Just moments after finishing second in the 3200, Sequim’s Kenny Russell grimaced. His shins were killing him, and the race, one he led for all but the final two laps, didn’t go as planned.
He more than made up for it the next day. Russell paced the field in the 800 and 1600 events May 10, joining five other Sequim Wolves on the first-place podium stand at the 2A sub-district meet in Belfair last weekend.
Two-dozen Sequim athletes — 12 boys, 12 girls — are headed back to Belfair May 16-17 for the West Central District meet, hoping to improve upon Sequim’s second-place team finishes from last year.
More importantly, only the top two athletes in each district event qualify for the class 2A state meet, set for May 23-24 in Tacoma.
Continuing his dominance of the boys’ sprints is Sequim senior Kincaid Nichols, who easily topped the 100- and 200-meter sprint contestants by about a second in each race.
Nichols added a win in the long jump and helped Sequim’s 4×400 relay take top honors, with teammates Derrell Jensen, Mitchell Fowles and Jared Lindorfer.
Sequim’s girls’ relays also continued their dominant streak, coming within a half second in the 4×100 relay of sweeping first in all three relay events.
The sub-district meet, however, wasn’t without its share of oddities. Russell expected to get a challenge from Port Townsend distance star Quinton Decker, but the P.T. racer pulled out of the meet with a hamstring injury. Decker was given a bye through to the district meet. Nevertheless, Russell came back to beat the 3200 winner, Port Townsend’s Bereket Piatt, by 11 seconds in the metric mile. On the girls’ side. Sequim’s Alli Cutting broke through Kingston star Ruby Roberts’ reign to win the 3200 by 10 seconds on Friday afternoon, finishing in 11:11.8. Roberts came back to edge Cutting in both 800 and 1600 events Saturday.
But for the most part, Sequim athletes dominated the league in their respective events as they did in the regular season. Anna LaBeaume topped 39 feet in the shot put — beating the field by more than six feet — and won the 200-meter sprint while Samantha Whiteside went over nine feet in the pole vault to take first place. Lauryn Garrett picked up a win in the 100 hurdles and will be joined at districts by teammate Anna Wilmot, who placed third in the 100 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles.
Josh Fodge edged Richard Urie of Kingston by .01 seconds for second place in the 110 high hurdles.
For more meet results, see sequim gazette.com/sports.
Girls win Olympic League
title, boys take 2A crown
With their second-place finish at the Olympic League meet May 3, Sequim’s girls track squad takes the overall league championship.
The regular season wins make up half the points; the league meet makes up the other half. Sequim scored 15 points to Peninsula’s 13.
On the boys’ side, the Wolves finished third in the league meet to record 12 points, tops among the Olympic League 2A schools.
