McMullin takes third in triple jump at state meet

Superheroes wear purple and gold, didn’t you know?

A day before his biggest test of the 2013 track and field season, Jayson Brocklesby received a cape for his birthday. The following day, sporting a Superman shirt and a grin no kryptonite could wipe away, the Sequim High senior celebrated his first state championship, edging a trio of foes for the class 2A high jump crown.

“Basketball helped me a lot,” said Brocklesby, who took fourth in the high jump last season as a junior.

“(Before a jump), I think I’m dunking on somebody,” he said, moments after clinching the title. “That seems to work.”

Brocklesby led a pack of 14 Wolves to the state meet, earning top honors in the high jump and fifth in the 400-meter sprint.

Teammate Jasmine McMullin, the school record-holder in the triple jump, took third in that event in her first state meet, then just missed the medal stand in the long jump, placing ninth.

Sequim senior Lopaka Yasumura was 10th in the shot put while junior Sarah Hutchison was 13th overall in the pole vault.

Sequim coach Brad Moore said Hutchison has a good shot at breaking Samantha Whiteside’s school record of 11 feet, set in 2009 and duplicated in 2010.

Hutchison topped 10 feet this season and, as Moore pointed out, was using a shorter pole (11 feet) than Whiteside did (12-6) when the latter broke the school mark.

At state Hutchison cleared 9 feet but couldn’t repeat her 10-foot effort she set in April. “She looked really good in warmups but just kept going under and under (the bar),” Moore said.

Despite strong times, Sequim’s relay teams didn’t make it out of preliminary races, with Sequim’s boys’ 4×400 relay team taking 14th, the boys’ 4×100 team 15th and the girls’ 4×400 relay in 16th.

Sequim freshman Audrey Shingleton set a personal best in the 800-meter run, placing 15th.

Brocklesby showed some strategy in his high jump win, opting to jump at 6-3 and 6-5 while the rest of the lead pack ­— Lakewood’s Justin Peterson, Jaysen Yoro of Orting and North Kitsap’s Taylor Stephens — skipped the 6-3 mark and cleared 6 feet, 4 inches.

Brocklesby, who broke his own school record with a 6-6 leap on May 11, missed his first two tries at 6-5 but cleared it on the third try. When Peterson, Stephens and Yoro each missed 6-6 in succession, Brocklesby had his title.

“It was the right strategy,” Moore said. “(Brocklesby) is a great leader for our team.”

Sequim’s boys placed in a tie with Orting for 16th place, while Sequim’s girls tied with three teams for 28th.