PORT ANGELES — The return of organized sports and competitions to the fields, courts and trails of the North Olympic Peninsula after nearly a year’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic is far and away the top sports story of 2021.
It’s still hard to proccess the collective curtain thrown over the sports world in March 2020, but athletes and coaches weathered the waves and produced many scrapbook-worthy moments.
From league and district championships, first-ever state appearances and a number of MVP honors, area athletes made major headlines in the past calendar year.
Athletics provided an outlet and a needed level of focus for the participants and a needed distraction for those in attendance.
The return was cautious, with masking and testing, shortened seasons and a focus on local or regional competition for much of the first half of 2021.
Here’s the first in a two-part series, looking at our area’s top stories from 2021.
Pirates add locals
Peninsula College’s women’s basketball and women’s soccer programs each benefitted from signing standout area athletes to letters of intent this past spring.
Millie Long, a four-year varsity basketball and soccer player for Port Angeles who earned multiple Olympic League MVP awards and Peninsula Daily News All-Peninsula MVP honors, highlighted the group of area signees.
“These programs are really special, really good. Joining these teams will push me. It’s a completely different level of competition, and everybody else will be good,” Long said in May.
Long signed to play both sports for the Pirates, and her impact was felt quickly on the NWAC championship-winning soccer squad.
Madison Cooke, herself an Olympic League MVP and former All-Peninsula MVP while teaming with Long, also signed to return to the hardwood after an extended absence.
Neah Bay’s Ruth Moss and East Jefferson’s Gina Brown also were among the Peninsula signings last spring and joined Sequim’s Hope Glasser and Port Angeles’ Cheyenne Wheeler on the roster.
East Jefferson Co-op
With athletic participation plunging even before the pandemic, Port Townsend and Chimacum decided to expand the pre-existing athletic agreement to field wrestling, cross country, tennis and swimming teams by combining for all sports.
The cooperative agreement was initially met with concern and hesitancy in both communities, but coaches and parents eventually realized those initial misgivings were unneccesary.
“Going into the combine, I was very apprehensive about everything. How our kids would be treated, how I would be received as a coach,” said East Jefferson football coach Tony Haddenham, a longtime coach and educator at Chimacum, during a May school board meeting.
“I can’t say anything bad about the experience I had as a coach with the combine. And as a parent of a player, to see how well the Chimacum boys were received in Port Townsend was awesome. These kids have played with and against each other since they were pee-wees. To see them on the same team was one of those cool experiences as a coach that you want to see happen.”
The co-op flourished in the fall as the newly christened “Rivals” football squad teamed for its first-ever Nisqually League title and a Class 1A State Football Tournament appearance. East Jefferson cross country athletes also teamed to claim fifth (boys) and eighth (girls) at the 1A state meet, coming on the heels of each squad claiming district championships.
Forks success in 2B
Forks’ debut at the Class 2B level was delayed by the pandemic, but the Spartans have made an impression in a number of sports already.
The Forks softball team, denied a shot at a state title in 2020, rallied late in the spring to advance all the way to the Southwest District 4 title game against powerhouse Adna.
The Spartans baseball squad rode a strong pitching staff and a powerful offense to a berth in the district championship against Toutle Lake.
Forks’ boys basketball squad also won a Pacific League title in the spring, as did the boys soccer squad.
This fall, the Spartans football squad was the best on the Olympic Peninsula and advanced to the Class 2B state quarterfinals.
Forks’ wrestling team also continues its high standard of success at any level of competition.
Turf field funding
Port Angeles School Board members approved funding for the district’s first-ever synthetic turf field, a $1.6 million all-weather, year-round field at the former Monroe school site.
The turf field will be used for football, soccer, baseball and other sports with groundbreaking set for this spring and completion by this fall.
Approved funding will pay for the field, fencing and installation of the electrical conduit for lights planned for a later time when the money is available.
Partially funded from the voter-approved capital levy that passed in February 2020, additional funding will come from the sale of some district real-estate and savings from previous construction projects.
Sekiu’s gain
Anglers continued to launch out of Sekiu during halibut and salmon seasons due to the continued closure of the Makah Reservation to nonresidents, including recreational anglers.
Rumors were swirling that the tribe was considering allowing vaccinated anglers at some point in 2022, but that was before the emergence of the omicron variant.
Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.
Sequim’s Walker Ward runs with the football against Bainbridge during a February game, one of the first prep sporting events held in 11 months due to the pandemic. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
