Just as she did three weeks prior, Riley Pyeatt wasn’t about to get out-kicked at the finish line.

The 2022 Sequim High grad and teammates Kaitlyn Bloomenrader, Hi’ilei Robinson and Eve Mavy raced to a championship in the Emerging Elite division at the 2022 Nike Outdoor Nationals at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., on June 18.

The quartet clocked in at 4:03.22 finish to top a field of teams from Virginia, Arizona, California and Colorado.

“Overall we were kind of in shock for a couple of hours after that,” said Pyeatt, who heada to Abile Christian University this fall to run for the school’s track team.

Pyeatt said her team didn’t know much about their competitors other than their times

“We were kind of just hoping to beat some teams, to get on the podium,” Pyeatt said. Instead, the Wolves snagged a lead in the first and second legs (Robinson and Bloomenrader) and were in a solid position after Mavy’s leg, trailing only Potomac (Va.) in the final 400. Strong efforts from the Snowflake Lobos (Ariz.) and Tumwater TC (Wa.) teams pushed Pyeatt in the final leg, as she passed a pair of runners in the final turn and won by about six strides.

See the race at youtu.be/zFoogEG-isw.

A day later, Pyeatt scored a seventh-place finish in the 800, clocking in at 2:15.19 in the 31-runner field.

“That was a little bit of a rough go,” said Pyeatt, who won the class 2A state title in the same event in late May.

“You can’t PR every race. The first lap was perfect [but the second] I could not lift my legs. I kind of hit a wall.”

Pyeatt said the atmosphere at the legendary track facility was exciting.

“I get blown away driving by the stadium and going in, seeing your face up on the big screen; everything is like high energy,”: she said.

Said Pyeatt, “I’m super happy with the way it ended.”