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The bus to Cheney will be full this week. Filled with La Conner High track athletes eager to hit the freeway after having run in the fast lane at two-day NW2B District trials in Bellingham. “We’re taking 29 athletes to State, and we won 31 of 34 events,” an elated La Conner head coach Peter Voorhees said after his charges dominated action at venerable Civic Field. The Braves won the boys’ side of the District Meet by outpointing runner-up Friday Harbor 281-120. Concrete placed third, with 63...
Thirteen is no unlucky number for the La Conner High baseball team. Nor is it necessarily lucky. Because at this stage of the game, having secured a seventh straight State playoff berth, the Braves know it’s far better to be good than lucky. La Conner showed just how good it is last week. The Braves posted a dramatic 5-4 Senior Day season finale win over Darrington, then put together two clutch loser-out District Tournament triumphs on Saturday to run their current winning streak to 13 games. It all adds up to a 1 p.m., May 23 matinee s...
Timing in life is everything. And there was little time to waste on Friday for the La Conner High softball team, which made fast work of Orcas in a key doubleheader that got a late start due to a delayed ferry schedule. The Lady Braves improved to 6-1 in NW2B action and 10-5 overall with a convincing sweep of the home twinbill. La Conner, despite a shaky start, defeated Orcas 7-3 in the opener behind an eight-strikeout effort from junior hurler Olivia Hedlund. The hosts followed up with a 9-1 triumph in the nightcap as Elizabeth Tripp singled...
Dressed for success are these La Conner High Braves. More specifically, dressed to the nines after fashioning a key 6-4 road win over Friday Harbor last week that broke a first place tie and lifted the Braves into sole position atop NW2B baseball standings. The sometimes gritty, blue-collar triumph at Friday Harbor was La Conner’s ninth straight win. More important, it completed a two-game season sweep of the Wolverines, who fell to 7-4 in league play. La Conner improved to 9-1 in conference action. “It was another good week for us,” said...
He teaches math, but Scott Novak has long been a student of history. Especially La Conner High basketball history. Novak, a hoops coach at the school since 1988, has painstakingly developed within the foyer of Landy James Gym a virtual pictorial museum of La Conner basketball dating back nearly a century. Now he’s about to make some history of his own. Novak is among eight new members to be inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame this summer. N...
The La Conner High baseball team enjoyed a smooth ride to Concrete on Friday. And ace hurler Max Miller made sure the Braves didn’t hit any bumps in the road during their brief upriver visit. Miller earned his seventh mound win of the year with perhaps his best outing to date, a one-hit shutout, as the Braves blanked Concrete 4-0 in a key NW2B road test. Second place Friday Harbor sported a 5-1 NW2B mark – its lone loss coming to the Braves – entering this week’s conference play. The win over Concrete was huge for a Braves club that...
The La Conner High baseball team answered several questions last week with three big statement wins. All of which had Braves coach Jeremiah LeSourd speaking in superlatives and exclamation points afterward. “We had our best week of the year,” LeSourd stressed Saturday, following a clutch 7-6 non-conference win over Mount Baker, his club’s third triumph in five days. “The team is having fun and continuing to improve,” he added. “The pitchers and defense kept us in games, and offensively we had big innings that put us over the top.” It do...
They took no shortcuts, it just seemed that way. La Conner High track teams made fast work of an NW1B/2B League Meet at Friday Harbor on Thursday, where practice and preparation paid off with several of coach Peter Voorhees’ charges recording personal bests. He cited two, in particular — thrower Sarah Hastings and distance runner Jordan Holt — afterward. “They were our athletes of the week,” he said, “with Sarah setting PRs (personal records) in the shot and discus and Jordan setting a big PR in the 3200 and doing things right a...
