Finely tuned? You bet.
In their final Olympic League meet double-dual meet of the season, Sequim’s boys earned a perfect score in taking the top seven spots as they clobbered Olympic and host North Kitsap at Bainbridge Island’s Battle Point Park on Oct. 16.
Sequim’s super seven — Mikey Cobb, Peter Ohnstad, Brendon Despain, Chris Jeffko, C.J. Daniels, Jackson Oliver and Christian Ash — ran roughshod over the Vikings and Knights to complete an unbeaten league mark of 8-0 this fall.
“North Kitsap’s got a couple of good runners and Olympic has a good runner — I didn’t think there was any way we’d get the top seven spots,” Sequim coach Harold Huff said. “That was their best race of the year.”
Sequim’s girls took second at the meet, falling only to a dominant North Kitsap squad, ranked No. 7 in the state; the Vikings earned the top four places. Sequim freshmen Erin Vig (fifth) and Elizabeth Rosales (seventh) were SHS’s top finishers, followed by Alexis Cromer (11th), Siana Turner (25:07), Isabel Dalm (14th) and Sydney Hastings (15th).
“Erin and Elizabeth, they’re running really well because they’re getting this pace thing down,” Huff said.
Sequim hosts the league meet at The Cedars at Dungeness golf course Thursday, and Huff said his squads look ready to go.
“I think the (Sequim) boys could turn in one great race if everyone is healthy,” Huff said.
Sequim’s boys junior varsity squad also finished strong at last week’s league meet. Led by Oscar Herrera, the Wolves topped North Kitsap in points (23 to 34). Sequim took first, third, fourth, seventh and eighth places.
The league lineup
The Olympic League’s eight 2A teams — Sequim, Port Angeles, Bremerton, Kingston, Klahowya, North Kitsap, North Mason and Olympic — and 1A Port Townsend compete in varsity races, beginning with the girls races at 4:30 p.m. and the boys at 5 p.m. Preceding varsity races are girls and boys middle school races (Sequim, Port Angeles’ Stevens and Port Townsend’s Blue Heron) at 3:15 p.m. and a boys’ junior varsity race at 4 p.m.
The top five teams and 25 individuals in the varsity races advance to districts.
Top competitors in the boys’ varsity race figure to be Sequim’s Cobb, Despain and Ohnstad, Port Angeles’ Peter Butler, Josh Burton of Bremerton, Olympic’s Logan Dean, Ryan Clarke of Port Townsend, Klahowya’s Trent Mazelli, and Kingston’s John Griffin and Kyle Van Wyck.
“Any one of those kids are capable of winning the thing,” Huff said, including Sequim’s top three. “Mikey (Cobb) has the best chance of winning.”
Huff said that Cobb, Despain and Ohnstad run much of their own race but Sequim’s next four — Jeffko, Daniels, Oliver and Ash — are key to earning a league meet title.
Jeffko, Huff said, has had a strong season and paces the Wolfpack well.
“I’ve encouraged the other three guys to run with Chris,” Huff said. “We’re only going to be as good as those four guys narrowing the gap (with the top three),” he said.
On the girls’ side, top challengers include North Kitsap’s Kathleen Ramsey, Clara Lund and Katrina Weinmann, Kingston’s Annie Roberts, Alexa Benjamin and Sarah DeAscentiis, Port Angeles runners Elizabeth Stevenson, Willow Suess and Dusti Lucas, Olympic’s Ahnalee Smested and Sequim’s Vig and Rosales.
“I think they (Sequim’s girls) have a good chance to qualify to districts,” Huff said, with the Wolves likely battling Olympic and Klahowya for the fifth district berth.
