TACOMA — The North Olympic Peninsula had a stellar finish the state track and field championships.
Two more state championships were won in the last hour of the Class 1A and 2A state meets, bringing the total earned by the area over the weekend to five.
Overall, the Peninsula’s eight track and field teams combined to win 40 medals at the 1B, 1A and 2A meets. Medals are won by the top eight finishers in each event.
Sequim’s boys 4×400-meter relay finished the 2A state meet with a stunning championship at Mount Tahoma High School on Saturday, and Port Townsend senior Ryan Clarke added another state championship to a successful high school sports career by winning the boys 3,200-meter run at the 1A meet at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.
Sequim’s 4×400 relay was historical and dramatic.
“Man, that was fun,” Sequim coach Brad Moore said. “We took people by surprise.”
Miguel Moroles, Jason Springer, Alex Barry and Oscar Herrera broke a 28-year-old school 4×400 relay record with a time of 3 minutes, 22.53 seconds.
The previous 4×400 relay record of 3:23.27 was run by Jared Wilson, Shawn Kendall, Dan Dove and Mark Adams in 1987.
The 10 points earned from the win gave the Wolves 35 points and a fourth-place team finish, which is the best finish by a boys team in school history and tied for the best in overall school history.
The 4×400 state title was the first ever won by a Sequim boys or girls relay team.
It also gave Barry two at this year’s state meet — he also won the javelin Friday — making him the first in school history to do so.
“We’ve never had a kid win two in one [state meet],” Moore said. “Alex stands alone in that respect.
“What a great way to end his high school career. Miguel, too — he’s great young athlete.
“You couldn’t have written it any better for those two senior athletes.”
Moroles opened the relay with a strong leg, giving the Wolves the lead before he handed the baton to junior Jason Springer.
Springer held the lead until right before he handed off to Barry.
Barry then retook the lead.
“He came off that second turn and he just went right by that guy,” Moore said.
“That gave Oscar a couple-step lead.”
Lynden’s Trent Postma nearly overcame Herrera in the final leg, Moore said, but “Oscar just said, ‘No.’”
Both Barry and Herrera ran sub-50-second splits.
Barry was questionable to even run the relay after injuring his ankle during the triple jump Friday.
Because he was checked by trainers Friday, he also had to be approved by them to compete Saturday.
Once he was approved, he convinced Sequim assistant B.J. Schade, who convinced Moore to stick with Barry.
“He said, ‘He’s going to give us something special,’” Moore said of Shade. “And he was right.
“Whatever [the injury] was — I don’t even know for sure — it didn’t slow him down.”
The Wolves also defied convention and ran a faster time in the final than in the preliminaries. In fact, they were more than 2 seconds faster. They ran a 4:34.65 and ranked fourth in the preliminaries.
Their time in the finals would have won the 3A 4×400 state championship and would have placed them fourth in 4A.
In the final event of the 2A meet, the Sequim girls 4×400 relay (Waverly Shreffler, Gretchen Happe, Mercedes Woods and Heidi Vereide) moved up three spots from the preliminaries to claim fifth.
“I thought we could finish anywhere from fourth to eighth,” Moore said.
“Then they ran such a great race. They competed, and they competed fantastically.
“Salute to Coach Schade for making sure those kids were ready.”
Shreffler, a junior, also placed fourth in the girls 800-meter run after making the transition from the 400.
“She ran what I thought was really a smart race,” Moore said.
“She’s going to be a much better 800 runner next year.
“Gosh, I think she’ll run a lot faster from this year to next year.
“I’m excited for what lies ahead.”
Hererra earned medals in both hurdles, placing sixth in the 110 and fourth in the 300H.
“In the 300, he made a great charge for that,” Moore said.
“He beat the guy [Grandview’s Steven Razo, who placed fifth] to the finish to snag that fourth place away from him.”
Port Angeles double-double
Also late Saturday, Port Angeles’ Peter Butler and Gracie Long both medaled in their respective 3,200 races.
Butler placed eighth in the boys 3,200 and Long was sixth in the girls 3,200.
Thursday night, Butler, a senior, finished seventh in the boys 1,600, while Long, a freshman, took eighth in the girls 1,600.
After looking through the school’s record books, longtime Port Angeles coach Bob Sheedy believes Butler and Long are the first Roughriders to medal in the 1,600 and 3,200 at the same state meet.
