Clare Turella keeps going to such great heights

Published 5:30 am Wednesday, April 8, 2026

The high jump wasn’t on Clare Turella’s radar when she first signed up for track and field in seventh grade.

“I didn’t even know it was a sport,” she said.

Fast forward a few years and a Sequim Middle School record, and two state 2A high jump girls championships later, Turella, a Sequim High School junior, now sets a high bar – figuratively and literally – for Washington jumpers.

Turella said she didn’t discover the event until searching for track videos on YouTube the night before her first ever practice. Athletes soaring over the crossbar piqued her interest.

The event didn’t come naturally to her though, Turella said, but she still finished the season with a personal record of 4-2 and second overall in the Olympic League.

Her mom Dr. Kirsti Turella, a Sequim dentist, recalls Clare telling her and her husband Dr. Stephen Turella, an oral surgeon in Port Angeles, she was going to set the school record in her eighth grade year.

“We said no way,” Kirsti said. “Then she jumped 4-10 and set the school record and league record.”

Clare said beating the school record was her goal for eighth grade, which she jumped in a practice early on during the season.

“I was like, ‘wow, I can actually break the school record. I never thought I was gonna be able to,’” she said.

She finished middle school with a 5-2 PR.

“(Track) has changed her,” Kirsti said. “It’s given her confidence.”

Clare, a 4.0 student taking Honors classes, who enjoys creating art, watching anime and reading Manga, moved to Sequim with her family in 2013, including sister Libby, a 2025 SHS grad and valedictorian, who now attends the University of Oregon.

She said middle school was a “turbulent” time and found herself feeling unhappy all the time until track came into her life.

“When I started track, I just had so much fun doing it,” she said. “It brought me a bunch of joy, and my parents were like, ‘we were so worried about you.’”

At the encouragement of her eighth grade volleyball coach, she started doing more training to help her jump higher, including box jumps with her dad every other day, she said.

Looking at high jump now, Clare said it’s become an escape.

“When I’m doing high jump, I don’t have to think about my classes. I don’t have to think about school. I don’t have to think about all these other things,” she said.

“I can just kind of go out and do high jump. I’m in my element when I’m doing it.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t know about, but high jump is something I feel like I know a lot about.”

Through the years, Clare has met several friends through the event at other schools.

“I feel like in other sports, there’s lots of bad blood and competition, but I feel in track, everybody’s rooting for each other,” she said.

“You want the other people to PR, you want them to do well, too. It’s just a very nice environment, and I feel like you don’t see that with other sports.”

More milestones

Kirsti said Clare set another goal after eighth grade to win state high jump as a freshman.

“We were talking her down, and we’re still kind of shocked by it,” Kirsti said.

Clare went on to become the first Sequim freshman to win an individual event at state in track and field.

In hindsight, Clare said she feels the reason she won is because her fellow jumpers didn’t match their PRs.

Going into state, Clare had the second best jump on the season with 5-3 but had only jumped it once at districts a week prior.

“I had just been at 4-10 all season until districts and then I jumped 5-3 so going to state I was super stressed,” she said.

As a freshman, she was also intimidated by seasoned junior and senior jumpers.

“Then I was the only one who jumped 5-2 on my first try,” she said.

No one else went beyond 5 feet.

“It was nice to win, but it kinda felt like it was handed to me,” Clare said.

For her sophomore year and second 2A high jump title though, Clare said she felt like she earned it by going 5-4 for a personal record and two inches more than second place.

“She has had an uncanny ability to be mentally strong on the biggest stages,” Kirsti said. “It’s crazy to watch.”

Ongoing preparations

Clare has done other sports, including basketball her freshman year and part of her sophomore year but said she felt it was more her sister’s sport than hers. She also started volleyball this year, but stopped to focus on her high jump workouts.

She continues to see a trainer in Port Angeles while working on jumping a few times a week in the offseason and once a week during the season. Clare also meets a few times a year with jumping coach Martha Mendenhall of Flop House High Jump in Tacoma.

