JOYCE — Crescent dominated the North Olympic League boys and girls track and field championships at Crescent High School.
The Loggers overwhelmingly controlled the boys events with strength and depth in the field, distance and hurdles events while the Clallam Bay Bruins swept first place in the sprint events.
Crescent won with 90 points, followed by Clallam Bay with 51 and Neah Bay with 28.
Crescent’s boys captured second at 1B state last year and seem to be gearing up for another run at the state title.
The Loggers also dominated the girls side with the Red Devils making inroads in sprints and the Bruins taking two individual events and one relay.
Crescent had 79.5 points to Neah Bay’s 45 and Clallam Bay’s 27.5.
This league meet was different than past championship meets because for the first time it was a qualifier for bi-districts, which is set for Friday at Stanwood High School.
The top five in each event advanced to Stanwood.
“What a nice track meet,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.
“Perhaps a little nerve-wracking with so much on the line [this year]. So, while trying to score points and secure a team title, we also were attempting to advance our athletes to the next level.
“And while that sounds simple enough, we have a very talented league. That made for some great battles throughout the day, and that pressure can result in fouls and other technique problems that only amplifies as the meet progresses.”
It was big Josh Sowder leading the way yet again for Crescent with a big blast of the shot at 44 feet, 9 inches, which equals the best mark in the quad-district state qualifying bracket.
Sowder led a sweep in shot with Gene Peppard second and Quenton Wolfer third.
Peppard wasn’t far behind with 42-03.
Sowder also won discus with a 118-footer, but it was the one that got away that perhaps gives the best indication of his strength and potential ahead.
The senior popped off a huge 137-06 throw just out bounds.
That would destroy a decades-old Crescent school record.
And with teammates Peppard going almost as big in the shot and Wolfer grabbing a third in discus, the throwing points began to pile up for the Loggers.
And that was before the javelin results were in with the predictable Crescent outburst in that specialty.
Wolfer led a 1-2-3 javelin sweep with a throw of 145 feet.
Travis Walker, new to the event, grabbed runner-up honors with a 139-footer while sailing teammate Derrick Findley took third.
Findley would win the triple jump with a 40-footer, while high-flying teammate Donovan Christie sailed over 5-10 in the high jump with ease to win that event.
The Loggers swept the high jump with Wolfer and Walker taking second and third, respectively.
Over on the track, meanwhile, the Crescent hurdlers attempted to stay with the amazing speed of Clallam Bay’s elite sprinter Justin Welever.
Crescent performed well with Quinn’Tinn March flying to a personal-record 17.80 seconds to win the 110 hurdles, and then Crescent teammate Christie ripping to a huge 45.5 win in the 300 hurdles to lead a 1-2 sweep with March second.
Welever did his thing of sweeping the 100 and 200 sprints as well as anchoring the winning 4×100 relay team.
Welever had an anchor duel with Findley as Welever came back from two meters down to win by two meters).
Jesse Wonderly helped the Bruins to a sweep in the three sprint events by winning the 400 in 55.86.
Crescent super-sophomore Martin Waldrip, meanwhile, captured the distance trifecta of the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter races to help the Loggers win the league title.
The Bruins won the 4×100 relay with Wonderly, Welever, Calvin Ritter and Casey Randall and the 4×400 relay with Welever, Wonderly, Sam Signor and Philip Tejano.
Neah Bay’s lone boys win came from Elisha Winck, who claimed the long jump with a distance of 18-04.50.
Girls track
The Crescent girls team used a more balanced approach in winning yet another league track title.
That’s six league victories in a row for both Crescent’s boys and girls teams.
The Logger girls won with sprint strength, relay and hurdling speed and jumping and throwing dynamics.
The Logger 4×200 team ran away with a 2:00.62 win with Jandi Frantz, Nycole McNaughton, Ryan Lester and Kellie Belford while the 4×100 team of Lester, Belford, Frantz and Devanie Christie raced to a great 55.5 win.
The Loggers just had too much raw speed for the opposition with McNaughton winning the 100 and Belford the 200 in a great stretch duel with teammate Lester (Belford winning by 0.01), and Christie leading a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 hurdles with Belford grabbing second in the 300 hurdles.
