On the cusp — that’s where Sequim’s track and field squad seems to be after a solid finish to the 2014 season.
Seven Wolves earned top-10 finishes at the class 2A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma last weekend, though six of those efforts fell short of the medal stand standard of the top eight places.
Sequim junior Alex Barry was the exception, breaking through at districts one week ago with a 15-foot personal best in the javelin and nearly repeating the effort at state. His 178-foot, 3-inch mark in the state event earned third place behind seniors Jensen Lillquist of Ellensburg and Andrew Stich of Lakewood.
“I’ve been working a lot on my run, keeping my speed up,” Barry said. “There’s definitely a lot more I can work on.”
Barry and Sequim head coach Brad Moore said the youth has plenty of longer throws in him, possibly up to 210 feet.
“He’s still got so much there — he was still slowing down before he threw,” Moore said. “(Next season) he can be the guy everyone else is trying to beat.”
Falling just short of a medal was senior Sarah Hutchison in the pole vault. Hutchison cleared the nine-foot mark but missed her three attempts at 9-6 on a blustery Friday, finishing in a tie for 10th.
Hutchison had cleared 10 feet during the season — and as recently as the West Central District meet May 23-24 — but an ankle injury three weeks ago hurt her chances for a medal, Moore said.
“The timing of her (ankle) injury hurt,” Moore said. “That’s your payoff part of the season. She didn’t get to have that so her confidence wasn’t as high. Plus, it’s a pressure-cooker of a meet.”
Sequim senior Dylan Chatters ran his last race for the Wolves, placing 16th in the 400 meters with a 53.83 mark in the preliminaries on May 30, and fellow senior Austin Sampson was 15th in the discus (122-11).
Sequim’s girls 4×400 relay team — senior Hannah Hudson, sophomores Gretchen Happe and Waverly Shreffler, and freshman Mercedes Woods — took 10th place in the preliminaries (4:12.62) on May 29, missing the finals by about 3.25 seconds.
But for most Wolves, last weekend’s state meet may not be their last. Sophomore C.J. Daniels, who battled an illness during the meet, took 10th in the 1,600-meter race with a finish of 4:25.74 and 12th overall in the 800-meter race with a 2:00.56 mark.
Fellow sophomore Oscar Herrera placed 10th in the preliminaries of the 110-meter high hurdles with a 15.90 finish on May 29, about three-tenths of a second from qualifying for the finals. A day later, he ran a 40.06-second 300 hurdles a day later, good for a ninth place finish but just 0.04 second from a berth in the finals.
Another sophomore, Jackson Oliver, missed the medal stand by one place, clearing six feet in the high jump to place ninth overall.
Shreffler, also sophomore, ran a 1:01.06 in the 400 meter preliminaries on May 30, placing 13th.
Sequim junior Josh Cibene was 13th in the pole vault (12-6) while fellow junior Mikey Cobb was 16th in the 3,200-meter race with a 10:28.66 finish.
“These kids can always look forward to next year,” Moore said. “I told them to keep working, hit the weight room (and) that what they do between now and next year will determine how you do (at state).”
Sequim rival Olympic took the boys’ team 2A title while Sehome won the 2A girls crown.
