Track & Field: Sequim boys race to league meet championship

Looking primed for the postseason, Sequim’s boys knocked off defending boys track and field champ North Kitsap on the Vikings’ home turf at last week’s Olympic League final/sub-district meet on May 9 and 11.

Sequim’s boys tallied 543 team points to to NK 506. Sequim’s girls, led by school record-setting freshman Riley Pyeatt, posted several top times and placed third in the league scoring (282 points) at the behind North Kitsap (700) and Port Angeles (663).

Athletes from both Sequim squads look for berths to state when they compete at the West Central District 2A meet set for May 17-18 in Bremerton.

In all, 22 Sequim athletes in 34 cumulative events are headed to districts — with Wolves setting 32 personal records, Sequim coach Brad Moore noted.

On the boys’ side, Sequim teammates Alec Shingleton and Logan Laxson picked a good time to set personal bests as they went 1-2 in the 400-meter race. Shingleton, a senior finished in 50.30 seconds — the third-fastest state mark in the boys’ 2A ranks this season — while Laxson, a sophomore, clocked in at 52.34 seconds.

SHS senior Murray Bingham raced to a relatively easy win in the 1,600 meters with a 4:32 finish, more than five seconds faster than runner-up Stefans Lusis of Kingston.

Bingham then raced to a win in the 800 meters (1:57) on May 11, with Shingleton close behind (1:58) in second place.

Senior Riley Cowan’s 167-foot 8-inch mark in the javelin, with teammate Rigo Langston, a senior, in fourth place with a personal best 138-8 mark. Cowan added a second place finish in the shot put (42-3.75).

Injured for much of the season, SHS senior Liam Byrne set a season-best with a 13-0 mark in the pole vault for first place.

In a race featuring three of the state’s top hurdlers, North Kitsap’s Andrew Blackmore set a personal best in the 110-meter hurdles (14.88) to edge Sequim seniors Riley Martin (15.36, a season best) and Fischer Jensen (16.08, a personal record).

Jensen added a second-place finish in the 300 hurdles two days later with a personal record-setting 40.83 mark — just .07 of a second behind league champ Kian Dougherty of North Kitsap.

Junior Darren Salazar placed second in the 100-meter dash with a personal best 11.06 seconds, just .02 of a second back of Olympic’s Adam Johnson.

Bingham, Laxson, Salazar and Shingleton teamed up to win the 4×400 in 3:27.

Laxson, Salazar, Jarrett Allen and Keeshawn Whitney helped Sequim place second in the 4×100 relay with a 45.38 mark, about one second back of Bremerton.

Allen, a senior, took third in the triple jump, setting a personal record with a 39-6 leap. Whitney, also a senior, placed fifth in the triple (38-11).

Sophomore Erik Christiansen was fifth in the high jump (5-6), while Allen set a personal best in the long jump (18-10) to place fifth.

Combined with their perfect league mark (8-0) the Sequim boys secured their first overall league title since 2006.

Girls take third

Pyeatt edged North Kitsap senior Madeline Pruden with a blistering 58.41 mark in the 400-meter race, the third-fastest 400 mark among 2A girls this season. Her mark broke the school record held Jill Anderson’s mark of 58.45 set in 1987.

Pyeatt added a fourth place finish in the 200 (26.72, a personal best).

Elizabeth Sweet, a senior, took second in the pole vault at 9 feet 6 inches, a half-foot off of Port Angeles junior Mckenzie Musalek’s mark. Junior teammate Sonja Govertsen was fourth with a personal-best 7-6 effort.

Senior Shayli Schuman and junior teammate Lesea Pfeffer set personal bests in the 110 hurdles, with Schuman placing third (16.31) and Pfeffer fifth (17.52).

Sequim’s Abby Schroeder tied for second place in the high jump after clearing 4 feet 8 inches. Schroeder also set a personal best in the 300 hurdles, with a mark (50.27) that placed the sophomore third.

Junior Hope Glasser earned third place in the discus with a 96-8 mark, a personal best, and took fourth in the javelin with a 101-9 throw.

Pfeffer, Pyeatt, Mary McAleer and Daisy Ryan teamed up to take second in the 4×200 relay with a 1:52.79 finish, while Pyeatt, Ryan, Schroeder and Schuman edged Port Angeles for second in the 4×400 relay (4:24).

Govertsen, Pfeffer, Schuman, McAleer’s 4×100 relay team placed fourth (54.86).