The way head coach Harold Huff sees it, as good as Sequim’s cross country squads are this fall, they’re capable of much more.
The Wolves looked to make the most of their lone regular season home meet last week in a double-dual against Port Angeles and Port Townsend. Behind strong finishes from their state No. 2-ranked crew, Sequim’s boys cruised to a team win with 20 points, easily out-pacing P.T.’s Redhawks (57 points) and P.A.’s Roughriders (58).
Port Angeles’ girls took five of the top six spots to outscore Sequim 19 points to the Wolves’ 36, with the Redhawks (two runners) unable to qualify for a team score.
“When I heard the (finishing) times today I was pretty happy,” Huff said. “We’re quite a bit faster than last year. We just need to get a little faster.”
On the boys’ side, Redhawk Ryan Clark took honors with a 15:50 finish, but Sequim took the next five spots with CJ Daniels (15:55), Brendon Despain (16:02), Peter Ohnstad (16:10), Mikey Cobb (16:12) and Jackson Oliver (16:14) close behind. Sequim’s Chris Jeffko (16:39) was ninth and Wendall Lorenzen (17:09) took 10th overall.
Oliver’s finish was a 96-second improvement from running the same course in 2013, while Daniel’s and Jeffko’s marks were nearly a minute faster.
With sights set on improving the Wolves’ fifth-place finish at last year’s state meet, Huff said Sequim simply needs to improve a bit on overall team speed — and that will come by focusing on speed work during training.
“That (speed work) is what it’s going to come down to,” he said.
Waverly Shreffler led the Sequim girls with a second-place finish at 20:10, about a minute behind top finisher Gracie Long of Port Angeles.
Following Port Angeles’ pack were seven Wolves that placed seventh-13th, led by Noelle Bittner (21:43), Emily Webb (21:57), Erin Vig (22:01), Audrey Shingleton (22:50), Elizabeth Rosales (23:06), Alexis Cromer (23:15) and Siana Turner (23:25).
Rosales posted a 42-second improvement on the course from 2013 while Cromer’s was a one-minute, 43-second improvement.
“We’re just a step behind P.A.’s girls,” Huff said, “but they (Sequim’s crew) raced pretty well.”
Evan Chatters was Sequim’s top junior varsity boys race finisher, placing second (19:10) behind Martin Waldrip of Crescent. The Wolves’ JV squad easily won with 20 team points to Port Townsend’s 41.
In middle school action, Stevens (Port Angeles) swept both races. Sequim’s top girls finisher was Jessica Dietzman in third (9:25 on a 1.3-mile course) while the top Timberwolf boys finisher was Ryan Tolberd (8:24, fourth).
Hole in Wall
The Wolves got a taste of their state competition on Saturday at the Hole in Wall meet in Arlington. They faced Class 2A No. 1 ranked Sehome who finished second overall with 129 points while Sequim finished third at 161 points. Assistant coach Michael Cobb said the boys did well considering they had a grueling week of practice and the home meet on Wednesday.
“The team did really well considering we had a grueling week of practice and the home meet on Wednesday,” Michael Cobb said.
Brendon Despain finished 22nd at 16:31.5 followed by CJ Daniels at 30th place (16:41), Jackson Oliver 40th at 16:48.5, Mikey Cobb was 50th at 16:54.3, Peter Ohnstad 53rd at 15.56.9 and Chris Jeffko 81st at 17:19.4.
Cobb said if some of the runners had run their normal races, they could have beaten Sehome, but it’s something they’ll shoot for at the state meet.
The boys sent two teams including their JV squad running as a second varsity unit with Wendall Lorentzen finishing at 24th 17:52.5 in the highest spot for Sequim’s second team.
Sequim did not send a girls team.
