TRACK AND FIELD: Small-school girls shine in Forks
Published 11:00 am Sunday, April 19, 2026
FORKS —Competing against athletes from Olympic and Port Angeles high schools and from as far away as Ketchikan and Wrangell, Alaska, girls from Crescent and Clallam Bay more than held their own at the Forks Lions Club Invitational held this weekend.
As a team, Forks held its own, too, coming in third among the boys and fourth among the girls. Olympic led in both boys and girls points.
Crescent’s Naomii Sprague won three events. She took first in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.16 seconds, first in the 300 hurdles (50.05) and first in the triple jump (31 feet, 8½ inches).
Meanwhile, her Loggers teammate Alexis Dunavant was first in the shot put (33-2) and first in the discus (96-11). Clallam Bay’s Kaleeka Mendoza-McCarthy won the long jump (15-7), was second in the high jump (4-8) and second in the 100 meters (13.57 seconds).
Forks didn’t win a lot of events, but got a lot of top-5 finishes for its impressive team finishes. The Forks 4×400 girls relay team of Skye Hestand, Danikka King, Caitlynn Cooney, Elizabeth Morrison took first in a time of 5:00.32.
The Neah Bay 4×100 team of Alexa Greene, Danica Halttunen, Briana McGimpsey and Angel Halttunen took first in a time of 55.08 seconds. McGimpsey also came in first place in the javelin with a throw of 106-7.
On the boys’ side, John Lium of Crescent was the lone local winner in the high jump with a personal-best leap of 5-10. He won the event by five inches.
Clallam Bay’s William Hull had a solid meet, finishing second in the 110 hurdles (17.27) second in the 300 hurdles (43.46) and third in the triple jump (37-9).
The Port Angeles 4×100 relay team (Dylan Mann, Greyson Kawashima, Benjamin Dexter and Wylie Beck) was second in 47.51, while the Forks 4×400 team of Malachi Rowley, Ryder Fletcher, Noah Foster and Adon Arellano was second in 3:59.85.
Rowley was also second in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 130-11. Neah Bay’s Andres Pascua Jr. was second in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 18.9.
Forks Lions Club Invitational
Team Scores
Boys — Olympic, first, 132; Toledo, second, 108; Forks, third, 64; Ketchikan, fourth, 52; Neah Bay, fifth, 51; Crescent, sixth 50; Clallam Bay, seventh, 30; Port Angeles, eighth, 7.
Girls — Olympic, first, 167; Ketchikan, second, 81; Toledo, third, 73; Forks, fourth, 50.5; Port Angeles, fifth, 35; Crescent, sixth, 26; Clallam Bay, seventh, 23; Wrangell, eighth, 20; Neah Bay, ninth, 12.5.
PA, Sequim at Li’l Norway
POULSBO — Port Angeles’ Brody Pierce shined and Teanna Clark won her 10th straight javelin event at the Dave Snyder’s Li’l Norway track and field meet in Poulsbo.
A total of 23 schools attended the meet. The Port Angeles boys came in ninth as a team, largely because of the outstanding showing by Pierce.
Pierce won the high jump with a personal-best leap of 6-0. He also took first in the triple jump with another personal-best, an incredible 45-1¾ feet. That is the second-best triple jump in the state at the 2A level. On top to that, Pierce also got a third place in the long jump at 20-11.
Meanwhile, Clark, the defending state champion in the event, won the javelin with her best throw of the season at 132-8. That is an improvement of 27 feet from her throw at the Li’l Norway last year and it is No. 1 girls’ javelin throw in the state at the 2A level. It’s still slightly below her throw of 136-3 at state last year, but Clark has shown a pattern for three years of steadily improving her distance into the spring and she is well ahead of her pace from last year.
Port Angeles’ Hunter Flores was third in the javelin at 147-3, while Sequim’s Adrian Osborne was fourth in the 400 meters with a personal-best 51.97. Port Angeles’ Easton Dempsey was fifth in the 800 meters (1:59.51).
Aberdeen on the boy’s event, while Bellarmine prep won the girl’s.
