One is understated, the other seems to bounce off walls.
Both Sequim high seniors make it work.
High energy high jumper Jayson Brocklesby and triple jumper Jasmine McMullin lead a crowd of Sequim athletes into the West Central District meet next weekend after strong performances at a subdistrict meet May 11 in Bremerton.
Brocklesby cleared the 6-foot 6-inch mark in the high jump, breaking the school mark he set last year, topping a strong field that featured North Kitsap junior Taylor Stephens, who cleared 6-6 earlier this season.
Sequim coach Brad Moore said Brocklesby had a chance to top 6 feet 8 inches, but had to run his 400-meter final and that winded the Sequim athlete; Brocklesby wound up winning the 400, too, in 50.87 seconds.
“One thing good for Jayson is, he is solidly healthy,” Moore said. “In years past his legs would start to bug him, so we’d hold him back. He’s worked on strength and speed. He’s very healthy. I’m really encouraged. He’ll be one of those guys for (one of the) top four spots (at state).”
McMullin broke Haleigh Harrison’s two-year-old mark in the triple jump on May 4 with a 36-4.5 mark, then extended that mark by another 2.5 inches Saturday.
She also placed second in the long jump.
“She works really hard,” Moore said. “(The key is) making sure she’s healthy. Her legs hurt in the last meet. We were able to back off (and) let her recover, then let her go.”
Joining his classmates at districts as a subdistrict champ is Lopaka Yasumura, whose 47-5 mark in the shot put topped the field.
“He’s definitely in position to be on the medal stand at the state meet,” Moore said.
Sarah Hutchison was Sequim’s fourth first-place athlete at subdistricts, clearing 9 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault.
Moore said Hutchison is close to breaking through with even better marks if she has the right equipment; if she can adjust to stiffer, longer poles, she can vault with the best in the state.
“If I can get Sarah the right pole, she’ll make a leap,” Moore said.
In the fall, Hutchison suffered an injury in SHS’s soccer season and it may have been a blessing in disguise for the track campaign, Moore said; coaches had the Sequim junior focus on the pole vault rather than her primary events — the 100- and 300-meter hurdles — and it’s paid off with a career-best 10-foot vault earlier this season.
Moore said Hutchison and sophomore Joshua Cibene (sixth at subdistricts) are making big technical improvements and are peaking at the right time.
“(Cibene) is really close to going another foot; it’s just a matter of putting it all together,” Moore said.
Sequim’s boys 4×100 relay finished with a solid 44.11-second mark at subdistricts, good for second place and a chance to advance and place at the state meet.
Other Sequim boys advancing to districts include Alex Barry (javelin, triple jump), Oscar Herrera (110 and 300 hurdles), Dylan Chatters (400), Judah Breitbach (long jump), Mikey Cobb (1600), Peter Ohnstad (3200) and Yasumura in the 100-meter dash, plus Sequim’s 4×400 relay team.
On the girls’ side, Sequim earned a number of district qualifiers: Waverly Shreffler (400), Audrey Shingleton (800), Andria Bower (shot put), Sarah Henry (discus), Natalie Moyer (pole vault), Hutchison in the 100-meter hurdles and both 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
Postseason finishes
Sequim’s boys and girls both placed fifth among the eight Olympic League 2A teams at subdistricts. Olympic edged North Kitsap for first place, with Kingston, North Mason and Sequim finishing in a pack for 3-4-5. North Kitsap’s girls dominated subdistricts, with North Mason second, Kingston third and Port Angeles in fourth, two points ahead of Sequim.
The district meet, set for May 18 in Sumner, sees the top Olympic League athletes take on teams from the Seamount and South Puget Sound leagues. The top six in each event advance to the class 2A state meet, set for May 23-25 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
