I was thumbing through some mail the other day when a letter caught my eye, sent from the athletic department at Western Washington University, my alma mater.
I figured it was simply another plea sent to alums to donate more money back to the Bellingham school. It was. Sort of.
The letter read, in part, “Your legacy as a Viking athlete is important to us — and to the rich history of Western. You helped create the foundation today’s student-athletes continue to build upon and you paved the way for all those who followed. Wearing a Viking uniform is a privilege — the example you set still holds true for the young men and women who compete today.”
Well, well! Flattery will get you everywhere, WWU.
The only problem was, I have no legacy as a Viking athlete. Frankly, I’ve never been one to boast about my athletic prowess. There’s a reason for that. I’m fairly certain my efforts to help my B-division coed volleyball city league team to consecutive titles wouldn’t get me on the front of any sports page here on the peninsula. And, I’m pretty sure my one quarter of intramural soccer at Western — a season I didn’t even finish, anyway — probably doesn’t count as a “legacy.” I actually wrote more stories about WWU games for the school newspaper than I participated.
(Apparently, my legacy and $250 would get me a piece of the historic Carver Gymnasium Floor. As much as I do love my WWU, I passed. I’m keeping the letter, though.)
So while I won’t be celebrating my new-found “legacy” as a Viking athlete, I did find plenty to celebrate this year in Sequim-area sports, from continued fantastic prep seasons from Sequim High wrestling, golf, track, volleyball and cross country teams to a resurgence from the SHS football squad and a record-setting effort from the Wolves’ girls soccer team, MVPs and Coaches of the Year abound, another Peninsula College women’s soccer title, athletic success for Sequim High grads playing in colleges and universities, and even a Sequim High alumna racing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
Here’s a quick look back at the year that was in Sequim sports and recreation, by season:
Winter
Though their numbers may be small, they proved mighty: Sequim High’s girls wrestling crew produced a strong contingent to the postseason, with four Wolves advancing to regionals. Two of those went on to state and both — Kiara Pierson (4th) and Alma Mendoza (7th) brought home medals. The SHS boys wrestlers didn’t do too bad either, sending four athletes to state. Kevyn Ward capped his prep wrestling career on the podium with an eighth-place medal.
A number of other SHS athletes earned postseason berths: Mathew Craig spun, twisted and turned his way to an eighth-place finish in diving at the class 2A state meet while Ennisa Albin earned a 2A/3A state gymnastics meet berth, competing on the uneven bars. Both Craig and Albin trained with Port Angeles athletes during the fall season.
SHS’s bowling squad sent three to the district tournament, with Destiny Stauss earning their top finish (40th overall).
Sequim High’s basketball teams struggled to sixth- place finishes, but the SHS boys pulled off a rivalry upset by knocking off rival Port Angeles on a late 8-0 run and last-second shot by Nick Faunce in late January.
Peninsula College’s basketball teams found more success in early March, with Ali Crumb’s Pirate women backing up their 2014-2015 title with a second-place finish, and Mitch Freeman’s PC men taking third. Both were selected regional Coaches of the Year.
Sequim High grad Jasmine McMullin continued to make big leaps for the aforementioned WWU Vikings. The triple jump specialist earned a spot at NCAA Division II national meet, garnering a conference championship and WWU indoor record along the way.
Stephanie Dinius (nee Marcy), the former cross country and track state title holder while a Sequim Wolf, vied for a berth in the 31st Summer Olympic Games in February. Battling the nation’s best at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Los Angeles, Dinius placed 45th overall.
Spring
Sequim got a surprise visit from the U.S. Women’s Rugby team, who stopped by the Albert Haller Playfields for a pair of practices before a moving on to a tournament in Victoria, B.C., part of a rugby world series that determines the team’s seeding in the Summer Olympics.
Former Sequim High prep stars were in the news, too, as track/basketball prep star Alex Barry earned an NCAA Division II mark in the javelin and placed 14th at nationals, prep football standout Miguel Moroles signed on to play for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy squad and Sequim’s Hannah Hudson signed on to play volleyball at Menlo College.
