Spring sports preview: Track & Field

Head coach: Brad Moore (24th year)

2017 finish: Boys — 11-1, 7-0 in Olympic League; fourth at league meet, sixth at districts, four athletes to state; Girls 5-7, 4-3 in Olympic League; 10th place at league meet, 13th at districts, two athletes/one relay to state

Top returning athletes: Boys — Riley Martin (jr.), Murray Bingham (jr.), Riley Cowan (jr.), Alec Shingleton (jr.), Keeshawn Whitney (jr.), Silas Isenberger (jr.), Richard Hall (jr.), Michael Mattern-Hall (jr.), Andrew Cambalik (jr.), Emmanuel Gomez (jr.), Jesse Bobst (so.), Liam Byrne (jr.), Fischer Jensen (jr.), Samuel May (so.), Jacob Pyeatt (jr.), Darren Salazar (so.), Ian Thill (so.). Girls — Elizabeth Sweet (jr.), Kristinna Barnet (sr.), Telicia Busby (sr.), Bailey Cauffman (jr.), Shayli Schuman (jr.), Kaitlyn Viada (jr.), Lindsey Leader (so.), Kiara Pierson (sr.), Daisy Ryan (so.)

Key newcomers: Boys — Trey Brouillard (jr.), Brenton Dryke (jr.), Noah Eveland (fr.), Connor Forderer (so.), Payton Glasser (sr.), Erik Holtrop (fr.), Sidney Johnston (fr.), Logan Laxson (fr.), Pascual Roybal (fr.), Nute Sawyer (jr.), Walker Ward (fr.), Noah White (fr.). Girls — Bailey Cauffman (jr.), Aleah Chen (fr.), Hope Glasser (so.), Gabby Happe (so.), Sage Hobs, Hannah Lewis, Mary McAleer (fr.), Kianna Miller (so.), Devyn Nordlie (fr.), Lillian Wendorf (so.), Aryona Zappey (fr.)

Key league competition: Boys — North Kitsap, Bremerton, Kingston. Girls — Olympic, North Kitsap, Port Angeles

With about half of his roster new to the squad — if not new entirely to the disciplines of track and field — Sequim coach Brad Moore says prospects for this year’s Wolves squad are similar to this point in the preseason in years past

“You never know what you’re going to get until you see them out there,” he says.

On paper, Sequim looks to have solid contributors in most events, though Moore sees Sequim’s girls squad as a bit thin fill with just 22 athletes turning out.

On the boys’s side, all four state meet qualifiers — all juniors — are back in the mix: Riley Martin, who earned state berths in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles; district 1,600-meter champ Murray Bingham and Alec Shingleton, who both qualified for the state 2A 800 meter race, and Riley Cowan, whose 160-5 mark in the javelin was 11th at state last spring.

Also back is Liam Byrne, who took ninth in the pole vault at districts with a personal-best 12 feet.

While the boys lose district qualifiers Curtis Gorr (200, 400) and Brenden Lauritzen (javelin), they gain a dozen new faces, including prep hoops star Payton Glasser and Sequim Middle School standout Logan Laxson.

The Wolves may be thin, Moore says with some of the boys jumping events (long, triple).

On the girls’ side back are two pieces of Sequim’s state 2A meet-qualifying 4×400 team with Kristinna Barnet and Daisy Ryan. Barnet, a senior, was a district qualifier in the 400 as well.

A concussion kept junior Elizabeth Sweet from a second-consecutive state meet appearance, and senior Kiara Pierson returns to the squad after a year away; she was a district qualifier in the pole vault as a sophomore in 2016.

Also back are district meet qualifiers Shayli Schuman, a district qualifier in the 100 hurdles with a personal-best 16.99 mark, and Lindsey Leader, who earned a postseason berth in the shot put.

“We’ve got good kids in all events — just not a lot of them,” Moore says.

Sequim’s girls lost state qualifiers Morgan Bingham and Clarisse Finman to graduation.

“I think we’re going to be competitive,” Moore says.

Sequim opens the season March 17 at the Port Angeles Invitational. The Wolves are at Kingston on March 22 and at North Mason on April 10.

Sequim hosts its lone league meet of the season on April 18, taking on Olympic, North Kitsap and Coupeville.