A basketball season unparalleled in program history, a devastating loss to a wrestling program on the rise and a slew of prep athletes earning spots on the state stage made for a busy year in Sequim-area athletics.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the newsmakers in Sequim sports in 2023:

Winter

The Sequim girls basketball team had a season for the ages, compiling their first undefeated (14-0) league record, a 23-4 overall and a program-best fourth place finish at the Class 2A state tournament in Yakima in March. The season included a pair of wins against Port Angeles — the first, a 40-36 win in PA that was Sequim’s first victory in the Roughrider gym in nearly three decades.

Sequim High’s boys snapped a six-year losing streak to the rival Port Angles Roughriders with a 60-57 at home that sent fans storming onto the court. SHS, led by all-league first-teamer Isaiah Moore, went 11-11 overall and earned a win at districts.

Sequim High School’s wrestling program suffered a devastating loss when their varsity head coach, Charles (“Chad”) Cate, died unexpectedly mid-season while on duty with Clallam County Fire District 3. Under interim head coach Steve Chinn, SHS grapplers persevered throughout the season and postseason. Sequim High juniors Cayden Beauregard and Ari Skov qualified for the MatClassic state prep finals, with Beauregard placing seventh at 106 pounds after winning three of his five matches — each by pin.

SHS junior Colby Ellefson competed with Port Angeles’ swim team in 2022-23 and raced to a pair of top-10 finishes at the class 2A state meet, taking eighth in the 500 free and 10th in the 200 free. The Wolves, on Ellefson’s finishes alone, took 25th overall.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Former NCAA wrestling champ Gene Mills offers instruction at a multi-day camp at Sequim Middle School on July 6. Campers wore T-shirts that honored former SHS wrestling coach Chad Cate, who passed away earlier in the year.

Sequim High gymnast stars shone brightly in the 2022-23 season, as Susannah Sharp, Kori Miller and Lucy Spelker each qualified for the state 1A/2A/3A meet. Sharp’s top finish was on the vault (33rd), while Miller’s was on the bars (52nd) and Spelker on the vault (88th).

SHS’s Morgan Kayser and Nikoline Updike bowled their way to the state tournament, and fittingly tied with each other for 37th place overall at the prep final.

Peninsula College’s women’s basketball team had a big season, going 22-5 and winning the North Region before falling to eventual champ Lane in the NWAC semifinals. Former Port Angles High star Millie Long led the way in her final season before heading to Cal Poly-Humbolt, and the Pirates later reloaded with several key prospects for 2023-24 — including SHS stars Jelissa Julmist and Hannah Bates.

The Peninsula men’s basketball team won the North Region and finished with a 25-4 record, falling in the first round of the NWAC tournament.

Spring

Sequim High School’s track and field squad earned six district titles and 14 state berths. The Wolves went on to earn six medals at the state 2A meet: Jolene Vaara took second in the long jump and tied for second in the high jump, Mirek Skov placed second in the pole vault, Ivy Barrett raced to a second place in the 400-meter race, Andrew Brown took seventh in the high jump, and the SHS girls’ 4×200 relay (Barrett, Vaara, Kaitlyn Bloomenrader and Katie Morris) took sixth.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim High senior Mirek Skov clears an early height on his way to a second place finish at the Class 2A state track and field championships in Tacoma in May.

SHS tennis stars Garrett Little and Kendall Hastings posted top-three finishes at their respective class 2A state tournaments. Little, the West Central District champ — who later in the year would finish his prep career undefeated in league matches — swept through to the finals before falling to Zach Chai of Sehome and placed second. Hastings placed third overall after going 3-1 in her matches, falling only in the semifinals.

Led by seniors Cole Smithson and Zack Thompson, Sequim High’s boys golf team placed 10th at the state 2A tournament in Spokane. Smithson placed 39th overall while Thompson was 43rd. Teammate Carter Cronin was 73rd overall. SHS’s Jelissa Julmist was 78th at the state girls’ 2A tourney.

SHS’s fastpitch team had a strong season but fell just short of a class 2A state berth. The Wolves (11-8) scored 35 runs in two loser-out contests against Lindbergh and White River, but in a winner-to-state-loser-out game fell to Enumclaw, 8-2. Five players — pitcher Lainy Vig, infielders Hannah Bates and Taylee Rome, outfielder Mia Pozernick and utility player Lexi King — were named to the all-Olympic League first team, and Mikki Green was picked for the second team.

Toppy Robideau and Zeke Schmadeke, who helped fuel Sequim High baseball team’s push for the postseason, were named to the all-Olympic League second team.

Robideau, a pitcher, led the team in appearances, innings pitched and strikeouts. Schmadeke, named to the all-league team as a utility player, led Sequim in hits, batting average and stolen bases. The Wolves went 11-10 overall and won five of their final six games to earn a postseason berth.

SHS’s boys soccer team (4-10) saw a trio of players named to the all-Olympic League first team: defenders Colin Feik and Nova Barrett, and goalkeeper Nolan Valenzuela. The three helped Sequim record two shutouts, a three-game win streak and beat Port Angeles at home during a 4-10 campaign.

The Sequim Equestrian Team came home from the state finals with some hardware, earning five top-10 finishes. The top team placing was Sequim’s Team Canadian Flags, with Kennedy Gilbertson, Sydney Hutton, Paige Reed and Libby Swanberg combining to place fifth overall. Reed had the top individual finish, taking fourth in steer daubing. Swanberg placed sixth in breakaway roping and teammate Katelynn Sharpe was sixth in saddleseat equitation.