Long set freshman school records in the 1,600 (5:16.50) and 3,200 (11:23.03) records this season, and nearly broke the freshman high jump record.
Long fell one spot shy of placing at state in the high jump as well.
“Her ninth-place tie at state in the high jump is just phenomenal,” Sheedy said.
Clarke a state champ again
After placing fourth in the 3,200 in 2014 and winning the cross country state championship in the fall, Ryan Clarke looked like one of the favorites to win the 3,200 at this year’s 1A state track and field meet.
Then he got sick early last week.
He still managed to earn a seventh-place medal in the 1,600 Friday morning.
“In the 1,600, he still looked really flat,” Port Townsend coach Ian Fraser said.
“But one more night of sleep seemed to help. For the 3,200, he still wasn’t at his best, but he was good enough for the day.”
Repeating what happened at the state cross country meet in the fall, Clarke, a senior, also beat out Northwest’s Graham Peet for the 3,200 state championship.
Forks’ three state participants fell short of winning medals, although senior Kari Larson ran her best 800-meter time of the season to take ninth.
“Four years of coming here, and we wanted ti so bad for her,” Spartans coach Pam Gale said.
“But she’s so great. She was handing out water to every 3,200 runner. She put on one of those volunteer jackets and was right in there.
“She’s just like the best of the best.”
Larson also sang the national anthem during Saturday’s opening ceremonies.
“It was so wonderful. It was absolutely wonderful,” Gale said.
“I told her: out of all my track memories, that will be one be one of my favorites.”
Class 1B meet
The North Olympic Peninsula earned six more medals late Saturday afternoon at the 1B championships.
The area’s three 1B schools, Clallam Bay, Crescent and Neah Bay, accounted for 23 of the Peninsula’s 40 medals.
Elisha Winck, who won the triple jump Friday and helped Neah Bay’s 4×100 relay take first and set a meet record, took fourth in the long jump to earn his third medal of the meet.
“It’s just an incredible feeling. I can’t even describe the euphoria I felt from him winning the triple jump,” said Andrew Winck, Neah Bay’s first-year coach and Elisha’s father.
Winck was in third place in the long jump until Clallam Bay eighth-grader Clayton Willis surpassed him to place third, earning his second medal of the meet (he also placed sixth in the high jump).
The two state championships are Neah Bay’s first in track and field since Rob Moss won the javelin in 1984.
“I think Neah Bay’s always obviously had the talent to win those, but the interest in track was pretty low,” Andrew Winck said, adding that Cole Svec and Chris Martinez, two of the four 4×100 relay winners, were in their first full seasons of high school track (the other two, Elisha Winck and Cameron Buzzell, had competed at state before).
Andrew Winck also credited assistant coach Shane DePoe and girls coach Janelle Strine for the Red Devils’ track and field rebirth this season.
Faye Chartraw won medals in the shot put (third) and discus (sixth) for the Neah Bay girls.
The Red Devils’ 4×100-meter relay, with one sophomore (Vonte Aguirre) and three eighth-graders (Hannah Olson, Amanda Gagnon and Cheyanna Svec), took ninth, one spot shy of reaching the medal round.
That sets up the Neah Bay girls’ relays for a bright future, and some highly anticipated showdowns with Clallam Bay’s girls, who medaled in all three relays at state with a cast of young runners.
Marissa May, Kendra Anderson, Inga Erickson and Molly McCoy finished the Bruins’ meet with a fifth-place finish in the 4×400 relay lat Saturday. The Clallam Bay girls previously took fifth in the 4×100 and sixth in the 4×200.
Crescent’s 10 medals were the most earned by an area school at this year’s state meets.
Ryan Lester and Ashara Dodson earned two of those medals apiece.
Lester placed seventh in the girls triple jump Saturday, ahead of Dodson (ninth) and Clallam Bay’s Jennica Maines (13th).
Lester earlier earned a fourth-place medal in the 110-meter hurdles.
Dodson placed seventh in the javelin Saturday, adding to her fourth-place finish in the discus. Teammate McKenzie Brannan took ninth in the javelin.
Crescent senior captain Martin Waldrip closed out his high school sports career by winning eighth-place medal in the boys 3,200.
