Sequim High’s Clare Turella knew she had a fair shot at a good placing among the state’s top 2A high jumpers at the state 2A track and field championships, held May 24-26 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma. After all, she just earned a district title with a personal best 5-3 mark.

“I just wanted a medal,” Turella said. “I wanted to finish in the top three, [to] get on the medal stand. I was joking that I would win it … and then I did.”

Expectation became reality for Turella, who became the first freshman in the program’s history to win a state title after clearing 5-2, topping a field of 18 competitors.

A quartet of foes — Woodland’s Addy Siemer, McKenzie Sargent of West Valley (Spokane), Ja’kayre Stewart of Foss and Madeline Fillmore of Shadle Park — topped five feet, but none could match the Sequim ninth-grader’s leap.

“She had a great attitude; she said, ‘I just want to have fun, get over at least five feet’,” Sequim coach Brad Moore said.

“You could tell she was pretty loose, pretty relaxed. I think that helped her a lot.”

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Ivy Barrett races in the preliminaries of the 800-meter race at the class 2A state track and field championships in Tacoma on May 24.

Turella missed her first attempt at 4-10 when she didn’t run quite hard enough leading into her take-off, Moore said.

“After that she was fine,” he said.

Turella’s was the top finish for the Wolves, who earned 11 other state qualifying berths but couldn’t quite find the medal stand (top eight).

The Wolves’ next top finish was junior Dawn Hulstedt in the 1600, who clocked in at 5:26.18 for 12th place; she also took (2:26.63).

“Dawn’s had a great year,” Moore said.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Dawn Hulstedt races in the preliminaries of the 800-meter race at the class 2A state track and field championships in Tacoma on May 24.

Sequim also had a trio of state entries place 13th including Kaitlyn Bloomenrader’s finish in the 800 (2:23.86), the girls’ 4×400 relay squad (4:18.27) and sophomore Malachi Burne’s finish in the pole vault (11-0).

Moore had high praise for Bloomenrader, who finishes her prep career with three state appearances to go along with her state and national title as part of the Wolves’ 4×400 relay in 2022.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Kaitlyn Bloomenrader races in the preliminaries of the 800-meter race at the class 2A state track and field championships in Tacoma on May 24.

SHS’s pole vault crew looked to score big points for the Wolves at state, particularly after sweeping the top three boys’ spots at districts, but two of the four in SHS’s pole vault crew weren’t able to record a first height at the state meet on Friday and didn’t place. Along with Byrne, fellow Sequim sophomore Ahrya Klinger cleared 8-0 and placed 16th.

Moore said that was disappointing, particularly for the seniors.

“I think some of them put some pressure on themselves,” he said.

“You always want the kids to perform at or near their best. These kids have all done well; they had great marks this year. You can’t be on top of your game every time.”

Sequim’s Ivy Barrett was 15th in the 400 (1:01.78) and fellow junior Sean Southard took 16th in the javelin (141-1).

SHS’s girls 4×200 relay placed 16th in the preliminary round with a 4:18.27 mark.

Moore said he’ll have the returning athletes look at their finishes and consider what they need to improve.

For Turella, that bar has been set about as high as possible. The freshman said she’ll need to get stronger and get in some plyometric (jump training) work in the offseason to improve her marks.

Turella started in the sport as a seventh grader and topped 4-2 in the high jump a couple of times, but once she got the taste of the competition, she said, “I liked it a lot … [and] I wanted to win.”

Sequim Gazette photos by Michael Dashiell Sequim freshman Clare Turella captured a state title by clearing 5-feet, 2-inches at the class 2A State Track and Field Championships on May 23 at Mount Tahoma High School. Turella is pictured at last weekend’s class 2A Bi-District Championship a week prior.

In her eighth grade year, she set her eyes on the school record of 4-10. Instead, she broke the league record with a 5-2 leap.

The keys to going higher? It didn’t hurt that she grew, Turella said —she’s 5-10 now — but much of it was hard work, which she said beats out talent (because “talent doesn’t work hard”).

Moore said returning tracksters will hopefully get to enjoy some home meets for the first time in years: the Sequim High stadium is getting a new track surface to replace its badly damaged (and unused for several seasons) lanes, a project slated to be completed early this summer.

Moore said he’s penciled in three open dates so the Wolves can once again host a home meet.

“We had lots of high level success [this year],” Moore said. “I’m just disappointed we couldn’t have finished on higher note, especially for the seniors.

“Still, overall it was a good season.”