Track and Field: Wolves nab six medals at state SLIDESHOW

Published 11:27 am Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Halfway through her two-lap, 800-meter final, Waverly Shreffler was in third place — and right where she wanted to be.

The Sequim High senior surged in the final 100 meters to win the girls 2A 800-meter race at the 2A state track and field championships in Tacoma on Saturday, highlighting a meet that saw Sequim earn six medals and eight top-10 finishes overall.

“It was kind of dream-like when I finished,” Shreffler said. “I’ve been thinking about it since the beginning of the season.”

Shreffler was expected to challenge for the 800 title coming into Saturday’s race, though Squalicum sophomore Grace Oswin held the state’s top time. In the final, Oswin and Sehome junior Kate Rose took the lead early.

“I felt like the past 24 hours I’ve been running it through my head how I wanted it to go,” Shreffler said. “I wanted to be at least second or third, make some other girls lead. That helped a lot today because it’s been windy.”

Oswin and Rose continued to lead until the final curve and straightaway. Shreffler said most of her competition are primarily distance runners, whereas — as Sequim coaches continued to remind her during championship weekend — her strength lies in shorter distances.

“My coaches told me, ‘Let them pace you: you can out-sprint them at the end,’” Shreffler recalled.

Shreffler squeezed by Oswin on the inside for the lead in the backstretch and wound up with a personal best 2:19.11, with Oswin second (2:20.19), Audrey Piacsek of Ellensburg third and Rose fourth.

“I was thinking I was going to have to go around her (Oswin) but she gave me that inside,” Shreffler said. “It went pretty much how I wanted it to; I was happy overall.”

Shreffler joined Mercedes Woods, Gretchen Happe and Kiara Pierson to help the Wolves’ 4×400 relay team take fifth place in one of the state meet’s final events, crossing the finish line in 4:06.89.

The highlight for the squad, however, came in their preliminary heat on May 26, when the foursome set a school record with a 4:06 finish, edging Anacortes for third place and an automatic finals berth.

Moore said it was Pierson, the relay anchor, who made up a three- or four-stride deficit on an Anacortes’ anchor with 50 meters to go.

“(Kiara) just willed herself to pass her — that was awesome,” Moore said.

SHS senior Oscar Herrera scored a pair of top-five finishes, placing third in the 110-meter hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles. Herrera and River Ridge junior Josh Braverman were two of the favorites coming into this weekend’s meet, but it was Bellingham senior Benjamin Doucette edging Braverman for the 110 title on Friday, with Herrera (15.10) about eight-tenths of a second back from the leader.

In Saturday’s 300 hurdles final, Braverman broke away from the pack early and cruised to a one second-plus win (38.39), with Herrera in third for most of the race before slipping to fifth near the finish line, in 39.87.

Like Herrera, Sequim senior Jackson Oliver also earned two spots on the medal stand. On Friday, Oliver tied for sixth in the high jump after clearing 6 feet. West Central District champ Emmanuel Thornton won the event with a 6-4 leap while defending champ Max English of Kingston was second. Oliver placed second at last year’s 2A state final.

Oliver also picked up a medal in the 800-meter race, racing to an eight-place finish in 2:02.35.

“I wanted to go out and give it all I could and make the final,” Oliver said, moments after a fourth-place finish in his 800-meter preliminary heat on May 27. “If you do that, you’re on the medal stand.”

A pair of Wolves barely missed the medal stand this weekend. Senior Audrey Shingleton raced to a 2:22.88 for ninth place — about one second short of a berth in the finals. It was a personal record for Shingleton, who had posted her previous PR for the 800 a week prior at districts (2:24.56).

Freshman Elizabeth Sweet continued to impress with a ninth-place finish in the pole vault. She broker her own school record for girls freshmen, clearing the 10-foot mark.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” Sweet said of her first state meet.

“I’m just focusing mainly on form.”

Sweet cleared the 8-foot, 6-inch mark May 7 at the league tournament and upper her best by six inches in successive weeks at sub-districts, districts and state.

Sweet competes during the winter with a join Sequim-Port Angeles gymnastics team and said her background in that sport helps greatly in excelling at the pole vault.

Moore said Sweet has a good shot at snapping the SHS girls record of 11 feet, set by Samantha Whiteside in 2009.

“She (Sweet) has just improved so much,” Moore said. “If you can come here and PR (set a personal record), that’s an accomplishment, no matter where you finish. She has that gymnastics background so she has that core strength … She’s going to get better.”

Sweet said she hopes to reach higher marks next season, working on form and speed and getting a longer pole.

“I’m pretty happy with the season,” Sweet said, considering her 10-6 mark. “I guess that’s a pretty good jump for a freshman.”

In other state action, Sequim’s girls 4×200 relay team took 11th with a 1:48.86 mark in preliminaries on May 26, while Sequim’s 4×400 boys relay squad placed 14th in preliminaries the same day.

Shreffler said she’s set on her next big athletic step: racing cross country and track for Western Washington University in Bellingham next fall.

“I want to be a high school teacher (and) they are one of the top teaching schools,” she said.

Shreffler said she was considering a smaller Division III school but was drawn in part because WWU’s cross country is a strong program (ranked No. 8 at season’s end in 2015), Western competes in a higher level (Division II) and that she was able to gain a spot in Western’s Honors program.

“I’m nervous and excited, both,” she said.

Sequim High senior Waverly Shreffler is a state champ, winning the 800-meter race at the class 2A Washington State Track and Field championships in Tacoma on May 28. Shreffler, bound for Western Washington University next fall, set a personal best in the event with a 2:19.11. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell