into the net at the 6:33 mark of the first half to break a scoreless tie and give La Conner a lead it wouldn't surrender enroute to a 2-1 Senior Night triumph in cold and wet conditions at Whittaker Field. "We've been playing a lot better," Kitchen said afterward. "...
The La Conner High School homecoming football game last Friday was full of bright shining moments. Not so much in the final score, but certainly during isolated moments of a 67-18 grid loss to league foe Friday Harbor and at intermission when the royal court led by King Jacob Pommels and Queen Makayla Herrera was introduced to a large Whittaker Field crowd. While the homecoming royalty could not decree a second straight Braves win a week after the team broke a lengthy scoring drought in a...
The defending state 2B La Conner High School volleyball team is used to posting big numbers when it takes the floor. But none bigger than last Wednesday at Landy James Gym. The Lady Braves swept Mount Vernon High School in straight sets Oct. 12 and raised more than $1,000 for breast cancer research as part of their annual Dig Pink/Senior Night match. The Dig Pink effort shows head coach Suzanne Marble's commitment to providing public service projects for her players. As for Senior Night, fans...
The La Conner Braves had a point to make Friday night. Actually, they made 30 of them. Held scoreless all of 2021 and the first month of this season, the Braves broke the scoring barrier and got into the win column by defeating 1A Charles Wright Academy in non-league grid action in Tacoma. "It felt great to get the win," second-year head coach Charlie Edwards said afterward. "The teamwork was amazing. It was truly a total team effort." Quarterback Ivory Damien paced the victors with two rushing...
The La Conner High School volleyball team turned in another capital performance last weekend. Facing teams from larger schools, including undefeated 4A power Puyallup High School, the defending state 2B net champs placed first in the silver division of the Capitol City Invitational Volleyball Tournament in Olympia last Saturday, Oct. 8. La Conner went 1-2 in pool play, including a two-set defeat to Puyallup, before rebounding to sweep three straight matches in the tourney's silver bracket,...
It wasn't yellow flags that dotted dry and brownish Whittaker Field Friday morning. It was instead the orange shirts worn by La Conner students and staff that colored the school district's football field on Sept. 30 in honor of Native American youth who, over generations, suffered cultural trauma while attending residential campuses in the U.S. and Canada. La Conner Schools is one of the first districts in western Washington to observe Orange Shirt Day, which in Canada is a national day of...
La Conner High School volleyball players have given their fans plenty of reasons to celebrate over the past three decades – starting with six state titles. Now the La Conner community has an opportunity to celebrate the Hall of Fame coach who since 1993 has been the program's guiding force. Suzanne Marble, who topped the 500-career win mark two years ago, again has her team aiming for top state honors in her 30th and final net campaign. In recognition of Marble's many contributions here as a t...
Build it and they will come. This famous line from a popular movie is also a mantra for the new Little Braves Preschool on the La Conner Schools campus. Eleven students attended last week’s reopening of the district preschool, which has been resurrected on a one-year trial basis following successful lobbying of the school board last summer. The school district had operated a Pre-K program but stopped it a year ago when the classes shifted to the Swinomish Tribal Community. Parents and school staff convinced the board earlier this year that a p...
There were no cracks in a Liberty Bell defense that held La Conner to 67 yards total offense – all on the ground – in an impressive 54-0 non-conference eight-man triumph at Whittaker Field Saturday, Oct. 1. The visitors amassed 339 yards in offense, almost evenly split between rushing and passing. La Conner struggled to generate offense all afternoon. The Braves managed just two first downs, one via penalty when La Conner quarterback Ivory Damien’s hard count drew successive encroachment flags during the first series in the second half. Brave...
The Coupeville High School football team needed just one score and 16 seconds to post an NW2B shutout win over La Conner at Whittaker Field Friday, Sept. 23. Coupeville's Scott Hilborn returned the opening kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown that opened the floodgates to a 46-0 Wolves triumph. Hilborn reeled off a 10-yard scoring jaunt that edged Coupeville 13-0 less than a minute into the game, following one of five La Conner lost fumbles. Coupeville capped its scoring onslaught when quarterback...
The La Conner High School volleyball team split a pair of matches last week but literally won the one that counted. The defending state 2B net champs were edged in three sets at 1A Nooksack Valley Sept. 20 before sweeping Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in La Conner’s NW2B/1B debut on Thursday, Sept. 22. The Lady Braves (3-1), who typically play a challenging non-conference schedule, had earlier defeated 2A Anacortes and Sehome at home. “Nooksack is a very solid team,” La Conner head coach Marble said after the team’s 22-25, 19-25, 23-25 s...
La Conner School District colors have long been blue and white. But on Friday, Sept. 29 students will add orange to the color scheme. La Conner Schools is among the first districts in Washington State to embrace Orange Shirt Day, which in Canada is a statutory holiday recognizing the impact residential schools had on indigenous students and communities for over a century. “We want to thank the La Conner School District for embracing this,” Swinomish Education Director Michael Vendiola said during an interactive Zoom program that aired last wee...
After suffering successive losses to open the season, the La Conner High School girls' soccer team got on the board in a 10-2 non-conference home loss to Oak Harbor Sept. 9. Still, an asterisk is in order. The two La Conner goals were scored by Oak Harbor players on loan to the short-handed Lady Braves, who are still without their full roster due to eligibility and injury issues. Head coach Christian Warman said some players need to complete the required 10 preseason practices to participate in...
The roster is different, but the result was the same. The defending state 2B champion La Conner High School volleyball team opened its 2022 season with an impressive triumph over 2A Anacortes at Landy James Gym Thursday, Sept. 8. The most imposing part clearly was a 13-2 run to close out the second set and erase what had been a 20-12 Seahawk lead. "It was a little setback for us," senior middle blocker Makayla Herrera said of the brief deficit midway through the match, "but we were able to come...
Christian Warman is rarely at a loss for words but the veteran La Conner High School girls’ soccer coach says he cannot say enough about the players on this year’s roster. “I could say something about all of them,” he told the Weekly News during one of the team’s preseason workouts Aug. 25. “Our numbers are small, we have a lot of players who are young and inexperienced, but they bring a lot of energy.” There might be times this fall when La Conner is forced to play what Warman calls “Ironman Soccer” with few or no subs to call upon, yet th...
