PORT ANGELES — It’s a baby step, but prep sports are slowly returning to action.
Prep athletes are back with limited practices this week. Fall sports can’t completely return yet, but one sport has the go-ahead — cross country.
Because the Northwest Region is still in Phase 1, fall sports such as girls’ soccer and football can’t quite return, but officials are hopeful the region can move to Phase 2 next week. Some areas of the Puget Sound did return to Phase 2 last week and that allows the return of prep sports.
Cross country can take place with competitions in Phase 1. The first prep meets since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all prep sports in March of last year will be held Saturday.
“All teams are practicing,” said Sequim Athletic Director Dave Ditlefsen. “Some of our games scheduled for next week have been postponed.”
“It’s great to see kids back on campus,” said Port Angeles High School Athletic Director Dwayne Johnson.
Johnson said it appears the first week of volleyball, football and girls soccer will have to be canceled. District athletic directors are hoping to hear by Feb. 12 or perhaps a little earlier if the Northwest Region can move to Phase 2. If that’s the case, other sports may be able to move ahead with competitions as early as Feb. 15.
Meanwhile, cross country runners are paving the way as the first teams that get to officially compete. The Port Angeles cross country boys and girls teams will compete at Klahowya, while Sequim will compete versus Olympic High School. A combined Chimacum/Port Townsend team now known as East Jefferson will compete in the Olympic 2A League and will start its season against Kingston. Klahowya is scheduled to be the host of these three meets, which will run all day Saturday.
Cross country competitors must wear masks while practicing and while out on the race course during meets. There will also be wave starts, keeping runners in groups of 10 to avoid a mass start.
“It was great to see all your kids today for cross country,” Port Angeles cross country coach Rodger Johnson wrote to parents. “They seemed happy to be with friends, doing what they love, and just be out of the house for a while! The kids all did a great job following the social distancing and mask rules today. They were great listeners and all worked hard. I’m sure the most frustrating part was running while wearing a mask.”
“Thanks for your understanding, as we are only able to have this cross country season if we all follow these temporary rules. Please contact me with any questions, our goal is for everyone to have a positive experience this season,” Rodger Johnson wrote.
Forks can also return to cross country, but the Spartans’ first meet isn’t until Feb. 11. That will be a home meet with Willapa, North Beach and Chief Leschi at 2 p.m. at the University of Washington Olympic Natural Resource Center.
Forks is in a different league beginning this year, the Pacific 2B. Most of the teams in that league are in Grays Harbor County, which was approved to move to Phase 2 and can play all of its fall sports.
“We’re the only school in our league unable to play” all the fall sports, said Forks Athletic Director Kyle Weakley.
“We’ll take what we can get,” Weakley said.
Forks cross country coach Brian Weekes said he doesn’t have many experienced runners yet, but likes a young freshman, Kiera Johnson.
“She’s the fastest girl I’ve had,” he said.
Alice Fraser, coach of the East Jefferson cross country team, said combining Chimacum and Port Townsend isn’t really a change for cross country as these two schools have always been combining for cross country. She said there’s a couple of Chimacum runners out for the team.
Fraser said East Jefferson graduated a lot of seniors from the 2019 cross country team and will be very young this year.
Ditlefsen said that not only can girls’ soccer, girls’ swimming and football join cross country if the region gets approval to move to Phase 2, it will also change how practices are conducted. Right now, coaches can only work with six kids at a time.
“For volleyball, you can’t have a six-on-six practice,” Ditlefsen said. “The way practices are set up don’t look like past years.”
Sequim’s team will be led by Riley Pyeatt, who is finally getting a chance to compete again. Pyeatt, the defending girls 2A Olympic League champion and West Central District III 2A champion, finishing sixth at the state 2A Cross Country Championships in 2019.
Also returning is Port Angeles’ top runner, Lauren Larson, who finished fifth at state last year. Weekes pointed out that as an eighth-grade runner, Johnson was just behind Larson and Pyeatt.
“Riley is definitely our top returner,” said assistant coach BJ Schade. “I’m looking forward to seeing her and Lauren compete again.
“Kids are excited to be out there. We have sports again,” Schade said.
