PORT ANGELES — A year of title triumphs at the league, state and regional conference levels, NCAA Division-I commitments, minor league successes and struggles and one of the more incredible comebacks all top the list of our favorite moments in sports on the North Olympic Peninsula in 2019.
Here’s a look back at the top moments, teams and individuals from 2019:
Top team performance — Sequim boys track Class 2A State Champions
Led by 800-meter state champ Murray Bingham, a senior-laden Sequim High School boys track and field team racked up 11 medals at the Class 2A state championships in late May, earning not only Sequim High’s first track and field championship, but the school’s first overall boys team title in any sport.
The Wolves crowded the medal stand all weekend and locked up the team title with a pair of top-three efforts in the waning moments of the meet — senior Riley Cowan’s second-place finish in the javelin and a third-place finish by Sequim’s 4×400 relay team — as the Wolves amassed 61 team points, out-pacing Tumwater (46), Ridgefield (42) and Pullman (40).
The Wolves’ previous best team finish was fourth place in 2015 and 1987.
“We thought we had a shot before the season even started [based on] how we did last year, who we had coming back,” Sequim coach Brad Moore said.
Despite some early-season injuries to key athletes, Moore noted that they were able to get most of the Wolves in shape at the right time.
“They kept getting better,” Moore said. “They just kept working. It was that whole concept of perseverance, long term goals.”
After winning the Olympic League and West Central District team titles in the preceding weeks, Moore said, “We thought, ‘We could do this.’ ”
Bingham helped get the Wolves off to a fast start with a third-place finish in a 1,600-meter final May 23, a race that he led until the final lap. He finished in 4:21.73, his second-fastest 1600 effort this season.
Bingham had plenty left in the tank in the next two days, racing to a big win his preliminary 800 heat on May 24 before edging Lucas Cunningham of Sehome by a tenth of a second (1:55.94) in the 800 final a day later.
‘Lights-out performance’
Joining Bingham in the 800-meter finals was teammate Alec Shingleton, who placed fifth in the 800 (1:59) and added a second place finish in the 400-meter finals (50.01)
Sequim’s Riley Martin capped his prep career with a second place finish in the 110 high hurdles on May 24, after placing third in the same event at last year’s state final.
Martin clipped the finish line in 14.910 seconds — 0.001 of a second behind Tyrus Thomas of Pullman.
Teammate Fischer Jensen, another Sequim senior, earned a spot in the 300 hurdles final on May 25, where he placed eighth in 41.80.
Sequim also got a pair of top-eight performances out of junior Darren Salazar, who raced to a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter finals (22.86) and sixth in the 100-meter sprint (11.43).
Eastern Washington Athletics Forks’ Luke Dahlgren was selected as the Eastern Washington Eagles Player of the Week along the offensive line last in the 2019 season. (Eastern Washington Athletics)
Banner month for Dahlgren
It was a February to remember for Forks’ Luke Dahlgren. On National Signing Day, Feb. 6, Dahlgren signed his name on a letter of intent to play NCAA FCS Division football for Eastern Washington University.
A standout offensive and defensive lineman for the Spartans, Dahlgren balanced his football recruitment with his senior year of high school wrestling.
Eastern offensive line coach Jase Butorac, himself a former EWU offensive lineman, even made an in-person visit with Dahlgren at Forks High School.
“For Eastern to drive all the way out here to meet him, that was a great feeling,” Dahlgren’s high school football coach Emil West said.
“I was pumped, I couldn’t even conceal it. Luke was keeping his hand close to his vest a little.”
After winning the Class 1A District 4 North Subregional heavyweight wrestling championship late last January, Dahlgren and his parents Chad and Shannon, headed to Cheney for an official visit.
“I liked what I saw,” Dahlgren said. When I got home I made the call and committed. You can’t beat those Division I facilities.”
Dahlgren triumphed in the 285-pound Class 1A heavyweight division at Mat Classic XXXI later in February. Weighing in at 260-pounds, Dahlgren’s devastating combination of size and speed propelled him to the top of the podium — along with a little help from his older brother Jack, himself a standout prep wrestler who earned Community College All-American status at Grays Harbor College.