Sequim youth Garrett Little showed off some sharp shooting with the basketball, tying with four others to take fourth place in the 8- to 9-year-old division in the Elks Hoop Shoot National Finals free throw contest on April 16 in Chicago, Ill.
On the prep sports scene, several SHS athletes and teams had breakout seasons:
Led by seniors Waverly Shreffler, Oscar Herrera and Jackson Oliver, SHS’s track teams put 14 athletes in the state 2A track meet. There, Shreffler won the 800-meter race and helped the 4×400 team set a school record in placing fifth. Herrera (third in the 110 hurdles, fifth in the 300 hurdles) and Oliver (sixth in the high jump, eighth in the 800) both made the medal stand twice. En route, Herrera set a record in the 300 hurdles while SHS’s girls broke the school 4×200 relay mark.
Led by Olympic League MVPs Jack Shea and Alex McMenamin, Sequim High’s golf teams posted a double league title sweep by posting identical 9-0 marks. The Wolves put four golfers into the state 2A tourney; McMenamin was fifth, Sarah Shea was 15th, Jack Shea was 20th and Blake Wiker was 30th. Sequim’s girls placed fourth as a team, the best in school history, while the boys were eighth.
SHS’s fastpitch squad went 21-6 and 6-2 in the postseason, earning two wins at the state tournament to place in the top half of the 2A classification. Four players — pitcher McKenzie Bentz and sister Jordan Bentz, a shortstop, along with catcher Emily Copeland and outfielder Allysen Montelius — were named to the all-Olympic League first team; third baseman Chloie Sparks was named to the second team. McKenzie Bentz later signed a letter of intent to play at Bellevue College.
The Wolves’ baseball squad also punched a ticket to the state tournament. Despite finishing fourth in the Olympic League, Sequim went unbeaten in district play and 14-9 overall. The Wolves saw James Grubb (pitcher), Gavin Velarde (shortstop) and Justin Porter (utility) named to the all-league second team. Hurler Nigel Christian signed a letter of intent to play for Centralia College.
SHS’s boys soccer squad ripped off five wins in a row at the end of the regular season to tie for second place in the Olympic League and earn a district tournament berth. Goalkeeper Austin Wagner (a 0.94 per game goals-against average) and midfielder Liam Harris (team-high 11 goals) were named all-Olympic League first team players, while teammates Cameron Chase and J.T. McElhose were named second-teamers.
Sequim High senior Matthew Richards placed eighth in the 2A state boys’ tennis singles tournament, while Sequim’s girls tennis team went 9-7.
Summer
It took a few years — nearly 30 of them — but Sequim residents Jon Porlier and Willie Hammond and teammates from the 1988 Skagit Valley College men’s soccer team were inducted into the NWAC Hall of Fame on June 2. Their Cardinals squad went undefeated in 16 regular season matches before winning the association’s championship that year.
Being first-timers at the North Olympic Discovery Marathon didn’t deter Thomas Fagin of Port Angeles and Sara Otepka of Bainbridge Island from winning the full NODM marathon titles in early June, on a course spanning Blyn, Sequim and Port Angeles. Port Angeles teen Peter Butler and Katie Taylor of Poulsbo won half-marathon crowns as more than 2,000 runners and walkers took part in the multi-race NODM weekend.
Sequim High grad Elise Beuke helped her University of Washington Husky crew squad take fifth place at the NCAA national meet. Beuke was part of UW’s Second Varsity Eight crew that took third place behind overall NCAA champion California and Ohio State.
Sequim Little League’s softball majors squad needed three wins in as many days to advance to the state tournament, clinching a spot only after an 8-7 win in a regional tourney final on July 1 against North Kitsap.
Toward the other end of the age spectrum, Sequim Senior Softball played hosts to a men’s senior tourney team from Victoria, B.C., during the July 4 holiday.
