WHAT A RUN Sequim track and field is on.
When Sequim’s Mike Erickson won the high jump at the Class 3A state meet in 2000, he was the third state champion in school history.
Yet after Allison Cutting (3,200 meters) and Anna LaBeaume (shot put) each won state titles at last weekend’s 2A state met in Tacoma, the Wolves are now sitting on six state crowns in the last six years.
That included a run of at least one individual champion each of the last four springs.
Not a single school in the area can attest to such an accomplishment since the turn of the Millennium.
And here’s guessing that outside of Crescent’s unprecedented run through the mid ’90s, one would be hard pressed to find another like it in the area.
“We just really strive to make the kids better every day,” 16-year Sequim coach Brad Moore said. “Just little stuff to try and get them to improve their skills.
“And we’ve been fortunate to have some really good athletes that are willing to learn and work hard.”
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Sequim’s recent run is that it’s come across a spectrum of events.
In 2005, Brian Savage won the 3A boys javelin. In 2007, Stephanie Marcy won the 2A girls 1,600. In ’08, Kincaid Nichols took the 2A boys 100. And in ’09, LaBeaume won the first of her two 2A shot put titles.
So it isn’t as if there’s just one coach pushing his expertise in one thing with an unusual amount of success.
Rather, Moore and his assistant have all had success grooming one or more athletes to peak on the state stage.
Moore had Savage in the javelin, while assistants Don Lichten (Cutting and Marcy), Isaac Rapelje (Nichols) and B.J. Schade (LaBeaume) each had their own title-winning pupils.
“We all want the kids to be as good as they possibly can get, and we work very hard to do that,” Moore said.
“I wish it was a magic potion, but it’s just been a lot of hard work.”
Of course, a lot of the credit must go Moore’s way. After all, the Sequim boys hadn’t even won a duel meet in the nine years prior to his arrival in 1995.
Said Moore, “We’ve won a few more since then.”
And we’re not just talking about duel meets.
Crescent throwers
Chalk another one up for the Crescent Logger throwers.
Kylie Mitts added another in a long line of state crowns to the Logger record books after she lapped the girls 1B field in the javelin.
Mitts is the Loggers’ second state champion in the javelin in the last three years, with Tommy Farris taking home the boys 1B crown in 2008. The Wilhelm sisters, Ruth and Vanessa, also won throwing titles for Cresent in the last 15 years.
It seems Loggers coach Darrell Yount, a collegiate javelin thrower in his own day, just knows how to teach the craft.
His ability to get his athletes to perform in the other events isn’t too bad either.
The Logger boys finished second in the 1B team standings last Saturday, the best finish by a Crescent squad since the girls and boys each won state titles in 1997.
Early exit
It’s hard to picture a more bitter ending to a season than the one the Sequim softball team suffered earlier this week.
After losing it’s double-elimination district playoff game to Steilacoom 3-2 in extra innings Tuesday, Sequim was denied a chance at redemption in the consolation bracket.
The WIAA mandated that the West Central District finish its softball tournaments by Tuesday.
Since games had already been pushed back so far because of inclement weather, there was no time left to play out the consolation round after the wet stuff returned yet again Tuesday afternoon.
Thus, a team that plays it’s home games in the rain shadow had its season cut short by rain. An ironic and cruel ending, to say the least.
“It’s unfortunate because I truly believe we were one of the better teams in state, and we had a shot at placing this year,” Sequim coach Mel Hendrickson said.
Steilacoom and North Mason each went on to get eliminated in the consolation bracket at 2A state.
Sequim, on the other hand, could only sit and watch after a season in which it won a share of the Olympic League title and had a 19-4 record overall.
“[The girls] were pretty upset,” said Hendrickson, whose team was vying for its second straight state berth. “They just thought they got shafted.”
Had the tournament continued, the Wolves would have played Fife in the consolation round, then took on the loser of the district title game between North Mason and Steilacoom.
“I’m sure we could have beat either one of those teams,” Hendrickson said. “We just wanted a chance.
“We should be able to play for a chance to go to state, not have somebody make a decision like that that you guys are done.”
The Wolves can at least find solace in the fact that the return several of core players from a team that won a share of the Olympic League title.
That includes Olympic League co-MVP Lea Hopson as well as ace pitcher Demiree Briones and all-league catcher Maddy Zbaraschuk.
“They should be league champs, they should be district champs and they should place at state,” Hendrickson said. “I’m predicting it that way.”
Unfortunately, Hendrickson might not be around to see it.
The long time coach, who has taken Sequim to state four times in eight seasons, said he isn’t sure whether he will return next spring.
His daughter, Lauren, is one of two seniors who will move on next year; the other being Chelsea Winfield.
“I haven’t made my mind up yet,” Hendrickson said. “I’m going to make [a decision] this next week.
“I’ve done eight years, I’m getting kind of burned out. They might need some young blood in there.”
DuPuis done
The Port Angeles girls golf team lost a big asset with head coach Mike DuPuis deciding to step down this week.
DuPuis’ teams were consistently competitive during his tenure as coach, winning an Olympic League title in 2009 and sending several players to state the last couple of years.
Obligations to his business partners — DuPuis helps run a stainless steel ring manufacturing business — forced DuPuis to resign after the state tournament last week.
That was also the reason he had to step down as the Crescent boys basketball coach two years ago.
“It’s not fair for my partners to miss so much work,” DuPuis said. “It’s too bad, because I like working with the kids. I’ll miss it. But that’s the way it goes.”
DuPuis is a heck of a golfer himself.
Just check the Peninsula Golf Club scores printed every few day’s on our “Scoreboard” page. His name will probably be near the top.
His own daughter, Tracie, recently completed her third trip to state, while teammates Ev Grier and Emily Cook made it a second time. None, unfortunately, made the cut.
“We were hoping to make the second day, but it just didn’t work out,” DuPuis said. “They gave it their best shot, so I was proud of them for that.”
________
Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column regularly appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.