It was an up-and-down week for the La Conner High softball team, which earned a split in games against two quality foes. Fortunately for the Lady Braves, they won the meeting that mattered most. La Conner edged NW2B rival Friday Harbor 3-1 at home behind a virtuoso seven-strikeout effort from junior hurler Olivia Hedlund, who helped her cause with a double and two runs driven in. With the win, La Conner kept its conference ledger unblemished with a 2-0 mark. The Lady Braves are 5-3 overall going into today’s (Wednesday’s) 2 p.m. non-league hom...
It’s their field contestants who are throwing La Conner Braves foes off track this spring. Both figuratively and literally. It happened again last week, at Northwest 1B/2B League Track and Field trials at Mount Vernon Christian. Michael Page, Zach Harris, and Brady Nelson swept a trio of field events to help lead the Braves to the meet title. La Conner edged host MVC 217.5 – 179 for top spot on the boys’ leaderboard. The La Conner High Lady Braves, led by Anna Cook’s four solo victo...
The La Conner Braves had proved gracious hosts to Orcas a couple weeks ago, letting a key NW2B baseball verdict go to the Vikings by a slim 2-1 margin. The second time around it was La Conner that presented its calling card. And the Braves did so with not a bit of hesitation. La Conner took advantage of island hospitality by posting a 10-5 victory on Wednesday that gave the Braves a season split with Orcas and left the two rivals tied for second in league standings behind undefeated Friday Harbor entering this week’s action. The Braves were s...
La Conner High started slow then poured it on late at Concrete last Monday. The Braves came from behind to record a key 5-2 NW2B baseball road win, improving to 2-1 in league standings and squaring their overall mark at 3-3. And, even more important, La Conner seized much needed momentum going into a crucial conference test at Orcas today. The April 8 matchup gives the Braves a chance to avenge an earlier 2-1 loss to the Vikings. Orcas, La Conner, Concrete, and Friday Harbor are the favorites vying for a lone Northwest District berth to State t...
La Conner High came out flat but kept on truckin.’ And, in the end, the Lady Braves shifted gears with some daring base running and timely hitting to forge a 6-5 comeback win in non-league softball action with Meridian on Thursday. Elizabeth Tripp stole two bases during a key sixth inning La Conner rally that tied the score, setting up a sharply hit game-winning infield grounder by Le Anne Swan in the seventh. “Coming back to tie the game in the sixth and then winning it in the seventh was a huge confidence builder for us,” said La Conne...
Feast or famine. Such was the case for La Conner High in two key league baseball dates last week. The Braves served up a smorgasbord of offense in a 9-1 rout of NW2B rival Shoreline Christian, then found slim offerings against Orcas pitching in a tough 2-1 conference loss to the Vikings. Orcas projects as one of four favorites — along with La Conner, Friday Harbor, and Concrete — vying for the Northwest District’s lone State berth this season. La Conner and Orcas meet again on April 8. “It should be interesting,” said La Conne...
Oh, so close. Those three words best sum up the finish to a splendid 26-1 La Conner High Lady Braves hoop campaign, the best mark in program history. Coach Scott Novak’s charges traveled more than 300 miles to come within a scant few seconds of vying for a coveted State 2B title at the Spokane Arena last week. The Lady Braves fell prey to late foul trouble and turnovers in a heartbreaking 59-51 semifinal overtime loss to Wahkiakum, narrowly missing a shot the next night at eventual tourney c...
She admitted to being tired afterward, but it was Adiya Jones who in the end wore down the Adna Lady Pirates. Jones, like the La Conner High defense, never rested on Saturday — scoring a game-high 28 points to help the Lady Braves seal a 49-43 Regional Round verdict in overtime and earn a second straight State Tournament berth. “I’m pretty tired,” the 5’9” junior forward said after her dominant performance at the Mount Vernon High gym. “But more than that, I’m excited. I can’t wait to...
La Conner High won its two Bi-District games in cakewalks. Lady Braves head coach Scott Novak, however, expects first round Regional action to be more meat-and-potatoes fare. This after Novak learned the undefeated Lady Braves, 22-0, had drawn his alma mater, Adna, to open Regional play later this week, likely in Mount Vernon. Adna is a No. 4 seed out of southwest Washington. The Lady Pirates lost 42-35 to Toutle Lake on Saturday, a game Adna ought to have won. Toutle Lake closed with a 19-9 spurt in the final stanza. “Adna’s seeding is very mi...
