And now we take a deep breath.

Another prep season done. Another marathon done.

A prep season that tried and largely succeeded to return to normal.

There were quite a few bumps along the way early in the fall with COVID-19 cancellations. Schools tried to be careful and most of the games got made up eventually, and we all got through it.

A great story this spring — a team made up almost exclusively of sophomores, freshmen and eighth-graders, the Forks softball team, finishing the season on a 17-2 run and finishing third at the state tournament. They accomplished that with a pair of eighth-graders, Chloe Gaydeski and Grace Gooding, as their main pitchers.

I can’t wait to see what 13-year-old Leia Larson does for the Port Angeles High School cross-country team. This year, she won the Elwha Bridge women’s 5K, the Rhody Run 5K, the Sequim Railroad 5K and the North Olympic Discovery Marathon 5K.

But the best part of this season was seeing some of the seniors, especially the seniors who specialize in spring sports, get a chance to play in district and state playoffs.

Senior Logan Olson, who has been an absolute mainstay for Forks sports for four years, making all-league in football, basketball and baseball more times than I can keep track, finally got a chance to help lead a Spartans baseball team deep into the postseason and went toe-to-toe on the mound in the state tournament against a Toutle Lake kid who will be pitching for the University of Oregon.

Another Forks senior, Hayden Queen, got a chance to win a state wrestling championship after being denied the opportunity to wrestle at the Mat Classic in 2020 and 2021.

And most of all, Sequim’s Riley Pyeatt, one of the most talented track athletes I’ve ever seen, finally got a chance to win at the state track and field championships, winning an individual event and a relay event after being denied the chance in 2020 and 2021.

These were the stories that caught my attention the most this year. Kids being denied by circumstances out of their control getting a chance to make up for what was lost.

And a lot was lost during the pandemic. One entire spring season, another entire year of state tournaments.

Not to mention the sense of normalcy. Or lives.

Never again will I take a flu shot for granted. Never again will I come to work sneezing or coughing with “just a head cold.” Never again will I allow someone to drink out of my glass or touch my food with their utensils. (A couple of behaviors I always found incredibly rude, anyway). I may never shake anyone’s hand again, honestly. The pandemic changed our thoughts and attitudes about health and personal space.

We always look forward to early June in this business. It’s a time to take a deep breath. There will still be local sports in the paper during the summer with Lefties and Wilder and special events. It seems like things never totally slow down until August and then we go right into prep previews.

It’s a time to assess what we can improve on, what we could try differently. We’re hoping for a bigger sports section and perhaps more color next fall as we inch closer to normalcy. Stay tuned.

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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.