SEQUIM — Sequim’s Riley Pyeatt is coming home.
At least back to the state of Washington. And she’s remaining in the feline family after four years in the canid family.
The former Sequim High School track and field and cross-country star entered the transfer portal this spring, hoping to come closer to home after two years in Texas. She just signed a scholarship to run track and field for the Washington State Cougars.
After winning state championships for the Wolves, Pyeatt went on to run track for the Abilene Christian University Wildcats in Abilene, Texas, in her freshman and sophomore years. She had a successful two years in Abilene, taking first place as a freshman for the Wildcats on the women’s 4×400 team in one race.
In her sophomore year at ACU, she did even better, winning the 1,500-meter run twice and taking third at the Western Athletic Conference championships in the 800, which was her best distance in Sequim.
Her Sequim accolades are unparalleled by any local track/cross-country athlete in the past decade. In her senior season alone in 2022, she took first place in 27 track and field races, ranging in distance from 100 meters to 1,600 meters. In her entire Sequim High School career, she won 55 track and field races and 18 cross-country races. She would have won more, but her 2020 season was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pyeatt’s greatest accomplishment in Sequim came in her senior year, when she won the state championship in the 800 and anchored the Wolves’ 4×400 relay team (Pyeatt, Hi’ilei Robinson, Eve Mavy and Kaitlyn Bloomenrader) that also won the state championship. That same 4×400 team also took first at the Nike Nationals in Eugene, Ore., in the summer of 2022.
At the 2022 state track meet, Pyeatt also took third in the 400 and fourth in the 1,600.
