Track & Field: Sequim’s girls sweep league meet in Port Angeles

By Michael Dashiell • April 24, 2024 1:30 am
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Bailey Stein crosses the finish line on the anchor leg of the girls’ 4x200 race on April 18 at Port Angeles High School.
Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group Sequim’s Bailey Stein crosses the finish line on the anchor leg of the girls’ 4x200 race on April 18 at Port Angeles High School.

Earning seven first place finishes, Sequim’s girls took first place in a five-team Olympic League meet at Port Angeles High on April 18, knocking off league foes PA and Kingston as well as smaller schools Crescent and Neah Bay.

SHS’s girls (3-4) tallied 58 team points, with Port Angeles second (45), Crescent third (36), Kingston in fourth (32) and Neah Bay in fifth (17). On the boys’ side, Port Angeles’ boys dominated with 116.25 points, with Sequim second (53.75), followed by Kingston (6), Crescent (4) and Neah Bay (1).

For Sequim’s girls, junior Ivy Barrett and freshman Clare Turella each earned two individual first place finishes. Barrett placed first in the 100-meter dash in 13.90 seconds, and took first in the 800 in a personal-best 2:35.33. Turella placed first in the high jump with a 4-8 leap, and earned another first place in the long jump with a personal best 14-5 effort.

SHS coach Brad Moore said that was Turella’s first attempt at the long jump.

“14-5 is a good jump for a first jump; it’s really encouraging to see,” he said.

Kaitlyn Bloomenrader took first in the 800 meters with as season-best 1:02.58, and was second at 400 meters in 28.14 seconds.

Sequim’s 4×200 relay team of Barrett, Bloomenrader, Bailey Stein and Birdie Pyeatt took first place in 1:53.62. Sequim’s 4×100 relay of Yuri Hayashi, Lexi Greenleaf, Olive Bridge and Madysen Salazar took second place in 58.34, just 0.03 of a second back of first place Port Angeles.

Ahrya Klinger won the pole vault with an 8-6 mark, with fellow 10th grade teammate Laila Sundin in second (7-6).

Dawn Hulstedt was second in the 1600 meters, finishing in 5:54, and Lilly Despain was second in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing in a personal best 21.44 seconds.

Sequim’s boys (2-5) earned three first place finishes and 10 seconds in the meet.

Sean Southard won the 200-meter race in 24.04 seconds, and was second in the 100-meter dash in 11.67 seconds — just 0.01 back of winner Jason Hawes of Port Angeles. He also placed second in the javelin with a 140-1 effort.

Sequim senior Colby Ellefson set a season-best mark in the 3,200-meter race in 10:18.

Moore said the senior,who has had injury issues in the past couple of seasons was unsure if he was going to race.

“It’s not worth the risk[to have him race] for a couple of points; I have to let them gauge what they can and cannot do,” Moore said.

SHS freshman Adrian Osborne was second in the 400 meters in 54.81 seconds, a personal record. Fellow ninth-grader Gavin Tupper took second in the 800-meter race, finishing in 2:14.51 and just 0.17 of a second behind PA’s Andre Campbell. Another Sequim freshman, Reid Randall, took second in the 1,600-meter race, finishing in 5 minutes, 7 seconds.

SHS seniors Cayden Beauregard and Brody Anderson each topped 12 feet in the pole vault to help Sequim take six of the top seven spots in the event. The mark for Anderson, a state 2A competitor in 2023, was a personal best. Teammate Ari Skov was third (11-6).

Sequim’s boys relay teams each placed second, with the 4×100 team (Skov, Southard, Hunter Halverson, William Hughes) clocking in at 46.91 and the 4×400 squad (Osborne, Randall, Tupper, Beauregard) finishing in 3:55.31. Sequim exchange student Tom Laschet placed second in the 300 hurdles (46.56) and third in the 110 hurdles (19.11). Skov took second in the triple jump (35-9).

Big competition at Lil’ Norway

Several select SHS athletes went toe to toe with top athletes from 19 other schools at the Lil’ Norway Invitational in Poulsbo on April 20.

Sequim’s girls placed seventh with 45.5 team points while SHS’s boys took 13th. Lynden swept the meet, as the Lions’ boys (106.5 points) edged North Kitsap (97.5) while Lynden’s girls (121) topped the field by more than 35 points.

Feet-footed runners paced Sequim’s girls squad, with Barrett taking second at 400 meters (61.77 seconds), Bloomenrader third in the 800 (2:27.42) and Hulstedt fourth at 1600 meters (5:43). Sequim’s 4×200 relay team (Barrett, Bloomenrader, Pyeatt and Stein) placed fourth in 1:52.62, while the Wolves’ 4×400 relay team (Barrett, Bloomenrader, Stein and Hulstedt) also took fourth, in 4:29.73.

Turella took fourth in the long jump (14-9). Klinger placed fourth in the pole vault (8-0).

Beauregard was Sequim’s top boy individual finisher, placing second in the pole vault (12-0); Skov was sixth (10-6). Southard placed fourth in the 200 meters in 24 seconds flat, and also placed fourth in the javelin (137-8).

Randall took ninth in a competitive 1600-meter race in 5:03. Laschet set a personal best in the 300 hurdles in 45.80 seconds, good for 11th.

Looking ahead

Following the April 26 Olympic League Junior Varsity Last Chance meet in Bremerton on April 26, select Sequim athletes will compete at the Shelton Invitational on April 27, the Wolves’ final tune-up before the postseason. The Olympic League meet is set over two days — May 2 and May 4 — at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo. Qualifying athletes and relays advance to the West Central bi-district 2A meet set for May 17-18 at North Mason High School in Belfair.

The top six event finishers from the district meet move on to the class 2A state meet set for May 23-25 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.