Editor’s note: Look for photos from Dave Shreffler and Michael Dashiell by clicking the picture.
Sequim’s boys were saving the best for last — and that’s saying something.
With senior Alex Barry already holding a state champion medal in javelin, junior Jackson Oliver with a second-place finish in the high jump and junior Oscar Herrera with a pair of medals for top-six finishes in both hurdles events, the Wolves took it to another level at Saturday’s class 2A state track and field championships at Tacoma’s Mount Tahoma High School.
Sequim’s 4×400 relay team — Barry, Herrera, senior Miguel Moroles and junior Jason Springer, blistered the track for a state title-winning finish in three minutes, 22.53 seconds. In the process, the Wolves broke a 28-year-old school record and launched their squad to a fourth-place finish in the team standings, the best-ever finish for Sequim’s boys and equaling SHS’s girls team tied for fourth place in 2010.
“It was really a magical moment for them; it was hard to get them off the field,” Sequim head coach Brad Moore said. “That was icing on the cake.”
The win capped a strong finish for both Sequim girls and boys track squads, who brought home six medals for top-eight finishes, and came close to bringing home even more.
SHS junior Waverly Shreffler raced to a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter race on Friday, then helped Sequim’s 4×400 relay team — along with Gretchen Happe, Heidi Vereide and Mercedes Woods — take fifth a day later with a 4:10.04 mark.
“We had an amazing prelim race (on Thursday),” Shreffler said, noting the team’s 4:06.96 effort. “In general, it’s hard to PR in the finals because everybody’s tired. We were tired (but) to have placed fifth overall good way to end the season. We really had to prove ourselves.”
Shreffler took third in the preliminaries in the 800 and had a lead in the finals before relenting for fourth in 2:20.84, 2.7 seconds behind freshman phenom Heather Hanson of Anacortes.
“This was really a learning year for her, going from a 400 runner to an 800 runner,” Moore said. “It’s simply a matter of getting more mileage in her. Once she gets more of a base under her she’s going to be dangerous.”
“I never would have expected to make it where I did,” Sheffler said. “I ended up really liking the race, the strategy (of the 800) versus the pure speed (of the 400-meter race). I was extremely happy to have placed fourth. I really gave it everything I had.”
Barry had a first for Sequim High as a Wolf after earning two state meet first place medals, but he had inauspicious starts to both events. Prior to the javelin event Friday morning, coaches realized that they’d left the javelin Barry uses in another van. Coaches returned with the instrument in plenty of time to help Barry launch a throw of 185 feet, 1 inch to lock down the title.
“I just wanted to have fun, get my goal, do my best,” Barry said following his winning throw.
Barry, who signed a letter of intent to compete in track and field at Western Washington University next fall, hurt his ankle later that day competing in the triple jump. The leg injury not only kept him from his final three jumps — he placed ninth overall — but put his participation in the 4×400 relay in question.
“The trainers on site cleared him, and I had (assistant coach B.J. Schade) work him out a little bit, and he said, ‘He’s good to go.’”
Sequim came in with the fourth-best time for the final but wound up knocking off favorites West Valley-Spokane, Sedro-Woolley and Lynden by a healthy margin.
“Nobody had us on their radar ready to win this thing,” Moore said. “One the of the most exciting moments I’ve ver seen in a race.”
Teammate Jackson Oliver nearly came away with another Sequim first place medal, settling for second place in the high jump after clearing 6 feet, 4 inches. None of the four finalists — Oliver, Jeremy Bade of East Valley-Yakima, Austin Sandberg of Ephrata and eventual champ Max English of Kingston — cleared 6-5, so English won by tiebreaker.
Herrera had a busy state meet, racing to sixth place in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.32 seconds and fourth place in the 300-meter hurdles in 39.63 seconds.
