In this district meet, the Wolves were second to none.
Sequim’s boys racked up five individual first place finishes and one relay district crown on the way to a West Central District championship — the Sequim’s first boys district track and field title since 1987.
Combined with a pair of district championships on the girls’ side, Sequim is headed to the state 2A meet this week at Tacoma’s Mount Tahoma High School with 15 athletes in tow.
“We are poised to do very well at state and I am very much so looking forward to rooting on our team,” Sequim head coach Brad Moore said.
On the boys’ side, senior Murray Bingham won titles at 800 and 1,600 meters, and helped a 4×400 relay team take top honors and post the third-fastest relay mark in the state (athletic.net).
Sequim’s boys racked up 104 team points, easily out-pacing Steilacoom (65) and Eatonville (65).
Bingham’s 800-meter time of 1:55.13 is the fastest two-lap time among 2A boys this season. It also broke his own school record and set a West Central District meet mark.
Bingham added a 4:25 finish in the 1,600 for top honors.
Sequim junior Darren Salazar broke the district meet’s 100-meter record with a time of 10.82, breaking his own school class record in the process — the fourth-fastest 100-meter time in the state. Salazar also qualified for state 2A meet in the 200 with a runner-up time of 22.54.
Senior Fischer Jensen set a pair of personal bests to hurdle his way back to state. He won the 300-meter hurldes in 40.28 second, then placed fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.97). In the same 110 race, teammate Riley Martin, also a senior, set a personal best and broke the 15-second barrier with a runner-up finish of 14.97 seconds.
Sequim senior Alec Shingleton is headed back to state as well, posting two state qualifying finishes last week: a 51.07 mark in the 400, good for third place, and 1:55.13 in the 800, good for fifth. (Shingleton qualified for state in both events in 2018.)
After placing second at last year’s district meet, SHS senior Riley Cowan is a district champ in the javelin with a 172-11 mark, a season-best.
Fellow SHS senior Liam Byrne is making a return to state as well, after placing second at districts in the pole vault a 13-foot mark.
Shingleton, Bingham, Salazar and Logan Laxson teamed up for a blistering 3:25.14 mark in the 4×400 relay for first place. Also earning a state berth is Sequim’s 4×100 relay team of Laxson, Salazar, Jarrett Allen and Keeshawn Whitney, who teamed up to place sixth (44.92).
Sequim’s finish gives the Wolves a district title after finishing second a number of times in recent memory, including the 2008, 2011 and 2015 seasons and last spring, when Sequim finished behind Fife.
Senior Elizabeth Sweet is headed back to state and sophomore Abby Schroeder will make her first appearance after both posted district event-winning marks.
Sweet topped the 10-foot mark in the pole vault for her third state meet berth in four years. (Last season Sweet placed sixth at state.)
Schroeder cleared 5 feet to edge a quartet of competitors at 4-10 for the district title.
Sequim freshman Riley Pyeatt is headed to state in two events after placing second in the 400 meters (59.12) and fifth in the 200 meters with a personal best 26.34 mark.
Just missing top-six state qualifying marks were Shayli Schuman in the 100 hurdles (eighth, 16.20), Sequim’s 4×400 relay team (Pyeatt, Schroeder, Sonja Govertsen and Daisy Ryan, eighth, 4:18) and Hope Glasser in both discus (ninth, 86-11) and javelin (10th, 90-8).
As a team, Sequim’s girls placed 10th (34 points) out of 22 teams at districts.
Port Angeles won the West Central District team championship with 102 points, with North Kitsap (85) second and Washington (57) third.
The state 2A meet is set for May 23-25.
