TACOMA — Sequim’s Riley Pyeatt went into this weekend at Mount Tahoma Stadium wanting to make up for lost time.
And boy, did she ever.
Pyeatt had a great freshman year for the Wolves’ track and field team, finishing fifth in the 400-meter run at the 2A state track and field championships.
Then COVID-19 hit, wiping out the entire 2020 track season. The pandemic continued to linger through 2021, canceling all the spring state championships. Pyeatt got a chance to run track in 2021, winning 16 out of 20 races at various distances, but she didn’t get a chance to compete against the state’s best.
This year, she finally got the chance to return to state, three years after she burst on the scene as a freshman. She didn’t disappoint.
Pyeatt finished fourth in the 1,600-meter run and third in the 400, improving her placement from 2019. Then, she finally won a state championship, in the difficult 800-meter run. The 800 is neither a sprint nor a distance race and is hated by a lot of track runners. Pyeatt started off in middle school specializing in the 400, but became more dominant this year in the 800. “It’s growing on me,” she said.
Sequim’s Riley Pyeatt just beats Lynden’s Kiki York over the finish line as the Sequim girls 4x400 team won a gold medal at the state track and field championships Saturday at Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
To finish it off, Pyeatt ran the anchor leg on the Sequim girls 4×400 team, winning her second state championship along with teammates Hi’ilei Robinson, Kaitlyn Bloomenrader and Eve Mavy.
“I still can’t get the smile off my face,” Pyeatt said. “I wish I could go back to that moment.
“This season meant so much to me. I felt I had a lot to make up for those missing years,” she said.
Sequim coach Bradley Moore said that, normally, the Sequim track girls are chatterboxes. He said on the drive back to Sequim from Tacoma, they were nearly silent because they were so tired.
“We were all very exhausted,” Pyeatt agreed.
Pyeatt’s state championship time in the 800 was 2 minutes, 14.23 seconds, a personal best.
“She probably could have run the 800 a little faster. She had a big lead and cruised at the end,” Moore said.
The 4×400 team’s time was 4:03.82, winning over a team from Lynden by a mere .09 seconds.
Moore said it was an exciting finish. The Lynden anchor runner was actually catching up on Pyeatt down the stretch, he said. Then, Pyeatt turned it on.
“Riley has the heart of a lion,” Moore said. “She felt the girl on her and pulled away. She had a gear the other girl didn’t have. I lost my voice during that race.”
Moore said he had been telling the 4×400 girls all season that they were good enough to have a chance to win at state. During the season, as they won race after race, “they started to believe it,” he said. The team managed to break the Sequim 4×400 girls record twice at state, once during the prelims and the second time in the finals.
“At the end of the race, all four girls were down on the ground,” Moore said. “It meant a lot to them. It really did. It was a super awesome way to end their careers.”
Pyeatt will continue to train through the summer and will compete in the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Ore., on June 18, then will move on to run track at Abeline Christian University in Texas.
Other Sequim results
Sequim’s Jolene Vaara was also third in the high jump and Rileagh VanDyken was eighth in the pole vault. Overall, the Sequim girls finished fifth with 38 team points. Tumwater won the girls state championship with 78 points.
Vaara’s high jump was 5 feet, 1 inch, while VanDyken’s pole vault was 8-6.
Sequim’s Mirek Skov finished third in the pole vault with a height of 13-0, a personal best. Adrian Brown also placed in both the 110-meter hurdles and the 300 hurdles. He finished sixth in the 300 (40.43 seconds) and seventh in the 110 (16.17). Andrew Brown was 11th in the high jump (5-8).
The Sequim boys finished 20th at state as a team with 11 points.
Port Angeles
Port Angeles had a pair of athletes who placed. Jack Gladfelter finished fifth in the 1,600 (4:17.98, a personal best) and fifth in the 3,200 (9:20.46, a personal best). Blake Peterson was 15th in the shot put (41-1¾).
Gladfelter broke a 50-year-old Port Angeles record in the 3,200. His time broke Ken Bradford’s 9:24.8 set in 1972.
In the 1,600, Gladfelter’s time was the second fastest time ever run in Port Angeles history. The record of 4:17.78 was set in 2003 by Brett Galloway.
For the girls, Jayde Gedelman was fifth in the javelin (108-8, a personal best). Kennedy Bruch was 12th in the shot put at 32-1½.
The Port Angeles boys finished 26th at state with eight points. The Port Angeles girls were 34th. Sehome won the boys championship with 88 points.
East Jefferson at 1A meet
CHENEY — East Jefferson’s Tusker Behrenfeld placed third in the state in javelin, while teammate Sebastian Manza was fourth in the 3,200 and seventh in the 1,600.
Behrenfeld threw the javelin 163-4. Manza’s time in the 3,200 was 9:52.50 and his time in the 1,600 was 4:30.56.
Behrenfeld also finished 13th in the discus (121-2).
Anson Jones also finished 11th in the shot put (43-10¾).
The East Jefferson girls had three athletes who placed. The highest finish was by Lia Poore in the triple jump, who finished fifth with a distance of 33-11.
Aliyah Yearian finished sixth in the 3,200 (11:35.12) and Ellise Gardner was eighth in the javelin (101-8).
Addy Asbell was 10th in the shot put (32-7½) and Camryn Hines was 14th in the 1,600 (5:32.11).
The East Jefferson boys were 19th at state with 13 points, while the girls were 24th with 11 points. Connell won the boys 1A championship with 59 points, while King’s won the girls championship with 51 points.
Forks at 2B meet
CHENEY — Forks sprinter Ashton Doyle finished third at the 2B championships in the 100-meter dash (11.68) and seventh in the 200 (24.01).
Sloan Tumaua was fourth in the discus (147-8), while Nate Dahlgren was 10th in the shot put (40-1½).
For the Forks girls, Peyton Johnson was 10th in the javelin (93-7).
The Forks boys finished 18th in the state with 13 points. Rainier won the boys championship with 67 points while St. George’s won the girls title with 113 points.
Crescent, Neah Bay at 1B meet
CHENEY — Crescent’s Conner Ferro-May had a solid 1B meet, finishing sixth in the discus (117-1) and eighth in the shot put (39-0½). Teammate Titus White was ninth in the shot put (38-3¾).
The Neah Bay boys 4×100 team of Leonardo Ruiz-Santana, Jaden Halttunen, Devon Halttunen and Mahamadou Traore was seventh (47.75).
Neah Bay’s Ryana Moss placed in the 300-meter hurdles and the 1,600 meters. She finished sixth in the 300 (52.63) and eighth in a time of 5:58.37.
The Neah Bay girls 4×400 team of Danika Perry, Wiinuk Martin, Cerise Moss and Ryana Moss was eighth (4:54.57).
Crescent’s Katelyn Dunavent was 10th in the discus (80-3).
The Crescent boys finished 25th as a team and Neah Bay 28th. Mount Vernon Christian won the state championship with 87 points. The Neah Bay girls finished 25th. Pope John Paul II won the state championship with 73 points.
