Snohomish County sports
Names in the game: Graduation to break up sister act

By Greg Bishop
Times Snohomish County reporter

MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES Whitney, left, and Taylor Cochran have excelled at softball and soccer for Lake Stevens High School.

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LAKE STEVENS — Start with the shared sports, the area soccer fields and softball diamonds ruled by two sisters who share, well, just about everything.

If it ended there for Whitney and Taylor Cochran, then maybe they wouldn't constitute the Salvation Army — sharing is caring — of Lake Stevens athletics.

But it doesn't.

Both start for the WesCo North-champion Lake Stevens softball team, with Whitney playing shortstop and Taylor positioned behind her older sister in left field. Both started for the Lake Stevens soccer team in the fall, with Whitney playing defense and Taylor leading the team in scoring as a forward.

It gets better.

On the same day that Whitney, a senior, nabbed homecoming-queen honors in the fall, Taylor was named freshman princess. They date brothers.

And here's the real kicker of uncanny: They share the same birthday, March 25.

"It's weird, I know," Whitney said Monday at softball practice.

"It is," Taylor added. "But we do spend a lot of time together."

"Every time I tell someone that they were born on the same day, they look at me like I'm kidding," said Kevin Cochran, their father. "They're real close. They just have a special bond."

But even bonds like these can't last forever, and the Cochran sisters are running out of time.

Whitney, who captains the soccer and softball teams and made all-league in both sports, will head to the University of Southern Mississippi next fall on a softball scholarship. Taylor will start her sophomore year at Lake Stevens.

"I don't know what I'm going to do next year," she said. "It's going to be weird."

So here's what they have left: Northwest Districts this week and, should they qualify, the Class 4A state tournament the week after. That's anywhere from four to nine more games before their shared direction heads the same route as one of Whitney's home runs — going, going, gone.

	Dan Costello

Fortunately for the Cochran sisters, Lake Stevens has history on its side. The Vikings have qualified for the state tournament five years running, placing fifth in 2003, third in 2002 and eighth in 2001. The 15-game winning streak doesn't hurt, either. Nor does fireballing pitcher Krista Crosson.

Should Lake Stevens advance to state again — with a new coach, Monica Bauer, who replaced legendary Margo Leiter — the Cochrans will surely have a hand in it. Their mom, Jill Cochran, is an assistant coach.

"It starts with our amazing pitcher," Whitney said. "We don't really feel that much pressure."

Whitney is the more organized and reserved of the sisters, and she prefers the organization of softball to the frenzied pace of soccer.

In that respect, Taylor is her opposite. Soccer is her college ticket. She's in the Olympic development program and last summer was invited to a national-team camp for the top 100 players her age in the country.

"She's basically more goofy than I am," Whitney said, "and less organized."

Maybe that will change with age, it was suggested.

"I don't know about that," Whitney shot back.

Although Whitney is 3 inches taller and three years older, the Cochran sisters are inseparable. And other than a few tussles over borrowed outfits, they swear they never fight. Taylor wakes Whitney up in the morning, and they spend lunch and practice together, then often go to church.

They saw their bond strengthened not long ago, when Taylor's boyfriend ended up in a coma from a skiing accident. Because Taylor's boyfriend is Brian Kruse and Whitney's is his older brother Danny, they spent several days visiting the hospital.

Sharing and caring, remember, is the Cochran sisters' way.

Enjoy the game

That's what Snohomish boys soccer coach Dan Pingrey wrote on the board at halftime of the Northwest District championship. His team finished second at the Class 4A state tournament last season, but it was playing tight and in danger of losing in the same game for the third consecutive year.

	Jake Stevens

The motivation worked, as Snohomish cruised to a 2-0 win over Shorewood. Junior forward Taylor Cochran (no relation to Whitney and Taylor Cochran of Lake Stevens) scored both goals. Goalie Ryan Riley notched his 12th shutout.

"It's about time we brought home this championship," Pingrey told his team, before telling reporters, "They are that good. They should own most teams. They really should."

Back to 1985

Donny Treat was two years from being born in 1985. But even the Marysville-Pilchuck junior understood the importance of his Northwest District championship home run Saturday, a blast that carried over the wall at Everett Memorial Stadium. The homer gave Marysville-Pilchuck its first district championship since 1985, and the Tomahawks also won WesCo North this season for the first time since the same year.

"As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone," Treat said.

The brackets weren't as kind to the Tomahawks when they were released this week. Marysville-Pilchuck will play Capital of the Olympia area in a first-round state regional game and would face No. 1 Auburn or No. 2 Hudson's Bay of Vancouver in the second round.

Track tales

There were plenty of notable track athletes on display at the WesCo North and South championships last week, but three stood above the rest.

In WesCo North, Lake Stevens sprinter Jessica Hinton won the 100 meters and 200 meters, and anchored two winning relay teams to lead Lake Stevens to the team title for the first time in three seasons.

"We've been doing really good this year," she said, when asked whether a state championship was a possibility. "I have all the faith in the world in us."

On the boys' side, Dan Costello also won the 100 and 200, also anchored two winning relays and led his team, Marysville-Pilchuck, to the team title, its third consecutive.

"Everyone stepped up," he said. "We did what we were supposed to do as a team. We're just getting to where we need to be."

And in WesCo South, Jake Stevens swept the throws, winning the discus (171 feet 11 inches), the javelin (174-5) and the shot put (54-10) as Everett doubled up its next-closest competitor in the team standings and won its first league championship in 40 years. Niko Sievers swept the hurdles for the Seagulls.

Around the county

• Lake Stevens pitcher Matt Fields signed with Gonzaga University last week. Previously, he had expected to play at a community college, but Gonzaga scouts saw him pitch against Stanwood earlier this season and swooped in.

"I liked it," Fields said of his visit. "It looked like a good fit."

• Crews from the Everett Rowing Association made their presence felt at the Northwest Regional Championships on Vancouver Lake last weekend. No surprise there. The men's heavyweight eight qualified a team to nationals for the first time in seven years. The men's lightweight eight also advanced to Cincinnati. The women's lightweight eight repeated as regional champions and will return to nationals.

Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or gbishop@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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