La Conner High head coach Scott Novak knew going in that beating Friday Harbor for a Regional berth would be a tall order. And, in the end, the Braves did indeed come up short in a Bi-District loser-out clash in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday. La Conner was defeated 48-29 by the taller, more rangy Wolverines, none of whose starters stand under 6 feet tall. That length posed serious issues for the Braves, who finished the campaign 18-5 overall, including one win in three meetings with Friday Harbor....
Going in, few gave La Conner much of a shot in its rematch with undefeated NW2B leader Friday Harbor last weekend. Turns out, it wasn’t shots that mattered for the most part. It was rebounding and de-fense. And on those twin scores, the Braves were clear winners in a gritty 46-43 upset triumph before a large and enthusiastic home crowd at Landy James Gym on Friday. With the win, La Conner improved to 16-3 overall and avenged an earlier 52-37 loss to the Wolverines, and by virtue of a prior c...
It was another tailor-made triumph for the La Conner High Lady Braves when they fashioned a stylish 61-30 NW2B statement win at home over Friday Harbor last week. With the lopsided win, La Conner inched ever closer to sewing up an undefeated league hoop campaign. The Lady Braves entered the final week of regular season play sporting a 19-0 mark, with a late Tuesday visit slated at Darrington. Anna Cook and Adiya Jones scored 19 points apiece to lead La Conner in its rout of the Lady Wolverines, helping complete a two-game season series sweep of...
La Conner High School junior Nicole Henriksentook fourth place in her 140-pound weight class, while senior Frances Ziemantz, second from right, brought home the Northwest District 1 Championship by placing first in the 190-pound division during the sub-regionals tournament held in Burlington on Saturday. – Photo by Heather Henriksen...
They may have lacked drama, but the two most recent performances staged by the La Conner High Lady Braves were a big hit with head coach Scott Novak. “This team is a pleasure to watch,” Novak said of his undefeated club, which routed NW2B rivals Cedar Park Christian and Orcas in consecutive road shows last week. “They’re very unselfish and play the game the right way.” The numbers bear him out. La Conner drubbed Cedar Park 63-21 on Thursday, then raced past Orcas 78-45 the next day. With the twin wins, the Lady Braves improved to 14-0 overall a...
Erick Reinstra filled the stat sheet against Cedar Park Christian, but those numbers aren’t all that measure the impact he has on the Braves’ team this year. “What I’m probably most pleased with,” La Conner High head coach Scott Novak said after his club’s convincing 61-38 road triumph, “is Erick’s leadership. He’s vocal in a positive way, and we’ve needed that this season.” At Cedar Park, his versatile skill set spoke volumes as well. Reinstra scored 14 points — including a pair of deep treys — reeled in 11 rebounds, and recorde...
Good things come to those who wait. So it was that the La Conner High girls’ basketball team was rewarded for its patience when the Lady Braves routed Coupeville 63-31 in non-league action at Landy James Gym Friday night. With the lopsided win, La Conner remained undefeated in eight starts on the campaign. But, perhaps more important, the Lady Braves avenged a tough loss at Coupeville a year ago. In that game, which saw senior point guard Kelley McClung sustain a season-ending injury, C...
‘Twas a week past Christmas, and Coupeville came to Landy James Gym bearing gifts. But the hosts were no longer in the holiday spirit. They refused all forms of generosity Friday night. The Braves instead chose to win this latest non-league hoop matchup between the longtime rivals the old-fashioned way. With hard work on the boards and at the defensive end of the floor. La Conner could’ve wrapped up the triumph with ease, had the Braves enjoyed a better outing at the charity stripe. The Braves settled, how-ever, for a gritty 46-36 decision that...
