SPORTS: Area track athletes excel at state

While Sequim’s Jayson Brocklesby had the best individual performance, the Crescent boys had the top team effort from the North Olympic Peninsula at the 2013 state high school track and field championships, held around the state this holiday weekend.

Brocklesby, a senior standout all-around athlete, collected the only state championship for the Peninsula when he won the 2A high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 5 inches, just an inch away from his personal best, a school record 6-6.

He also captured fifth place in the 400 meters to cap an outstanding way to end his prep career.

“Jayson really performed well,” Sequim head track and field coach Brad Moore said at the end of the meet Saturday afternoon.

“I’m really pleased with how he competed and hung in there.”

Brocklesby was behind four other jumpers because of more misses going into the 6-5 height, but he was the only one to make the 6-5 mark to win the title outright.

The 2A competition was held at Mount Tahoma Stadium at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma along with the 4A and 3A classifications from Thursday through Saturday.

In other top 2A area performances, Sequim’s Jasmine McMullin claimed third place in triple jump with a distance of 35-07.25, and she took ninth in long jump, while Port Angeles junior Jolene Millsap captured seventh place in the 100-meter dash in 13.08 seconds.

The only other area athlete to finish in the top 10 was Sequim senior Lopaka Yasumura, who was 10th in shot put at 46-06.25.

Team-wise, though, it was the Loggers who impressed in the 1B boys meet at Roos Field on the Eastern Washington University campus in Cheney on Friday and Saturday.

The 1A and 1B competition was held at the same site.

The Loggers challenged for the 1B boys title as expected, missing second place by half a point.

Wellpinit won the state championship with 62 points, followed by Republic with 44.5 and Crescent with 44.

The Crescent girls finish 10th with 26 points.

“Wellpinit was just too much for us to handle on the weekend,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.

“Really, it was just too much team speed to contend with. With Welpinit taking the 100 and both relays, and a second in the 200, we just had no answer for that.

“We didn’t have the numbers to move into the 60s.

“But I was proud of our kids for really dialing in their performances over the weekend. We came in shooting for the middle 40s, knowing that would be enough to put us into the title chase.

“So, we gave it a whirl.”

The Loggers finished a half-point out of matching what they did last year when they claimed second place.

“The kids competed hard,” Yount said.

It was the always powerful Crescent throwers fueling the attack one more time for the Loggers.

First, it was big Josh Sowder, who struggled for most of the discus competition in the 45-degree weather, but who managed to fly one out to 121 feet to grab third place and the all-important six team points which accompanied it.

Next, Derrick Findley came through in the javelin, pounding out two monster throws, one at 156 feet to temporary move into second place, and then a 157-foot blast to secure the third-place medal and another big six points.

So day one concluded with the Loggers, from the westside of the state, with 12 points and right on their predicted schedule to move into the 40s and a shot at the trophies for the weekend.

Saturday brought warmer weather and eventual sunshine as Sowder and Gene Peppard took center stage in the shot put.

Sowder pounded out to 43-06 with the big ball to finish second place to fellow Quad-District member Deon Haskins of Lummi, who blasted 44-06 for the win.

Peppard popped out to 42-2 for third place and his part of a 14-point outburst for the team.

“Josh Sowder had himself a great meet,” Yount said.

“A second and a third. Fourteen big team points. If you ask him if he’s happy with that, he just smiles, and somehow, he just can’t quite get the medals off from around his neck.”

Holding up their end of the bargain, the throwers, with their 26 points, turned the meet and their eventual fate over to the talented Logger jumpers.

And not to disappoint, senior veteran Donovan Christie flew over the bar to a life-time personal record 6-02 in high jump to grab second place and the big eight team points to go along with Findley’s 19-08.5 pop in the long jump, which was good for fourth place and another five points.

And now it was up to super sophomore Martin Waldrip in the 3,200 to conclude the scoring and put the Loggers in a position on the trophy stand.

Waldrip came through by running a competitive race to finish fourth in a very fast crowd and earn five more team points.

Girls finis in top 10

“On the girls side, I thought we handled it very well,” Yount said.

“Top-10 team finish. We kind of thought we might finish a bit higher, but with five or six teams all traffic-jammed in the 24-35 point area, it was a battle.”

The Crescent 4×200 relay had a strong fourth-place showing.

“Always nice to get into the medals for the relays,” Yount said.

“Ryan Lester and Kellie Belford absolutely flew, and with teammates, Devanie Christie and Jandi Frantz — who were kind of flying themselves — we ran a season PR and into the medals.”

“Christie and Lester teamed two more times on the day, perhaps none more exciting than the 100 hurdles.

The two co-school record holders hooked up one more time, this time Christie getting the best of it as she raced into the medals (fourth place) to just nip Lester in fifth.

And then one more time in the 4×100 relay as they teamed with Belford and Frantz to run a competitive sixth place.

Christie, however, wasn’t quite finished yet.

With the top throw coming into the javelin final, the junior thrower struggled a bit after literally racing straight from the 4×100 relay to the javelin venue with the help of a golf cart and still managed a nice pop at 106 feet to secure third place.

So with her javelin (six points), hurdles (five points) and share of two relays (1.75 points) she was the second-leading Logger scorer with 12.75 points, just behind Sowder’s 14.

Two more Crescent throwers put the finishing touches of the point total on the board, first sophomore Shannon Williams in the shot put (eighth place) and finally with junior Meghan Shamp, who twirled the disc out to 95 feet and fifth place.

“Shamp threw well,” Yount said.

“Not really what she wanted as she had been pounding out to 105-110 all week in practice sessions.

“But the state stage is different. One throw at a time. No linking throws. Take a throw, sit it down.

“That and the crowd can make for some nerves. But she throws within three feet of her PR. And that’s rock-solid stuff.

“She’ll come back next season and be considered one of the favorites.”

Overall, the Loggers concluded a successful year, Yount said.

“Well, I always get a little philosophical when all is done,” he said.

“Our guys really had themselves a nice run through the season. League championship, Crescent invite champions, Bi-District champions and Quad-District champions.

“We kind of won all there was to win. And finishing third in state is worthy of some good feelings.

“And our girls were very impressive this season. League champs, second at the big Crescent invite, second at Bi-Districts, second at Quads and then 10th at state.”

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