In their second cross-peninsula rivalry game, soccer players from Sequim and Port Angeles took to the pitch in mid-July. With about 16 minutes to go, it looked like Sequim might repeat as Super Cup champs. A furious comeback, however, lifted PA to a 4-3 victory. Proceeds from the event went to Port Angeles’ Kyle Trussell, a staple of the area soccer scene and a member of the first PA Super Cup team who was nearly crushed by a bulldozer in a workplace incident in September 2015.
Youngster Jack Shea, a 2016 Sequim High grad, edged out local ace Sid Krumpe for the Clallam County Amateur Championship on July 10.
The Olympic Crosscutters, a summer prep-age baseball squad, earned a place in the American Legion AA State Tournament in mid-July after earning a top spot in a regional tournament in Port Angeles in mid-July.
In August, Sequim played host to a pair of big community sports/recreation events. The fifth-annual Dungeness Cup, held Aug. 5-7, saw 43 teams turn out to battle for crowns in 10 divisions. The Aug. 6 Tour de Lavender saw 320 cyclists register for either a 32-mile farm tour ride or 62-mile metric century ride.
Also in August, former prep, junior college and college softball standout Lea Hopson earned a spot with the 2016 USA Baseball Women’s National Team. The team competed in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Women’s Baseball World Cup, held Sept. 3-11, in Gijang, South Korea.
Beginning in the summer, Sequim High saw some coaching shifts: girls basketball coach Justine Wagner stepped down and was later replaced by new SHS teacher Larry Brown; Derek Vander Velde replaced first-year coach Brittany Murdach to lead the Wolves’ girls soccer team; SHS softball coach Mike McFarlen stepped down (a replacement has not yet been announced); Wolf cross country head coach Harold Huff announced a one-year leave of absence and was replaced on a one-year interim basis by assistant Michael Cobb, and later in the year SHS wrestling coach Charles Drabek stepped down from his head coaching role, replaced by assistant Bill Schroepfer.
Fall
In his first season, Vander Velde and a mix of veterans and newcomers helped Sequim’s girls soccer squad earn its best record ever (11-8), its first playoff win and come within one game — a penalty kick shootout loss to rival Port Angeles — of a state 2A tourney berth. Junior goalkeeper Claire Henninger and senior defender Erin Vig were named all-Olympic League first team players, while junior midfielder Adare McMinn and freshman forward Jessica Dietzman were selected for the second team.
Sequim High football was back in the postseason for the first time in five seasons. Led by Olympic League MVP Gavin Velarde and Offensive MVP quarterback Riley Cowan, the Wolves went 7-2 and 5-1 in league play for a second place finish, before falling to Eatonville in the district playoffs. Wide receivers Payton Glasser and Kyler Rollness, offensive lineman Brendan Lauritzen and linebacker James Thayer were named all-league first team players.
SHS volleyball continued its string of postseason success, earning back-to-back state tournament appearances for the first time since 1985-1986/1986-1987. The Wolves, led by league MVP Adrienne Haggerty, placed second in the league behind North Kitsap before fighting their way out of the district consolation bracket. Sequim won one of three at the state tourney. Seniors Ella Christiansen and Sydney Balkan were named all-Olympic League second team players.
Under Cobb, the one-year interim head coach, SHS’s cross country teams produced another stellar season. Sequim’s boys won the league title and, behind district champ Ash Francis and third place runner Murray Bingham, took second at districts. The boys took 11th at state, with Francis (17th) and Bingham (20th) leading the way. Sequim’s girls placed second at the league meet, fourth at districts and 13th at state, led by senior transfer Morgan Bingham and junior Kiara Pierson.
Sequim High’s girls swimming crew sent seven athletes to the state meet, placing 22nd overall, while the Wolves’ boys tennis team saw doubles team Justin Porter and Stephen Prorok earn a state tourney berth.
Peninsula College’s 2016 women’s soccer team added to the lore of the young franchise, earning its third NWAC title in five seasons. It didn’t come easy, as the Pirates needed overtime before Bri Vallente notched the game-winner to top Highline, 1-0. Kanyon Anderson was named NWAC Coach of the Year.
Reach Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazettecom.
