Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

On the cusp of their biggest track meet of the season, Sequim's girls showed they're ready.

For the first time since 1987 - and just the second time ever - the Wolves' girls are district champions, handily topping a field of nine teams at the West Central District finals in Belfair on May 20 and 23.

Sequim's track team qualified five females and six males to compete in a total of 15 events at the class 2A state track & field meet, set for May 29-30 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

"We're peaking at the right time," Sequim coach Brad Moore said.

Leading the way is Lauryn Garrett, the senior who qualified for state in four events. Her firsts in the 100 hurdles and long jump and runner-up finishes in the 300 hurdles and high jump helped Sequim score 141 team points, well ahead of second place Kingston (102.5).

(Lauryn) has an excellent chance of coming home with some hardware," Moore said.

Sophomore Audrey Lichten and juniors Anna LaBeaume and Samantha Whiteside punched their tickets to the class 2A state meet after strong showings in their respective events on May 20, the first day of the district meet.

LaBeaume broke her own school record with a throw of 42 feet 1 inch in the shot put, while Whiteside broke her school record in the pole vault, clearing the 11-foot mark for second place.

Lichten took second in the metric mile with a 5:26.75 mark, 11 seconds behind district champion Ruby Roberts of Kingston. She took second in the 3200 on Saturday to teammate Christina Bruce, who qualified for her first state meet with a 12:03 winning finish in the two-mile race.

"That was nice, to see someone who works hard for so many years (get to state)," Moore said of Bruce.

On Saturday, LaBeaume added a second place finish in the 200-meter sprint while Whiteside qualified for state by placing third in the 400.

The girls' title was even more impressive considering they had just 11 athletes competing, about half the size of several other schools, and are missing state qualifiers Alli Cutting and Chase O'Neil who are both out with injuries.

On the boys' side, the Wolves finished fourth in the team standings behind district champ Steilacoom, Kingston and Eatonville.

Ben Ohnstad, Josh Fodge and Derrell Jensen are each two-event state qualifiers. Ohnstad races in both 1600 and 3200 events at state after taking third in Wednesday's metric mile and winning the 3200 outright.

Fodge won the high jump after clearing the 5-foot 8-inch mark, then took second in the 110 high hurdles.

Jensen expected to qualify for the triple jump but instead placed second in the 100-meter sprint, three days after helping Sequim's 4x100 relay squad finish in 45.57 seconds, third overall, to earn a state berth. Relay teammates were Emanuel Herrera, Sam Schwab and James Finnen.

Last season, the Wolves took nine athletes - five girls and four boys - to the state meet, bringing home eight medals (top-eight finishes).



Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.