by MICHAEL DASHIELL

Sequim Gazette

There’s an old sports adage: “Better to be lucky than good.” Fortunately for head coach Harold Huff and the Sequim Wolves’ cross country squad, they’re both.

A current of talented runners in recent years has put Sequim High School’s boys running on the state prep sports map, including a second-place finish at the class 2A state meet last year behind perennial powerhouse Sehome — the best finish in SHS school record books.

And thanks to a pack of six seniors and one fleet-footed freshman, the Wolves are poised to make another run for a state title.

It would not only be SHS’s first cross country title but also the first boys team title in school history.

While some of Sequim’s running success has come from hard work — just ask the runners who do hill repeats during a tough training session at Robin Hill County Park — Huff says a lot of what they bring the first day of practice is what determines a team’s future.

“To have the potential for a state championship team, I’d say it’s 60 to 70 percent natural talent,” Huff says. “Then it’s offseason training, coaching and other variables.

“In a small school (like Sequim) we can have good teams, but to have a team like this some luck is involved. And I’ve been lucky.”

For much of the mid-2000s, much of the spotlight on Sequim cross country was on the girls’ program thanks to strong, deep teams led by standouts Stephanie Marcy (now Stephanie Dinius) and Allison Cutting.

But starting in 2012, Sequim’s boys made the leap with influx of young talents like sophomores Mikey Cobb and Peter Ohnstad, freshmen C.J. Daniels, Chris Jeffko and Jackson Oliver, led by senior Adrian Clifford.

The younger runners had talent, Huff could see, but he also asked them to put in the mileage. His prescription as the 500 mile club … 500 total miles during the summer months.

“The number one thing to improve your time in a 5k (a standard prep cross country meet length) is total mileage,” Huff says. “And we run a lot during the season. We tend to run more total milage during the season (than other teams).”

With miles under their proverbial belts, Sequim runners come into the first practice of the season ready to do quality workouts, Huff says, rather than making up for lost time.

It has paid off. That 2012 Sequim boys team raced to a ninth-place finish at state and improved to fifth place in 2013 before last year’s runner-up finish.

Sequim begins their 2015 run into the postseason at the Olympic League meet, set for Thursday, Oct. 21, at The Cedars at Dungeness golf course in Sequim.

Senior leadership

Helping lead the way is a trio of seniors in Oliver, Jeffko and Brendon Despain, a transplant from the Kirkland area.

Despain moved to the area after attending Kamiakin his freshman year.

“We knew his track times (and) we knew we’d gotten a gift,” Huff said. “He’s finally living up to his potential (this season).”

Despain, a runner since seventh grade said his first year at Kamiakin, which boasted a strong program, was an eye-opener.

“I didn’t even make varsity (that year),” Despain said. “They have a really good culture of running. Sequim is a lot more team-oriented. It’s a lot more fun over here … what high school was meant to be.”

Despain likes that incentive running promotes to work hard.

“How you do (depends on) your work ethic — natural talent only goes so far.”

Oliver is a bit of an oddity in the group, a three-sport star who is a key piece of SHS’s basketball team in the winter and placed second at the state 2A track and field meet in the high jump.

“Probably the best athlete I’ve ever coached,” Huff says.

“Brendon is a little more fiery,” assistant Michael Cobb notes, while “Jackson is mellow. Everybody loves Jackson.”

Oliver started running in seventh grade, trying to knock off top SMS runner (and friend) Alex Barry.

“I always got second,” Oliver says, laughing.

Seeking his fourth appearance at the state cross country meet, Oliver says the mental toughness required to push through adversity — “that the person next to you is in the same amount of pain, or more” — is appealing.

Jeffko was Sequim’s top finisher at last year’s state 2A meet, completing the course in 16:22 for 18th place overall.

“He really works at it during the summer,” Huff says.

“I enjoy running when I’m on the trail,” Jeffko says. With no outside interference like a referee or judge, he says, he can enjoy the mental aspect of the sport, to train hard and beat his best times from previous years.

“(And) I can eat what I want,” Jeffko says.

Daniels is also looking at earning his fourth appearance at state.

“He’s struggled some,” Huff says, of Daniels, “but he’s training better. C.J.’s place is going to be huge to determine where we place (as a team).”

Not a fan of speed workouts, Daniels says his motivation comes from within.

“Knowing I can be better inspires me,” he says.

Wendall Lorenzen and Christian Ash have battled for top-seven varsity spots the past two years and look to round out the crew as they battle for postseason honors this fall as well.

“(Wendall) is having his best year ever,” Huff says of Lorenzen.

Lorenzen started running as a freshman and stuck with it in part because of the community around him.

“Everyone is friendly and accepts you,” he says.”

Ash says he started running as an eighth grader while living in Orange County in California.

“It’s a good, physical sport I can do, everyone can do, to stay healthy,” he says.

Ash raced with the Wolves at state in 2013.

“If we want to win state,” Ash says, “we’ve got to do the worst of the worst workouts.”

And then there’s the freshman. Ash Francis moved to the area last year from Wisconsin and posted strong times at the middle school level, piquing the interests of Sequim coaches.

He didn’t disappoint, winning the freshman race at the popular Capital Invite, taking fourth in the 3-4 race at the Bellevue Invitational and a top-10 spot on the hardest course at the Seaside Three-Course Challenge.

“A gift from the running gods,” Huff says. “He’s got it.”

Adds Cobb, the assistant coach, “He just glides.”

Francis started running in seventh grade, in part for the solitude.

“It’s like my escape place; I can be myself and run,” he says.

Teammates first

While some teams have a kind of “ace” runner that separates themselves from the pack, Sequim’s varsity seven sees their top three seniors each vie for the top spot at any given race.

A couple of seasons ago, Sequim runners noticed top runners for Gig Harbor, a premier running school, joined hands just before the finish line together. It’s a habit Sequim runners have taken to at some league meets this year, most recently bringing all five across the finish line at a meet in Port Townsend on Oct. 7.

“We do it for each other,” Despain says. “It’s more important to be a team than to beat each other.”

Admittedly, he says, that practice is likely over, with postseason starting Thursday. But the tradition of Sequim’s big finishes on the state stage? There may be one more in the near future.

Reach Sequim Gazette editor Michael Dashiell at madashiell@sequimgazette.com.