TACOMA — Alex Barry really only needed one throw.
The Sequim senior threw the javelin 182 feet, 6 inches on his first throw at the Class 2A track and field championships at Mount Tahoma High School.
Hockinson’s Quentin Sills sent his first throw 181-05, and looked like he was going to push Barry for the state championship.
But Sills only broke 170 feet once in his following four throws, and Jacob Shults of Clarkston was the only other competitor who managed to throw that far in Friday’s finals.
Meanwhile, all of Barry’s throws surpassed 170, including his fourth throw of 185-01, as he easily claimed the javelin state championship.
“That first throw won it for me,” Barry said.
Barry became Sequim’s first state champion since Jayson Brocklesby won the high jump in 2013.
“I was really a happy, and it was an honor,” Barry said of winning the state title.
“I was just really excited. I was just happy.”
Not everything was so rosy for Barry on Friday. He injured his ankle during the first phase of his third triple jump attempt, forcing him to pass on his final two jumps.
He still placed ninth, and was less than 8 inches from medaling in the event.
Saturday morning, Barry, who has signed a letter of intent to compete in track and field at Western Washington University, was still waiting to see if he would be approved by trainers to compete in the boys 4×400-meter relay.
The Wolves finished fourth in Thursday night’s 4×400 preliminaries to advance to the finals.
Jackson Oliver nearly added another state championship for Sequim by tying for second place in the high jump.
Oliver and three others jumped 6-04 Friday, but Kingston’s Max English earned the title by judge’s decision based on misses.
Oscar Herrera claimed two medals for Sequim, taking fourth in the 300-meter hurdles and sixth in the 110 hurdles.
Waverly Shreffler ran to a fourth-place finish Saturday in the 800-meter race to medal for the Sequim girls.
She also helped the Wolves 4×400-meter relay reach the finals, along with Gretchen Happe, Mercedes Woods, Heidi Vereide, Emma Beeson and Megan Breckenridge.
The girls 4×200 relay took 13th in the preliminaries.
Vereide also finished 15th in the long jump.
Joshua Cibene placed 10th in the boys pole vault Friday with a height of 13 feet.
Port Angeles’ Sam Burton also reached 13 feet in the pole vault, surpassing his previous personal best by 9 inches, to place 12th.
On Thursday, a pair of Port Angeles distance runners earned spots on the podium.
Senior Peter Butler placed seventh in the boys 1,600, and freshman Gracie Long finished eighth in the girls 1,600.
Butler added another medal by placing eighth in the boys 3,200 Saturday.
Long also finished ninth in the high jump, one spot shy from earning a medal.
Matt Robbins placed 14th in the shot put but beat his personal best by over a foot with a 46-11.5.
