Olympic Peninsula News Group

SEQUIM — Sequim senior Sarah Shea has signed a letter of intent to play golf and attend Western Washington University, where she plans to tee it up alongside brother Jack for the NCAA Division II Vikings.

Shea, who will look to qualify for her third consecutive state tournament appearance during the spring golf season, said she picked Western for a number of reasons.

“I really wanted to stay close to home and get a good education,” she said.

Shea’s older brother Jack, a two-time Olympic League MVP and two-time Peninsula Daily News All-Peninsula MVP is a sophomore on the Western Washington men’s golf team.

“He gave me a hand on what the campus is like and the teams are like,” Sarah Shea said. “That was my first choice, for sure.”

Shea took second at districts behind teammate Alex McMenamin and finished 22nd at last year’s state 2A tournament. Combined with McMenamin’s sixth-place state finish, the Wolves took fifth as a team.

Shea was named to the all-Olympic League first team in 2015 and 2016.

She placed 15th at state as a sophomore in 2016 — the Wolves finished fourth as a team, a school-best — and was a district tourney qualifier as a freshman in 2015.

Shea will be Sequim’s top returning player in the spring after playing behind McMenamin, a four-time state qualifier. The SHS senior said she hopes to improve on her finish from last year and will miss having someone like McMenamin push her in practice and league matches.

“We’re really going to miss Alex on the team,” she said. “I’m really competitive — I like the back-and-forth — [so] it’s going to be an adjustment.”

Shea plans to major in business and minor in communications at Western Washington.