Golf competition opens high school state championship week with 2A boys and girls from Port Angeles and Sequim, and 1A boys from Chimacum set to end their seasons on a high note starting today.
Golf action continues through Wednesday, and then 2A track and field takes over Thursday, and 1A and 1B track taking off starting Friday.
Sequim and Quilcene open softball state tournaments Friday, while championship week concludes with a Sequim girls doubles team and a Chimacum/Port Townsend boys doubles team competing in the 2A tennis tournament Friday and Saturday.
Golf will be long completed but all other sports conclude championship play Saturday in venues around the state Memorial Day weekend.
This will be the first time in at least five years that no North Olympic League baseball teams will be competing in Final Four action.
Defending 1A state champion Chimacum, placing in state for at least five straight years, will stay home after being shocked 1-0 by Kalama in the regional championship game last Saturday.
In addition, the Quilcene baseball team was knocked out of the 1B state tournament when it lost 10-2 to Oakville in first-round state action last Saturday at West Valley High School in Yakima.
State Golf
2A and 1A
All eyes will be on golf, though, today and Wednesday as Port Angeles sends three boys and two girls to 2A tourneys, Sequim will feature three girls and two boys at 2A, and Chimacum sends three boys to 1A competition.
The three Roughrider boys are aiming for a state team title at The Classic Golf Course in Spanaway.
Port Angeles coach Mark Mitrovich said in a story in Sunday’s editions that he is taking to state the strongest team he has coached in his 26 years at the school.
The Riders are undefeated in medalist honors as either Jordan Negus, Joe Barnes or Garrett Payton have won every single Olympic League, sub-district and district meet they have competed in.
Sequim will counter with state-caliber ace Ryan O’Mera, who has been one of the better golfers in Washington during his prep career.
Casey Torres also will play for the Wolves.
Today’s opening tee times for the 2A boys are 10:24 a.m. for Payton, 10:51 a.m. for O’Mera, 11:09 a.m. for Barnes, 12:21 p.m. for Negus and 12:48 p.m. for Torres.
In 2A girls action, Dana Fox and Sydney Rauch will represent Port Angeles while Hailey Estes, Maddy Fisher and Elisa Sallee will play for Sequim at Lake Spanaway Golf Course in Spanaway.
Tee times for the girls are 8:42 a.m. for Fox, 9:18 a.m. for Estes, 9:45 a.m. for Fisher, 10:03 a.m. for Rauch and 10:39 a.m. for Sallee.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, hope to make some noise at 1A boys with Kevin Miller, Riley Downs and Nathan Browning at The Home Course in DuPont starting today.
Tee times are 8:24 a.m. for Miller, 9:09 a.m. for Downs and 10:03 a.m. for Browning.
The top 40 in each event make the cut for Wednesday’s state final.
State Softball
2A and 1B
Sequim and Quilcene will represent the Peninsula in state softball tournaments.
The Wolves, the defending state 2A champions, will open play Friday against West Valley of Spokane in the first round at the Carlon Park Complex in Selah, at noon.
West Valley went 2-2 at state last year and did not place.
The Sequim-West Valley winner will play the winner between Aberdeen and Mount Baker in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Friday.
Aberdeen went 1-3 at state last year while Mount Baker was last at state in 2004, where it captured third place.
The state title game is set for Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Quilcene Rangers, meanwhile, will take on Almira Coulee Hartline in the first round Friday at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima starting at 1 p.m.
Quilcene went two-and-out at state last year while Almira captured second last season.
Friday’s winner will play the winner between Touchet and Selkirk in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday.
Selkirk went 2-2 and claimed fourth place last year, beating the Rangers 16-5 in the first round, while Touchet was last at state in 2010 when it took second place.
The 1B state title game is Saturday at 4 p.m.
State Tennis
2A competition
Sequim and Chimacum/Port Townsend will feature girls and boys doubles teams, respectively, at the 2A state tourney, set for Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle on Friday and Saturday.
Stacy Hanson and Katrina Chan of Sequim, the Olympic League and West Central District champions, will take on Othello’s Jocelyn Cantu and Yanitta Cantu in the first round.
In boys action, Egan Cornachione and Benny Ryweck of Chimacum/Port Townsend will play Joseph Chung and Jamie Simanson of Pullman in the first round.
Competition starts at 8 a.m. on both days.