Sequim Gazette staff
Two cross-town rivals and perennial league powerhouses met again on Friday, Sept. 16, and just as they did last year, Sequim’s boys tennis squad topped Port Angeles.
The Wolves (4-0), the Olympic League defending champions, won four of seven matches with Byron Boots leading the way in No. 1 singles. He beat Port Angeles’ Hayden McCartney, 6-3 and 6-4.
Waylon Lam and Andrew Gunstone added wins to help Sequim sweep singles play. Lam topped Jordan Negus 6-0 and 6-2 while Gunstone topped Alex Brown 6-1 and 6-0.
Sequim’s top doubles duo of Evan Hill and Donovan Lee had a tougher time but managed to take down Sam Beasley and Connor Reid, 7-6 and 6-4.
The Roughriders swept doubles matches 2, 3 and 4.
Port Angeles edged Sequim 4-3 last year in a nonleague match-up, but Sequim rebounded to beat P.A. 5-2 later in the season en route to an 8-0 league mark.
On Sept. 14, Sequim blanked 3A foe Bremerton 7-0, getting singles victories from Boots, Lam and Gunstone.
Boots lost just one game in a straight-set win against Bremerton’s Matt Pohl.
In No. 1 doubles, Hill and Lee won in straight sets with a 1-0, 6-2 win against the Knights’ top duo of Conner Wales and Derek Welch.
Emanuel Herrera and Brandon Payne picked up a win in No. 2 doubles action, breezing by in the second set after a 7-5 win in the first.
Sequim’s Jeremy Huls and Will Prorok, and Royhon Agostine and Eli Berg also picked up doubles wins.
The Wolves were slated to host Klahowya on Sept. 19 — results of the match were unavailable.
Sequim is at Olympic (Silverdale) today, Sept. 21, and at North Kitsap on Sept. 23 before hosting North Mason on Sept. 26.
Girls swimming
For rookie swimmers only used to churning laps in practice, getting up on the blocks at their first meet can be intimidating.
Sequim High’s young swim crew made the best of it last week, earning four first-place finishes and exactly zero stroke infractions or disqualifications in an 88-67 loss to Klahowya at the first meet of the 2011 season.
“For us winning was not important; getting through was the key,” first-year coach Anita Benitez said.
Sequim picked up two relay victories and two individual wins.
Danielle Barrow earned the Wolves’ first district-qualifying swim with a 2:47.7 finish in the 200 individual medley — earning a postseason spot by less than 0.4 seconds.
Cassandra Calderon topped the field in the 500 free while Julianne Miller picked up a win in the 100 breaststroke.
Sequim also took top honors in the 200 medley relay (Barrow, Calderon, Miller and Kendra Richardson) and, with that same combination, in the 400 free relay.
“We did OK … for our first meet, considering we’re young,” Benitez said.
Many of Sequim’s swimmers are first-timers who competed at last week’s first meet in four separate events.
“Everything that I asked of them, they were able to complete,” Benitez said. “I’m very proud of my team.”
That being said, the Sequim coach said there’s plenty to work on in practices.
“We will be encouraging what our strengths are (and) focusing on one weakness at a time,” Benitez said.
Sequim was scheduled to host Bremerton on Sept. 20 — results of the meet were not available at press time. The Wolves host Kingston on Sept. 22 and Port Townsend a week later, Sept. 29.
Cross-country
So much for a home course advantage.
Sequim and Port Angeles cross-country teams struggled to keep up with visiting powerhouse squads from the I-5 corridor and Kitsap County at Saturday’s Salt Creek Invitational, as Bellevue’s boys and Interlake’s girls raced to team victories.
Sequim’s boys finished 17th and Port Angeles was 10th out of 21 competing teams, while Sequim’s girls took 13th and P.A. was 10th out of 16 competing girls squads.
Adrian Clifford was the Wolves’ top runner after finishing the three-mile course in 16:13 to take 28th out of 141 varsity boy runners. Joel Christopher was 62nd (16:57) and Peter Ohnstad was 84th (17:19).
Jasmine McMullin was Sequim’s top girl at 39th overall (20:33). Teammates Amelia Ohnstad (76th, 22:38), Emma Barrell (87th, 23:27) and Brittany Vereide (90th, 23:54) rounded out Sequim’s top four.
Kingston’s Marina Roberts took top individual honors on the girls’ side, topping Interlake’s Summer Hanson and North Kitsap’s Reagan Colyer by more than 15 seconds.
John Fowler led a strong contingent of Bellevue boys for the individual win; teammates Ryan Long and Spike Sievert also finished in the top four.
Nick Schindler was Port Angeles’ top boy finisher, taking 12th overall. Elizabeth Stevenson was the Roughriders’ top girl, placing 25th out of 107 runners.
Sequim travels to Klahowya (Silverdale) on Sept. 21 to take on the Eagles and Bremerton. The Wolves are at the Bellevue Invitational on Sept. 24 before hosting their lone regular double-dual league meet, slated for Sept. 28 against Olympic League powers Kingston and North Kitsap.
