BIDISTRICT TRACK AND FIELD: Sequim, PA boast three district champions

BELFAIR — The Port Angeles and Sequim track teams can both boast three district champions after the conclusion of the bidistrict meet at North Mason High School this weekend.

Two of the marks came out of nowhere, both by girls who shattered their personal records.

Sequim’s Clare Turella, just a freshman, took first place in the high jump with a personal-record leap of 5 feet, 3 inches. Turella has had a solid track season with four previous first-place finishes in the high jump, including at the Olympic League championships. But her previous-best jump was five inches lower at 4-10. Turella’s amazing leap at district is second-best in the state, only one inch lower than McKenzie Clark’s jump of 5-4, who did that height back in mid-April.

Port Angeles’ Teanna Clark, a sophomore, had an even more dramatic improvement. She had three previous wins in the girls’ javelin, but her best throw of the year had been 111-11 at the Olympic League championships. She destroyed that mark by 13½ feet with a throw of 125-6 at districts. That took first place by 11 full feet and is the No. 1 javelin distance in the state by nine inches.

Sequim’s Ari Skov also won the pole vault with a height of 12-9. In fact, the Sequim boys dominated the pole vault, with a one-two-three finish. Brody Anderson finished second with a personal-best 12-6 and Malachi Byrne was third with his own personal-best 12-3. All three boys go to state.

The Sequim girls had a good all-around meet, finishing fifth out of 21 schools with 42.5 points. White River, which is moving to 3A next autumn, won the girls meet with 91 points. The Port Angeles girls finished 13th as a team with 22 points.

For the boys, Port Angeles finished ninth with 40 points, while Sequim was 11th with 29. Renton won the boys meet with 69 points.

Skov, Clark, Turella, Anderson and Byrne are just five of the numerous Port Angeles and Sequim boys and girls who qualified for the state track and field meet that begins Friday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma. The top six finishers in each event moves on to state.

Port Angeles

The Roughriders’ Faerin Tait finished second in the 300 hurdles with a personal-record time of 47.07 seconds. Tait also qualified for state in the 100 hurdles, finishing sixth with a personal-record time of 16.25 seconds. She will join Clark as the only Port Angeles girls at state.

For the Roughriders’ boys, Parker Nickerson qualified for state in three events. He was third in the 300 hurdles (40.57, a season record), fourth in the long jump 20-8¾ and sixth in the 110 hurdles (16.02).

Port Angeles’ Donovan Heins was third in the long jump at 21-7½.

Dallas Dunning was fourth in the high jump at 5-8 and Jason Hawes fifth in the 400 (51.48). Brody Pierce was sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 41-½, a personal record.

Sequim

The Sequim girls will send a fairly large contingent to state beyond Turella. Kaitlyn Bloomenrader was third in the 800 in a time of 2:22.55, a personal record. Right behind her in fourth was teammate Dawn Hulstedt in a time of 2:24.00, also a personal record.

Hulstedt also qualified as an individual in the 1,600, finishing fifth in another personal-record time of 5:22.42.

The Sequim 4×200 and 4×400 girls relay teams both qualified for state. The 4×200 team of Bloomenrader, Bailey Stein, Bridget Pyeatt and Ivy Barrett was fifth in a time of 1:50.27 and the 4×400 team of Hulstedt, Pyeatt, Stein and Barrett was fourth in 4:17.37. Barrett, who finished second last year at state in the 400, qualified again for state in this event, coming in fifth with a time of 1:01.69.

Sequim’s Ahrya Klinger was also third in the pole vault Friday at 8-6. For the boys, Sean Southard was fourth Friday in the javelin with a throw of 158-6, a personal record.