Track & Field: Timberwolf crews earn near-sweep at league finals

Sequim Middle School’s track and field athletes ended their 2015 season with resoundingly strong finishes at the Olympic League Middle School Track and Field Championships at Port Angeles High School on June 2.

The future — of, Sequim track and field, anyway — is here.

Sequim Middle School’s track and field athletes ended their 2015 season with resoundingly strong finishes at the Olympic League Middle School Track and Field Championships at Port Angeles High School on June 2.

The Timberwolf boys enjoyed a dominating meet with 187 team points to out-pace Port Angeles’ Stevens squad (104 points) and Forks (92). Sequim’s girls nearly made it a Sequim sweep but fell a point shy as Stevens’ girls tallied 126 team points to Sequim’s 125; Blue Heron (Port Townsend) was third with 91 points.

In the process, Sequim’s boys broke four meet records, including Riley Martin in the 75-meter hurdles (11.15 seconds), Riley Cowan in the 200-meter hurdles (29.39), Alec Shingleton in the 800-meter run (2:16.24) and the 4×200 relay team of Ash Francis, Ian Parker, Liam Payne, Ian Thill (1:46.76).

On the girls’ side, Sequim racked up six first-place finishes, one second and four thirds.

SMS seventh-grader Jessica Dietzman edged Stevens’ McKenzie Musalek by 0.05 seconds to win the 800-meter race but had an easier time in the 1,600 meters, topping the field by nearly 12 seconds. She joined Emily Glenn, Isabelle Hugoniot and Halle Ward to help Sequim win the 4×400 relay in 5:15.20.

Sequim’s Elizabeth Sweet edged out Port Townsend’s Eileen Leoso by a quarter of an inch to win the long jump with a 13-foot, 1.75-inch effort. Teammate Daisy Ryan won the javelin with a 57-3 mark while teammate Regan Demetz took third (52-7).

Sequim’s 4×200 relay team of Ryan, Autumn Hilliard, Alexi Rampp-Taft and Shayli Shuman took first place as well with a 2:07.89 finish.

In the 75-meter hurdles race, Shuman took second and Yanna Hoesel was third.

On the boys’ side, Sequim earned nine first-place finishes, five second-place medals and seven third-place marks.

Helping lead the way for the Timberwolf boys were Cowan and the brothers Martin. Apart from setting a 200-meter dash meet record, Cowan won the javelin with a 161-foot, 11-inch throw and placed third in the high jump. Along with the his record-breaking win in the 75-meter hurdles, Riley Martin took second in the 200 meters, and Conner Martin added a winning discus throw (102 feet, 2.5 inches), second in the 400-meter run (1:01.77) and third in the javelin event (110 feet, 2 inches).

Richard Hall added a win for Sequim in the long jump with a 16-foot, 5-inch mark to go with Shingleton’s meet record in the 800.

Sequim’s running crew swept all three relays. Joining the record-setting 4×200 crew were Sequim’s 4×100 team (Cowan, Thomas Hughes, Silas Isenberger and Emanuel Gomez) with a 50.73 finish, and Sequim’s 4×400 relay team (Shingleton, Thill, Conner Martin and Sean Webber) with a 4:09.84 finish.

Sequim’s Isenberger took second in the 100-meter dash (12.67) and Parker was second in the 200-meter dash (26.08).