Seeling steps off field into big job

As she slides into her role as La Conner Schools interim superintendent, Peg Seeling has one final task to tackle as district athletic director.

She must conduct interviews to fill a slew of new coaching vacancies at La Conner High.

Including her own.

Seeling, who has held various coaching posts here since the early 1980s, last month announced she was stepping away from the helm of the Lady Braves softball team, a stint highlighted by a string of State 2B Tournament berths through 2015.

Seeling was honored on her “retirement” with an outpouring of accolades from faculty, former players, and community members prior to La Conner’s regular season home finale in May.

Retiring is a misleading term, since for Seeling it means her focus merely shifts from the sideline to the bottom line.

“My retirement from coach-ing,” she said last week, “was in order to serve as interim superintendent for this coming year.”

Seeling, a former principal who has been a school admin-istrator for years, will serve as a bridge between long-time superintendent Tim Bruce, who resigned this spring to accept a faculty post at Western Washington University and a permanent successor as chief administrator of La Conner Schools.

It’s a fitting assignment, given that Seeling has been building bridges since her 1983 arrival in La Conner.

She was hired shortly after boys’ basketball coach Randy Sheriff left for Port Townsend. The late Landy James, for whom the school’s main gymnasium is named, took on a dual assignment as Braves football and basketball mentor, and Seeling was charged with building upon the foundation laid for Lady Braves’ sports programs.

“That was back when Title IX was just starting to have an impact,” recalled Seeling, a Minnesota native, whose coaching career was most influenced during her time as a graduate student at the University of North Dakota.

It was there that she saw first-hand the benefits of weight training. Seeling was quick to incorporate strength drills into workouts. At first, her players made do with a single universal gym and a few free weights. This past year La Conner High students benefited from a state-of-the art fitness center.

“We’re very thankful for the level of support we’ve received from the community,” Seeling said. “I’ve been fortunate to have been here for a lot of construction. I remember when they drove piling for what was then the new gymnasium. We’ve built two more gyms since then.”

Some of her fondest memories date to the old La Conner High gym, built in the late 1940s when James was a star local athlete, a job made possible due to labor and materials provided by the La Conner and Swinomish communities.

That building, where Seeling coached volleyball on a floor dimly lit by single-bulb lanterns, was demolished a year ago in concert with development of a new middle school campus.

“I hated to see it go down,” said Seeling, “but it was something that had to happen.”

Seeling would also coach a record-setting State championship girls’ mile relay team that trained on a slow, often sloppy cinder-type track surface. A rubberized, all-weather track has since been installed and upgraded on the Whittaker Field oval.

That State gold medal, mined on an oppressively hot day in Wenatchee, is but one of countless highlights that Seeling relishes. Another was La Conner’s initial State softball tourney appearance.

Many others, however, have little to do with wins and losses.

“To be honest,” Seeling said, “I have no clue as what my won-loss record is. It’s something that I haven’t really kept track of.”

Her peers have, though. They recently saluted her body of work, both in the arena and as an administrator, by naming Seeling the Northwest District Athletic Director of the Year.

“For me,” said Seeling, “it’s always been about the relationships you build with kids and colleagues. I’ve coached two generations of students in some La Conner families, and I’ve been blessed to have worked with some really great people.”

Looking back, it’s safe to say Seeling’s career was meant to blossom here. Her first job in La Conner, before hiring on at the school, was working a daffodil harvest.

For the most part, things have been rosy ever since.

In related notes:

• Seeling said four coaching positions are open at La Conner High. In addition to girls’ softball, the head football and girls’ soccer posts are vacant, along with an assistant track job. Seeling received good news last week when Jeremiah LeSourd, who has guided the Braves baseball team to repeated deep playoff runs, confirmed he will return. “That,” said Seeling, “definitely made my day.”