Kirsti said for student athletes living in Sequim, they’ll tend to get more opportunities to participate as opposed to bigger areas, but those athletes in bigger areas can go 10 minutes down the road for quick access to high end equipment and training.

In Sequim, families need to be more creative and piecemeal training options, she said.

Sequim’s coaches wear many hats.

Sue Southard oversees jumpers and said this will be her first full season with Clare.

“I’ve inherited a superstar,” she said.

Southard said Clare has a lot of pressure on her with two state titles.

“But we want to make sure high jump and track is fun while still setting goals,” she said.

Clare said she’s set her sights on the SHS girls record of 5-5 this season along with a third state title.

“That’s my hope,” she said.

“It would be nice to break the state meet record, which is 5-7.25, so I’d have to jump 5’8, which is pretty ambitious, but that’s my ultimate goal.”

Southard loves the goals Clare has set and finds she “has a lot of natural talent.”

“In the end, I want her to be happy with herself, whether as an athlete or something else,” she said.

Kirsti said Southard has been a blessing, and the Turellas have shared videos of Clare to help her form.

Mental toughness

One thing that’s helped Clare’s mental health, she said, is not checking Athletic.net, where most regional track meet results go online, to see how other jumpers are doing.

“I’m kind of just chilling,” she said. “I’m just minding my own business because sometimes people jump really well at the beginning of the season, and then they don’t jump super well at the end of the season. In my case I start the season really slow and I jump not very high and then I jump hard towards the end of the season. So I think it’s just best to stay away from Athletic.net at the beginning of the season.

“I don’t want to discourage myself.”

Whether or not Clare wins the state title again, she reflects on her dad’s advice that there’s no pressure because she’s won twice already.

“But, it’d be nice to do well and to win again,” she said. “I’m not saying I’m gonna win again, but even if I don’t win, there’s always another chance senior year.”

Clare said she’s already reached her low point in high jump.

In eighth grade, she competed in the USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships but didn’t make it past the opening height.

“I literally no heighted, so at this point, I literally can’t do any worse than that,” she said. “That was a rough meet but it’s water under the bridge.

At her most recent meet, Clare jumped 4-8, far below her expectations, but then she talked it out that she had to wake up around 3 a.m. for the bus ride, and jumping didn’t start until that afternoon.

“I was only 4-8 but there are tons of people who can’t even jump that,” she said. “I was so upset about only jumping 4-8, but I showed up, and I was still able to do something.”

Clare said she can put things into perspective.

“You can be disappointed, but then you’ll rebalance and recalibrate and put it into a more positive light,” she said. “Other people couldn’t jump this height, and I’ve done better before.”

Kirsti said without those learning opportunities, such as at the Junior Olympics, there’s no way she would have won her state titles.

Looking ahead

Along with high jump, Clare continues to compete in long jump, with her personal best 15-7 as a freshman at districts. She’s set a goal for 16 feet this season.

Triple jump is off limits, she said, because she’s worried about her knees doing it and it “looks funny.”

Clare is also picking up 300 meter hurdles with coach Emanuel Herrera.

“I’m a little bit of a slow poke, but I tried it freshman year, and I really hated it, but I kind of like it this year,” she said.

Practice for high jump is typically Tuesdays since it’s difficult to bring the high jump pit out, Clare said.

With Sequim Middle School’s season now started, she hopes they’ll be able to help chip in.

SHS is set to host two league meets on April 15 and 23.

Kirsti said many of her and her husband’s patients will bring them articles from newspapers, go to meets to support Clare, ask how she’s doing, and one even made a custom mug of her.

“I think there’s a lot of pride,” she said. “Our patients are like part of the family.”

Clare said she’s considering a degree in biology while potentially pursuing a career in dermatology. She’s unsure which college, but said she wants to likely stay in the Pacific Northwest because “I’m too scared of the bugs in the other parts of the country.”

Where she goes for school is up in the air, but for now she’ll keep jumping and rooting for the hometown Wolves.

“I have a lot of school spirit,” she said. “I’m proud of Sequim.”