Late spring/summer

Sequim High grad Paul Woolpert was inducted into the Peninsula College Hall of Fame on June 3. Woolpert worked in the National Basketball Association before coaching four Continental Basketball Association teams to titles and earning three CBA Coach of the Year awards.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim Greywolves’ Joel Hecht, center, bumps fists with a Victoria Raiders player after their clubs’ first friendly softball match-up on July 8 at Carrie Blake Community Park.

The 21st Olympic Discovery Marathon saw warm weather and another big turnout for a weekend of road racing. Full marathon winners were Derek Binnersly of Victoria, B.C., and Sara King of Shoreline. Half-marathon winners were Bainbridge Island’s Keith Laverty — a former NODM full marathon and 10k winner — and Heidi Roberts of Selah.

Sequim High graduates Sean O’Mera and Adam Columbia qualified for the three-day The Washington State Amateur, the premier amateur golf tournament in the state, held in Walla Walla on June 27. Columbia, now of Lakewood, tied for 63rd place with his best showing a 1-over-par in the second day. O’Mera, a Sequim teacher, missed the final cut after rounds of 80 and 81.

Mirek Skov, a 2023 Sequim High grad fresh off his second place finish at the 2A state meet, placed fourth in the Emerging Elite division of the Nike Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., in mid-June. His vault of 13 feet, 6.5 inches beat out 35 other competitors from as far away as Texas and Arkansas. Clare Turella of Sequim also competed at the Nike national meet, finishing tied for 10th in the girls’ Emerging Elite division in the high jump with a mark of 4-10.5.

From July 5-8, Sequim hosted its third Pin 2 Win wrestling camp featuring Gene Mills, a former two-time NCAA champ who amassed 1,356 wins — 886 by fall — over his long career. About 65 grapplers, boys and girls, turned out to learn lessons from the wrestling legend. Camp T-shirts included a logo and lettering honoring Chad Cate, the Sequim High wrestling coach who died earlier in the year.

Senior softball “rivals” from Victoria B.C. joined their Sequim counterparts for a home-and-away series in the summer, starting with games held July 8-9 at Carrie Blake Community Park.

The Cedars at Dungeness in Sequim hosted the Washington Junior Golf Association’s annual WJGA Cup on July 25 and 26, drawing about 190 players from across the state in ages ranging from 8-17.

In August, Peninsula College picked former Pirate Bryce Jacobson — member of the 2010-2011 NWAC title-winning squad — to succeed head coach Donald Rollman who left earlier in the summer after five seasons to take an assistant coaching job at Seattle Pacific.

Fall

Led by its all-time leading scorer, Sequim High’s girls soccer squad earned a state 2A tournament berth and finished the season 13-5. (Their state tourney loss came at the hands of eventual champ Ridgefield). Taryn Johnson, who amassed 79 goals in her four seasons, was named to the all-Olympic League first team along with fellow seniors Jenny Gomez and Kaia Lestage. Raimey Brewer, Olive Bridge and Libby Turella were selected to the second team.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim’s Zeke Schmadeke, left, races away from North Mason defender Caden Atencio in the Wolves’ 36-0 Homecoming victory on Oct. 13.

The day before the team’s state tourney game, Johnson signed a letter of intent to play for NCAA Division II powerhouse Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Sequim High School’s volleyball team went 11-7 and came within one win — one set, actually — from a state 2A tournament berth. SHS’s Jolene Vaara and teammate Arianna Stovall were named to the all-Olympic League first team. Vaara led the team in numerous categories, including kills, blocks and digs. Stovall led the team in aces and was second in kills and blocks.

Senior Colby Ellefson led the Sequim High’s cross country squad in 2023, racing to his best standing at the class 2A state meet with a 27th place finish, in 16:37. Kaitlyn Bloomenrader placed 61st at the prep final while teammate Dawn Hulstedt qualified but didn’t race because of an injury.

Freshman Ava Shinkle paced the SHS girls swim team to a 20th place finish at the state 2A meet in November. Shinkle took sixth in the 200 individual medley and 10th in the 100 butterfly. Teammate Annie Ellefson took 11th in the 100 breaststroke. Shinkle, Ellefson, Natalie Cross and Melisa Nelson teamed up to place 15th in both 200 medley and 400 free relays at state.

SHS’s Wolves football squad went 2-7, but posted big wins against North Mason (36-0 on Homecoming night) and Kingston (52-6). SHS fell to rival Port Angeles 37-10 at home as the Roughriders rode a 27-point second half wave to victory in the 2023 Rainshadow Rumble. Liam Wiker (running back), Patrick Elias (tight end), Jack Henninger (kicker), Ayden Holland (offensive line) and Brayden White (offensive line) were each named to the all-Olympic League second team.

Led by North Region MVP Nil Grau, the Peninsula College men’s soccer team scored a dramatic NWAC title on Nov. 12, beating Highline 11-10 in penalty kicks. PC’s women, ranked No. 1 nationally at one point in the campaign, nearly had another NWAC banner-raising season, falling (in penalty kicks) to Spokane and posting a 16-0-3 record and taking top honors in their region. PC’s squads featured former Sequim high graduates Brandon and Hannah Wagner.