PASCO — Waverly Shreffler had the area’s highest individual finish and the Sequim boys placed third at the state cross country championships at Sun Willows Golf Course.
Sheffler, a senior for Sequim, placed sixth in the girls Class 2A race with a time of 19 minutes, 12.3 seconds on the 5-kilometer course Saturday.
The Sequim boys entered state as one of the favorites to end the three-year reign of Sehome but were unable to match 2014’s runner up finish.
Sehome easily won its fourth straight state championship with 55 points, while Liberty of Issaquah, which Sequim defeated at the district race, took second with 112 points, and the Wolves were third with 124 points.
Sequim senior Brendan Despain had the best boys finish of any North Olympic Peninsula runner in any classifications with a ninth-place showing.
Teammate and fellow senior Jackson Oliver took 14th, freshman Ash Francis was 32 and Wendall Lorenzen set a personal record while placing 45th.
Chris Jeffko (58th place), C.J. Daniels (72nd) and Christian Ash 134th) rounded out Sequim’s state finishes.
Shreffler led the Sequim girls to a 12th-place team finish. Liberty of Issaquah won the 2A girls title.
The Peninsula had three other runners finish in the top 100: Sequim’s Kiara Pierson and Audrey Shingleton were 86th and 87th, respectively, and Lael Butler, Port Angeles’ lone runner, came in 95th.
The Wolves’ other runners were Elizabeth Rosales (118th place), Emily Webb (122nd), Noelle Bittner (128th) and Alexis Cromer (130th).
Class 1A
The Forks boys followed up their District 4 championship with a 10th-place state finish.
Senior Alan Ensastegui paced the Spartans in his third trip to state by placing 24th in the boys 1A race at Sun Willows Golf Course. His previous highest finish was 55th place as a junior in 2014.
In his first state foray, freshman Josue Lucas came in 40th for Forks.
Port Townsend’s two runners had the Peninsula’s next-best places: River Yearian was 78th and Jake Vande Griend took 82nd.
Redhawks coach Alice Fraser notes that Yearian’s time of 18:06 is a 44-second improvement over his performance at last year’s state meet.
The Spartans had five other finishers were Hugo Lucas (103rd), Austin Pegram (105th), Samuel Gomez (106th), Alvaro Ortiz (141st) and Johnny Lua (144th).
Forks’ Enid Ensastegui was the highest finisher among the area’s three runners in the girls 1A race.
Ensastegui placed 60th, and teammate Marissa Bailey was 88th. Port Townsend’s Ally Bradley finished 104th.
Ensastegui, Bailey and Bradley are all sophomores.
It was Bradley’s first state cross country race, but not her first state experience. She competed at the state wrestling tournament as a freshman earlier this year.
“Ally will take a well-deserved week off before beginning her wrestling season,” Fraser said.
