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Tommy Murdock is a state champion who never stops looking to improve. That was again the case at the Stanwood Twilight Invitational Track Meet Friday as the La Conner High School junior set new personal marks while winning his signature events. Murdock captured the 110-meter hurdles in 15.19, edging Peter Wilhite of 1A Lynden by two-tenths of a second and claimed top honors in the 300-meter hurdles with a 39.33 clocking. Murdock on Wednesday had swept both boys' hurdles contests at the NW1B/2B...
All's well that ends well. That sums up the 2023 season for La Conner High School's youthful baseball and softball teams, both wrapping up the campaign with non-league home wins over Muckleshoot Tribal School on Thursday. The Braves, with no seniors this year, finished 5-11 overall and 3-10 in conference action following a 17-6 triumph over Muckleshoot. Braves pitchers Logan Burks and Kenai Zimmerman checked the Kings on three hits and fanned four batters. Brogan Masonholder paced the La Conner...
For 30 years, Suzanne Marble has preached the power of teamwork. Now, ironically, at the end of a remarkable career that has seen her guide La Conner High School volleyball teams to over 550 wins and seven state championships, Marble is collecting a series of individual honors and awards. The most recent was induction last Wednesday into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Hall of Fame during luncheon ceremonies in Renton. Marble was inducted as part of a 2023 Hall of...
Two La Conner High School seniors have found a recipe for success in the culinary arts program at Northwest Career and Technical Academy . Li Bell and Kristina Hansen gain instruction and train two-and-a-half hours mornings in the academy's combo lecture hall/kitchen and commercial kitchen facility off Laventure Road near the Skagit Valley College campus in Mount Vernon.. The culinary program, taught by former greater La Conner resident Lyle Hildahl, prepares students for careers in restaurants,...
La Conner students stepped up their support for school staff and programs threatened by district budget cuts in a most visible way Monday. About 60 middle and high school students, many of them chanting and carrying signs, walked out of morning classes and marched downtown to make public their concerns with funding shortfalls that will force layoffs and may ax popular course offerings next year. The walkout was organized by high school junior Jack Dougliss, who spoke passionately at the April...
La Conner High School softball and baseball teams continued to post football-type scores against Concrete last week. The Lady Braves (2-14 overall; 2-7 in league) followed up an earlier 35-27 slugfest win at home over Concrete with a 32-27 road victory Thursday to complete a two-game season series sweep of their Skagit County rivals. The Braves (4-10 in all games; 3-9 in NW1B/2B action) followed suit with a 15-11 victory at Concrete. The boys defeated the Lions 14-4 in the teams' first meeting o...
Few can run faster and jump higher than La Conner High School junior Tommy Murdock. Murdock swept the boys' hurdle events at the 115th Skagit County Track and Field Championships at Kirkby Field in Burlington last week, the latest in a string of triumphs this spring for the reigning State 2B titleholder. Murdock claimed the county 110-meter hurdles crown with a 15.77 finish. He captured the Skagit 300-meter hurdles contest by clocking a winning time of 40.10. Murdock, who also placed sixth in...
The League of Women Voters of Skagit County invites the public to a meeting to discuss the future of local journalism and its importance to our democracy Monday, May 15, 6:30-8 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School auditorium, 1075 Fulton Street. The Mount Vernon High School debate team, who will argue the proposition "A thriving democracy is dependent on a local news source." This will be followed by a panel discussion featuring journalists Brier Dudley, Seattle Times Free Press Initiative; Jason...
The impact of budget ax reality fell sharply and heavily upon La Conner Schools Monday night. And it hurt. Projections of declining student enrollment and loss of COVID-19 emergency funding forced the school board to reluctantly agree to cut four faculty positions as part of a $1.5 million cost-saving plan for the 2023-24 academic year. "This is a very sad day for our school district," Board President Susie Deyo lamented near the end of an almost two-hour meeting, much of it public comments...
As a former La Conner High School football standout, Loran James is used to seeing the number 35 on stadium scoreboards. But not when the game being played is softball. James, coach of the high school softball team, was thrilled to see 35 posted on the Lady Braves' side of the scoreboard in a league slugfest with visiting Skagit County rival Concrete last Wednesday. James' charges came from behind to secure a wild 35-27 triumph, the youthful team's first win on the campaign. Across campus, the...
Josie Harper, a senior at La Conner High School, is the Soroptimist of La Conner Honored Student for April. Josie excels in academics and sports. She is also modest. This season Josie was twice recognized for her basketball skills statewide. She was named to the 2B all-state second team by SBLive, a sports website that tracks statistics and rankings. The other was the honor of being on the all-state team. The team played a real game, in which Josie and Ellie Marble played with girls from all...
The weather was the worst, but La Conner High School thinclads were at their best in Langley Thursday. The track teams fought off heavy rain and gusty winds to post several personal bests at a non-league invitational meet hosted by South Whidbey High School. As has been the case throughout the spring, reigning state 2B hurdles champ Tommy Murdock paced the Braves, who placed second out of seven team entries, trailing only the hometown Falcons by a 141-101.5 margin. "Tommy's been really consisten...
Eleanor Drews' strong performance as the messy Oscar Madison in the "Odd Couple," the La Conner Schools drama club's spring production, highlights this show. Jack Dougliis as neatnick and great chef Felix Unger, and Oscar's poker playing buddies make it an ensemble cast in a different odd way: the elaborate set that is Oscar's apartment living room is a feat, and accomplishment, to behold. In the opening scene it is almost another character. Try to define all the messes laid across the floor...
