Cross Country sets state stage

Sequim and Port Angeles runners battled a huge field and high winds at Chambers Creek Central Meadow on Nov. 1, and will send a total of nine runners to the 2A state cross-country championship this weekend in Pasco.

Making state for Sequim were juniors Adrian Osborne, who finished 20th in a time of 18:23.3, and Gavin Tupper, who finished 24th with a time of 18:30.3.

Assistant Sequim coach B.J. Schade said it was “great to see Adrian’s hard work pay off after missing state in track.” He was also thrilled that Tupper qualified in his first year on the team.

Just missing out on a trip to state was Sequim’s Reid Randall, who finished 29th with a time of 18:41.4.

Schade said Randall was in the mix late into the race, but just missed out on a trip to state as the first 28 qualified. It was his second time missing the state meet by one place, he said.

Westley French was 39th in a time of 19:17.4, while Josh Wakefield was 51st (19:43.1), Jackson Hines 56th (19:53.8), and Jonathan Tipton 67th (20:32.7).

Schade said the boys team would have qualified easily any other year, but this year was an “exceedingly fast” year.

Six of the seven varsity boys runners return next year, and he said “with the quality of athletes that we have on that team that they could possibly be in contention for a team placing next year, but there is a lot of work to do to get to that point.”

The Port Angeles boys had four runners in the top 23 and all four will be moving on to state. Andrew Campbell led the way for the Roughriders, coming in 11th with a time of 17 minutes, 53.0 seconds.

Easton Dempsey was 14th at 18:07.4, while freshman Jay Lieberman was 22nd at 18:26.6. Finally, Henry Wendel was 23rd at 18:29.5.

For the girls, Sequim’s Emily Bair, just a freshman, came in 11th with a time of 22:06.9 and she will move on to the state meet.

Schade said Bair has exceeded his expectations this season and consistently puts in extra work.

“Hopefully this is the first of many Pasco trips for her,” he said.

Birdie Pyeatt also qualified for Sequim to run at districts but she dropped out about halfway through the course on Nov. 1 as she was ill and having trouble breathing, Schade said.

Port Angeles’ Leia Larson finished sixth in a time of 21:28.0, while her teammate Mariam Cobb was 20th in a time of 22:56, also good for state.

The 2A girls race begins at 10:30 a.m. and the 2A boys race at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Girls Soccer

The Sequim girls soccer squad, a No. 9 seed, won its tournament opener on Nov. 1, beating No. 8 seed Franklin Pierce on the road 3-2.

The Wolves (6-8, 7-9) were set to next play No. 1 seed Bainbridge Tuesday in Bainbridge. Sequim lost 2-0 and 7-1 to Bainbridge this season.

Win or lose, the Wolves play again on Thursday, against either Port Angeles or North Kitsap.

To finish the regular season on Oct. 28, the Wolves won 3-1 in Bremerton with Ruby Moxley Horgan scoring two goals and Harper Moore adding the other.

Volleyball

Long service runs helped Sequim make short work of the last-place Knights in a 25-7, 25-8, 25-16 Olympic League win on Oct. 28 to finish their regular season.

“We were trying to work on our stuff, serve-receive passes, run different types of offenses, different sets and continuing to work on serving to spots and more consistently. Things we will need to do (this) week at districts,” coach Jennie Webber Heilman said.

Kenzi Berglund started Sequim off with a nine-point service run in the first game with three aces, followed by Rose Gibson’s seven-point, four-ace run of her own.

“That kind of took care of them. I was trying to get more players to substitute in, but we only went four rotations in that first game,” Webber Heilman said.

Gibson followed up with a five-point run in game two, and Madi Salazar added a seven-point run in the final set for Sequim.

“Madi usually plays up front so she doesn’t get to serve all that often, but she was 9-of-10 with three aces,” Webber Heilman said.

Salazar also had a kill, a stuff block and three digs.

Gibson finished 17-of-18 on serves with six aces, four kills, three perfect passes and a stuff block.

Kendra Dodson added six kills while serving 3-for-3.

Freshman Jordyn Julmist added four kills and two stuff blocks.

Sequim (11-3, 12-4) will finish in at least a tie for second place in the Olympic League with North Kitsap (11-3, 11-5).

“There’s no league tournament this year, districts are Nov. 7-8, and we don’t know where yet, somewhere in the Olympic League will host it,” Webber Heilman said last week.

Boys Tennis

Sequim’s No. 1 doubles team of Bjorn Henrikson and Mason Rapelje were the lone Wolves to compete in the West Central District 2A Boys Tennis Championship on Oct. 30-31 at the Kitsap Tennis and Athletic Center in Bremerton.

As the No. 6 seed from the Olympic League, they lost both their matches going 7-6, 6-3 against the No. 3 seed from Washington High School, and 7-6, 6-1 to Fife High School’s No. 2 seed in the consolation.

Girls Swimming

The West Central District 1A/2A Girls Swim and Dive Championships are set for Nov. 7-8 at the Curtis High School Aquatic Center. Sequim is set to send eight swimmers to the meet.