Crescent also won four field events with Christie taking the triple jump with a great 31-footer and the javelin with a toss over 102 feet, Hannah Hendrickson winning the high jump with a lifetime PR 4-05, and Meagan Shamp taking the discus with a lifetime PR 93-footer.
Neah Bay’s Faye Chartraw won a showdown with Crescent’s Shannon Williams in the shot, winning 32-02 to 31-10.
Chartraw was second to Shamp in discus.
The Red Devils swept the middle and long distances with Inanna McCarty taking the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, and Summer Hamman winning the 400.
Clallam Bay’s Molly McCoy was a double winner, claiming the 300 hurdles in 52.15 and long jump with 14-01.
The Bruins also won the 4×400 relay with McCoy, Jeddie Herndon, Inga Erickson and Chelsey Ritter.
Yount said he was happy with the way the Loggers performed.
“We’re getting there as a team,” he said. “We’re almost where I want us to be.
“Our kids are beginning to sense what is out there on the horizon and are starting to narrow their focus.
“Good to see that competitiveness and desire beginning to come out, I believe, at just the right moment.”
Nisqually League championships
KIRKLAND — Chimacum earned two individual titles and a relay championship at the league meet, held at Juanita High School.
Daryl Settlemire captured first in discus with a throw of 155 feet, 8 inches, winning by 12 feet.
On the girls side, freshman Bailey Castillo claimed the javelin title with a toss of 113-11.
Settlemire also was fourth in javelin (118-11) and fifth in shot put (37-05.5).
The Chimacum girls 4×100 relay won with Sam Cerna, Hailee Johnson, Alyssa Hamilton and Castillo in a time of 54.50 seconds.
The same four sprinters also took third in the 4×200 relay in 1:54.84.
Cerna also was second in the 100 (13.85) and fourth in the 200 while Johnson took third in the 200 (28.72).
Also on the girls side, freshman Katherine Carstensen took fourth in shot.
On the boys side, Melvin Thorton took second in the 100 and second in long jump while Paul Pagasian claimed third in long jump, and Trevon Noel was fourth in the shot.
In addition, the boys 4×100 relay took third in 48.84 with Noel, Thorton, Trevor Hare and Eion Hartnett.
The Chimacum boys took fourth with 61 points while the girls were fifth with 49.5.
Smith wins big
at Forks meet
FORKS — Tristina Smith was a triple winner at the three-way SWL-Evergreen meet with Hoquiam and Rainier at Forks High School.
Smith won the javelin with a throw of 99 feet, 10 inches; the high jump with a 4-06; and the long jump with a personal record 13-04.5.
Distance runner Kari Larson had a career day, setting personal records and winning the 800- and 1,600-meter runs.
She ran the 800 in 2:31.62, and the 1,600 in 5:46.
Sydney Christensen won the discus with a personal-record 106-10, and took second in the shot put.
Erin Weekes was Forks’ other winner, taking the triple jump with a 29-06, also a personal record.
“They are all right on track for the league meet next Friday in Elma,” Spartans coach Pam Gale said.
The Forks boys also had a good showing, with Hugo Lucas winning both the 1,600 and 3,200, and setting personal records in both events.
Dean Annis set personal records in the 100 and 200, winning the 100 with a time of 11.46 seconds, and finishing second in the 200 with a time of 24.24 seconds.
Aaron Krume took first in the 800 with a personal-record time of 2:16.21, and Nate Pennington won the 400.
Krume and Pennington also ran with the first-place 4×400 relay team, along with Leo Gonzales and Alberto Carlos Parker.
Ryan Bingham won the 300-meter hurdles with a personal-record time of 46.27.
Shane WhiteEagle took second in the shot put with a throw of 43-07.
Gale said he will not be running in the 100 or 200 at the SWL-Evergreen Division meet, due to the knee injury he suffered during a football camp last June.
“He is one of the best runners in the state, and one of the finest athletes I have ever had the privilege to be around,” Gale said.
“I do know that he will do great in the shot and discus on his road to state.”
Andrew Armas placed third in the long jump, but set a record with a jump of 17-06.5.