There is reason to celebrate in La Conner on May 3. La Conner Schools has set the day aside to observe the 50th anniversary of Whittaker Field and to recognize its undefeated 1968 high school football team. Its success paved the way for a lighted athletics venue on campus four years later. Whittaker Field, named for legendary one-armed coach and administrator Jack Whittaker, opened during the 1972-73 school year. It remains home to football, soccer and track and field teams. The May 3 program is at 2 p.m., prior to the league championship track...
La Conner Schools officials did more than welcome their counterparts from Conway with open arms last Monday. School board president Susie Gardner Deyo also presented the Conway contingent with floral bouquets. “She’s a garden club person,” La Conner board member John Agen explained as Conway Superintendent Jeff Cravy and board representative Amy Hughes gratefully received the flowers. Gardner and the La Conner Schools team held the nearly two-hour special dinner meeting to discuss shared educational goals and to plant seeds with Conway campu...
La Conner Schools will have to make do with less in the 2023-2024 academic year. District officials were facing that as they begin crafting next year’s budget at their April 10 board study session. Declining enrollment, a smaller than anticipated apportionment of federal impact aid monies and the loss of emergency COVID-19-related funds will result in significant spending cuts, district finance director David Cram predicted in a report to school board members. “We’re looking at a $1.5 million reduction in spending to get to a $500,000 fund...
The Swinomish and Tulalip photographer, filmmaker, podcaster and author Matika Wilbur shares her Indian/Spirit name "Tsa-Tsique," meaning "she who teaches children," with her mom, Nancy Wilbur. During an hour phone interview, Wilbur shared the story of her decade long journey leading to her new photography book "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America." The 10 inch by 10 inch 416-page book can be ordered now. Her research took her to all 50 states. It started in 2012 as a Kickstarter...
Nobody anticipates a train derailment in their backyard. Nobody, perhaps, except Skagit County Fire District 13 Training Officer Chris Olbu. A model railroader, Olbu led a detailed tabletop exercise at the district’s SneeOosh Road fire station earlier this year, presenting the many scenarios that can arise when a train derails. As fate would have it, about two weeks after practicing moving model emergency vehicles around the train track Olbu had set up on the fire station’s second floor, two BNSF locomotive derailed near the Swinomish Cas...
The Coupeville High School baseball team stole a win at La Conner last Thursday. Not that the visiting Wolves eked out an unexpected NW2B/1B triumph. A veteran Coupeville lineup, ran wild on the basepaths –19 stolen bases – and prevailed 12-2 over the youthful Braves, who averted a shutout when Kenai Zimmerman delivered a bases-loaded two-run single in the third inning. La Conner, falling to 1-7, kept within striking distance up until the game's midpoint. The Braves received a solid start fro...
La Conner High School hurdles standout Tommy Murdock took top honors in his races at the Skagit Showdown Meet in Sedro-Woolley last Wednesday. Students from various sized schools competed, but Murdock was clearly in a class by himself. The junior swept the boys' 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles, hitting the finish line in 0:16.02 and 42.00, respectively. The reigning state 2B hurdles champ placed a strong third in the 100-meter dash, clocking an 0:11.46 finish, behind Carsten Reynolds (0:11.17)...
A La Conner High School student group is proving you can play around and learn at the same time. The school’s extracurricular theater arts program group is presenting Neil Simon’s popular comedy “The Odd Couple” with six shows at the Bruce Performing Arts Center starting this Friday at 7 p.m. Performers include Jack Dougliss, Eleanor Drews, Gabe Barnett, Jonathan Gonzales, Rachel Haley, Madoc Hiller, Olie Phillips, Emily Smith and Josi Straathof. They are also gaining valuable math, carpentry, team-building and public speaking skills as they...
Fewer homes sold in Skagit County in March, keeping the average median price high, $556,250 for the 105 homes that closed countywide. Anacortes remains the most expensive housing market in the county, by far: The 23 homes that closed had an average median price of $730,000. Sold home prices in the Burlington and Mount Vernon markets were also high, with $587,500 the average median price for the 20 homes that closed in the smaller city,. The 33 homes that closed in Mount Vernon had an average median price of $585,000. These three markets kept...
Josi Straathof is the Kiwanis Club of La Conner March High School Student of the Month. Josi is a junior. She is the daughter of Brian Straathof and DeAnna Young. She enjoys her science and history classes. She is active in school activities playing soccer and softball. She has a part in the upcoming school play, "The Odd Couple." Outside of school she is involved in art. Josi is not sure what she will study after graduation, however she is interested in animal science. Kaleb Otis is March's...
Home or away, it didn't matter. Matching up with Friday Harbor and Orcas were tough tasks last week for the La Conner High School baseball and softball teams. The Braves (1-6) fell 16-1 at Friday Harbor last Tuesday and were defeated 20-4 by the Wolverines in a rematch at home Friday. The boys dropped a 11-6 decision at Orcas Saturday afternoon. The Lady Braves (0-9), whose roster features several first-year players, lost 21-1 at Friday Harbor April 4 and came up short 9-4 at Orcas Saturday....
At the corners of Morris and Sixth streets you will find three booming businesses and a library that are owned or operated by women: Beaver Tales Coffee, Stompin Ground Coffee Co., Tillinghast Postal & Business Center and the La Conner Swinomish Library. All serve the community in unique ways. Library Director Jean Markert started in September 2022 after serving as chair of La Conner Regional Library board of directors, where she had a key role in the process of building the new library, a project that had been in the works for ten years. Becau...