With snowy weather sidelining regional wrestling contests statewide, Jack aided Luke in his preparation for the state meet. And Jack, a two-time state wrestling runner-up, was there to congratulate his brother with a big hug after the title-winning match.
Dahlgren redshirted his freshman football season for Eastern, but still was named an Offensive Player of the Week for the Eagles in November.
Standout soccer
Boys and girls prep soccer teams in Forks, Sequim and Port Angeles captured league titles and garnered state tournament berths along with the Roughriders boys team, while the men’s and women’s squads at Peninsula College each advanced to their respective NWAC title games with the Pirate men winning their fifth-ever NWAC Championship, and the first since 2015.
Longtime Sequim boys soccer head coach Dave Brasher bowed out after 24 years in charge of the Wolves. He departed after overseeing a squad that achieved an unbeaten regular-season, an Olympic League 2A Division title and the program’s fifth-ever state tournament berth.
The best part of the process for the three-time league Coach of the Year came somewhat unexpectedly, in between matches.
“You have a million things going in your life, things are tough, you’ve got to go to a practice [and] it’s pouring rain,” Brasher said. “Once you get there start kicking the ball around with the kids … it’s so fun to see smiles on their faces, see the excitement of playing good soccer. You forget all the difficulties you’re going through. For those few hours of the day, it’s gone.
“That’s probably what I’ll miss the most.”
Brasher was an institution for Sequim soccer: 215 wins (compared to 163 losses, with 30 ties), 15 postseason appearances, two district titles and five state tourney berths.
Basketball booming
Six North Olympic Peninsula prep basketball teams won league titles in 2019: the Forks, Neah Bay and Port Angeles boys teams and the Port Angeles, Neah Bay and Chimacum girls squads.
As 2020 dawns, the Roughriders and Wolves appear on a collision course for the Olympic League girls title this season, while Neah Bay should make its reservations for Spokane and the 1B girls state tournament in late February.
Prep Game of the Year
Sequim’s 28-0 second-half run to comeback and beat the Foster Bulldogs in a loser-out, Class 2A State Regional girls basketball game.
Foster wasn’t a world-beater heading into the game, but the Bulldogs were looking good up 44-27 against the Wolves in the third quarter.
Sequim’s switch to a 2-3 zone defense, ice-cold shooting by Foster and Hope Glasser’s 11 third-quarter points got the Wolves within 11, entering the fourth.
Everybody contributed in the final frame — graduated guard Bobbi Sparks was a lock-down defender and scored a huge basket inside late to put Sequim on top for good with 2:40 to play.
Baskets by Jessica Dietzman, Kallie Wiker, Melissa Porter and scores and rebounds by Jayla Julmist down low sealed the deal as Sequim advanced to the state tournament — where they came close to knocking off Port Angeles.
Virtually the entire Wolves roster returns this year, so more postseason magic may be in store for the Sequim faithful.
Honorable Mention: Port Angeles boys basketball knocking off No. 1 North Kitsap after absorbing a 28-0 Vikings’ run and trailing by 20 at halftime. And Port Townsend beating Chimacum with a desperation halfback touchdown pass on the final play of the football version of the Quimper Quarrel.
Most spectacular
The Ynot racing team of navigator Jamie Johnson and driver Dave Brown were involved in a dramatic crash where the boat flew off the course while attempting to make a final turn into the spin-out pool, instead clearing a 15-feet high perimeter safety fence and hay bales set up to slow down a runaway boat before ending up in a stand of trees during September’s sprint boat racing finale at Extreme Sports Park in Port Angeles.
The duo were able to walk away from the crash unharmed, but the boat suffered structural damage.
Best event State BMX
For the second straight year the Lincoln Park BMX Track had the honor of hosting the Washington State BMX Championship.
Chimacum’s Chase Schweitzer was one of many area racers to earn a state plate — just three months after he began to ride.
Schweitzer traveled to Port Angeles for practices and races twice a week during the summer, picked up 15 race wins as he moved from the novice to intermediate level and earned a second-place finish in the 15-year old division at the state championship.
Thousands of riders, parents and spectators came to the North Olympic Peninsula for the event in August, swelling hotel rooms and pumping tourism dollars into the area economy.
Racing will begin again at Lincoln Park in April
For more information, visit facebook.com/LincolnParkBMX.
