JOYCE — The Crescent track and field team flexed its collective muscle as the boys won the team title and the girls claimed second at the nine-team Crescent Invitational.
The meet showcased some of the fastest 1B sprinters in the state as the top 100-meter boys time of the year was recorded at Crescent High School.
The invitational featured the three Clallam County 1B North Olympic League teams of Crescent, Clallam Bay and Neah Bay as well as 1A track powerhouse Cedar Park Christian of Bothell, Christian Faith of Seattle, and area 1A schools Forks and Port Townsend.
In addition, 2A Port Angeles had a small contingent at the meet, and the Cedar Park Christian-Mountlake Terrace campus also had a team.
The Loggers easily won the boys meet with 174 points while Cedar Park Christian claimed second with 111 and Forks took third with 80.
Cedar Park Christian dominated the girls meet with 159 while Crescent was runner-up with 128 and the Redskins took third with 123.
The Crescent boys, meanwhile, were dominant in most of the field events.
“What a great meet,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.
“I was pleased with our athletes, as they really turned it up a notch. Our throwers and jumpers have been working hard all season, so seeing them come together a little bit with some very solid performances offers us a glimmer of where we may be heading.”
No question that the highlight of the meet was the boys 100 meters, where spectators were treated to some of the best 1B times in state.
Ultra-fast Justin Welever of Clallam Bay, already the state’s premier sprinter in Class 1B, ripped off a life-time and state-leading time of 11.73 to win.
He would return later in the meet for an even more dominant win in the 200, leading an North Olympic League sweep of the top-two places with Crescent’s Eric Larson second.
Welever had a winning time of 24.28 while holding his No. 3 state ranking in that race. Larson’s runner-up time was 25.42.
And as would be appropriate with this flexing of North Olympic League speed, the Crescent boys 4×100 relay (48.86) would lead a 1-2-3 NOL sweep with Clallam Bay (49.70) and Neah Bay (52.0) taking second and third, respectively.
The Crescent foursome included Beau Bamer, Larson, Derrick Findley and Travis Walker while running for the Bruins were Jesse Wonderly, Philip Tejano, Welever and Casey Randall.
Red Devil runners included Elisha Winck, JaRickson Kanichy, Cameron Buzzell and Devin Royster.
In the girls 4×100 race, the very quick Loggers team of Ryan Lester, Kellie Belford, Jandi Frantz and Lynn Grover ran away with a huge win in 56.94.
The Port Townsend girls 4×200 relay team (Jewel Johnson, Renada Walcome, Rowan Hotchkiss and Rebecca Stewart) was the warm-up act as it took that title in the meet’s initial event, easily out-pacing runner-up Crescent 1:57.60 to 1:59.94.
Then it was the Crescent hurdlers turning up the heat as Quinn’Tinn March, fresh off a ‘knee-to-lip’ mishap during a hurdle race in Sequim on Thursday, scorched the track with a personal record 18.01 win of the 110 hurdles.
That opened the flood-gates for his 100-meter hurdles Crescent girls teammates as Devanie Christie dipped under 18 seconds for the first time (17.99) to lead a 1-2 Logger sweep with super frosh Lester (18.20) and Hannah Hendrickson, who took sixth.
“It was great to see the work of our hurdles crew and relay folks paying off in terms of performance,” Yount said.
Crescent also shined in the field events as big Josh Sowder put his 6-foot-4, 265-pound frame into action to help lead Crescent’s 1-2 sweep of all three throwing events.
Sowder had a big 41-0 shot put win over teammate Gene Peppard (38-6), a monster 131-08 state-leading discus blast over Logger-mate Quenton Wolfer (115-7).
Findley also had an outstanding day as he anchored the 4×100 relay was a triple winner in individual events.
He had a 149-2 blast to win javelin over Wolfer (146-2), then a big 18-04 long jump win and 1-2-3 Logger point outburst with Donovan Christie (17-7.5) and Larson (17-4.5) going two and three.
Findley also won the triple jump title with his first 40-footer of the season (40 feet even).
Christie, the state’s No. 2 high jumper, would conclude the field eventers’ big day with a clearance of 6-feet even in his specialty and the win, to go along with his 6-0 earlier clearance in Sequim on Thursday.
Wrapped around all that sprinting, jumping and throwing action was one unsung win for this powerful Logger team as super-sophomore Martin Waldrip quietly went about winning his specialty — the 3,200 — in a great finishing stretch-run duel over Port Townsend’s Ryan Clarke.
Waldrip beat Clarke 10:57.18 to 10:57.28 to climb to the No. 4 time in state.
The Loggers are looking good but Yount cautioned that the team has a long way to go.
“I emphasized to the team that we’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we’re getting closer and I like the direction we’re heading,” Yount said.
“That speaks volumes in terms of their work ethic. And that they can be proud of.”
There were three other area double winners in girls events as Port Townsend’s Jewel Johnson won the 100 (13.12) and 200 (27.56) races, and Stewart took the 100 hurdles (51.19) and triple jump (32-00.5), and Forks’ Sydney Christensen won the shot put (32-05.5) and the discus (101-04).
Area girls winning individual events were Port Townsend’s Peri Muellner in the 3,200 (14:36.73) and Patricia Reeves in high jump (4-10), and Forks’ Tristina Smith in javelin (104-05).
In addition, the Redskins won the 4×400 race in 4:49.61 with Johnson, Hanna Trailer, Muellner and Stewart.
On the boys side, Port Townsend’s Skyler Coppenrath won the 400 in 56.77 while the Forks 4×400 relay team won in 4:01.17 with Leo Gonzales, Austin Pegram, Andrew Armas and Alberto Carlos Parker.
Sequim second
in 3-way meet
SEQUIM — Jayson Brocklesby and Jasmine McMullin were double winners for the Wolves in a three-way Olympic League meet that included 2A state powerhouse North Kitsap.
The Vikings, who have been dominating Olympic League track in recent years, easily won the boys meet with 104 points and the girls competition with 119.5.
Sequim was runner-up in both, with 57 points for the boys and 44.5 for the girls.
Third-place Bremerton had 20 points on the boys side and 25 for the girls.
The defending state champion Viking girls won 10 of the 11 running events, including all three relays.
But the Wolves were able to break through in the field events as McMullin won the long jump with a leap of 14-11 and the triple jump with a 33-08 distance.
Also winning was Sarah Hutchison in pole vault with a height of 8 feet even, and Katelyn Rogers, who won the high jump with a personal-best height of 4-08.
Brocklesby, meanwhile, won the 200 meters in 23.58 seconds and the 400 in 51.99, both season-best marks.
Also winning for Sequim was Lopaka Yasumura in the shot put with a heave of 45-02, and Mikey Cobb, who won the 3,200 run in 10:47.60.
Forks in 4-way league meet
ELMA — Shane WhiteEagle was a double winner at a four-way SWL-Evergreen Division meet with host Elma, Montesano and Rainier.
WhiteEagle, who ran for the first time in a meet this season, also was runner-up in the 100 meters in 11.5 seconds. Elma’s Ray Stark won the event in 11 flat.
WhiteEagle also won shot put with a distance of 43 feet, 10 inches, and he won the discus with a throw of 133-7.
Also winning for the Spartans were Sydney Christensen, Tristina Smith and Erin Weekes in the girls meet.
Christensen won the discus with a throw of 101-3 while Smith tossed the javelin 91-6 for first and Weekes took first in the long jump with a leap of 12-10.