CHENEY — Crescent will rely on a trio of throwers and a couple of hurdlers intent on beating each other in its attempt to bring home team trophies from the 1B state track and field championships at Eastern Washington University.
The Loggers, who will be represented at state by five boys and six girls, have a legitimate chance to earn girls and boys trophies at the 1B meet, which takes place today and Saturday.
The North Olympic League will have a strong presence at state.
Along with Crescent’s 11 athletes, Clallam Bay is sending four and Neah Bay two.
The 1A state championships are also being held at Eastern Washington. It will feature 12 athletes form the North Olympic Peninsula: Four each from Chimacum, Forks and Port Townsend.
The Crescent boys, which were the runners-up in 2012, again have the best chance of claiming a team championship.
The Loggers’ state title hopes depend on the throwing of Josh Sowder (discus and shot put), Gene Peppard (shot put) and Derrick Findley (javelin).
“Josh Sowder and Gene Peppard really will fuel the trophy run, if we’re to get it done,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.
“We know they can go anywhere in the top three in the shot — we could go one-two, we could be one-three, we could be two-three, but I really think they will be nowhere else.
“Josh could win the discus — worse case scenario, he could be second.”
Sowder is ranked third in the 1B classification in both of his events, while Peppard ranks fifth in the shot put.
The rankings don’t add any pressure for Sowder. In fact, they have the opposite effect.
“It kind of puts me over on the cocky side of things,” Sowder said before practice this week.
“Not necessarily a good thing, but it’s kind of nice going in knowing that I’m one of the best.”
Yount also expects points from Findley in the javelin.
“He’s capable of going huge. His training regime has got him really peaking at the right time,” Yount said.
“He could go into the [160-foot range] and be top three, so our throwers could put about 26 or 27 points on the board all by themselves.”
Yount said the field will be much more competitive than last year, when Valley Christian (85) and the Loggers (83) both scored in the 80s.
“It’s going to be about five teams scoring in the 40s, who are going to battle it out for the trophies,” Yount said.
“It just depends who’s hot a state, you know, which kids step it up and hit big marks.”
Macen McLain is a one-man team for Mansfield. He’ll be competing in four events, and according to Yount, could be the favorite in all four.
If he does, he might win the team title for Mansfield.
One of those events is the long jump, in which Findley will also compete.
Yount said Findley is probably jumping for second place.
McLain doesn’t have as firm of a grip on high jump, so Donovan Christie has a chance to avenge his second-place finish to McLain last year.
Christie is aiming for and capable of a 6-foot-4 jump, which Yount said would give him the Crescent school record and likely a state championship.
Martin Waldrip, younger brother of Matthew, is the Crescent boys’ only runner, and could bring more points in the 3,200-meter run.
A team championship isn’t as realistic for the Loggers’ girls, but they are capable of placing.
Junior Devanie Christie is one of the favorites to win the javelin, but she also has a chance to medal in the 100-meter hurdles.
Among the hurdlers she’ll have to beat is freshman teammate Ryan Lester.
Lester said the two get along, but she wants to beat Devanie Christie more than any of the other competitors.
“Yeah, definitely. It’s definitely one of those things,” Lester said.
“But, we don’t have a rivalry. After a race, we hug each other.”
Both Lester and Devanie Christie said it helps having a teammate who is on their same level.
“It encourages you to go faster, but it can be really frustrating if you get beat by the other person,” Devanie Christie said.
“I get really angry, but you know that you did good because your other team member only beat you by a little bit.”
Yount said that Christie has a habit of running with the fastest kid in her heat, and Lester makes sure to keep up with Christie.
“[Devanie’s] so competitive, she has a tendency to just glue on people and not let them get away,” Yount said.
“They hate to lose to each other. Especially Ryan. Ryan does not like Devanie to beat her. And being a freshman, competing against a junior, she wants to be the top dog right now.”
Both will also run in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, along with Kellie Belford and Jandi Frantz.
Yount said Belford, the Crescent team captain, is the key to both relays.
“Relay teams . . . tend to melt at big championship meets, if they don’t have a leader. She’ll have them all calm,” Yount said.
Yount said Shannon Williams and Meghan Shamp also have very good chances to medal in the shot put and discus, respectively.
Clallam Bay
Justin Welever highlights the Bruins going to state.
Welever, a senior who will attend Aurora University in Illinois on a track scholarship, is one of the best sprinters in 1B and on the Peninsula.
He ranks fourth in 1B in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
Welever was eliminated from state in the preliminaries last season, and Clallam Bay coach Aaron Burdette said he has worked hard to become of the state’s elite.
“He’s all-business. That’s what we call him, All-Business,” Burdette said.
“If he runs a really good race, he has a chance to win it.”
Welever will be joined at state by Jesse Wonderly (400-meter run) and Casey Randall (long jump).
Eighth-grade high jumper Molly McCoy is the only Clallam Bay girl at state.
Because of middle school basketball, McCoy missed the first month of the track and field season.
She started slow, but has leaped to the top-10 rankings.
“The whole world is in front of her,” Burdette said.
Neah Bay
The Red Devils only have two athletes at state, Elisha Winck in the triple jump and Faye Chartraw in the shot put.
Both are sophomores.
Chartraw has been among the state’s top shot putters all year long, and Winck comes into state having surpassed 40 feet in the last two meets.
Chimacum
The Cowboys won two individual titles at last week’s 1A Tri-District meet: Rafael Pagasian won the long jump and Daryl Settlemire the discus.
Settlemire place ninth at state in the discus in 2012, and is ranked second in 1A this year.
Pagasian, meanwhile, moved up to third place in the long jump by beating his personal record by a foot at the tri-district meet.
Freshman Bailey Castillo has a good chance to reach the medal stand in the javelin, in which she ranks eighth in state.
Super-athlete Mel Thornton will compete in the 300 hurdles.
“I’m very optimistic and pleased with how we competed at the tri-district meet,” Chimacum coach Tony Haddenham said.
Port Townsend
Like Chimacum, the Redskins claimed two titles at tri-districts.
Skyler Coppenrath won the boys triple jump, and Rebecca Stewart took the girls triple jump.
Stewart also qualified for state in the 300 hurdles.
Sprinter Jewel Johnson was a double qualifier, as well, reaching state in the 100 and 200.
Patricia Reeves is the fourth Port Townsend athlete at state, having qualified in the high jump.
All four athletes are juniors, all are state returners, and all are ranked in the top 10 in 1A in their events.
“They’re peaking at the right time, and their marks are moving up,” Port Townsend coach Kevin Sanford said.
Sanford said that competing in the 2A Olympic League is good for his squad.
“I like it. We get good competition throughout the season, and it prepares us for the postseason,” he said.
Forks
The Spartans have three throwers and one runner at state.
Sydney Christensen and Shane WhiteEagle are both competing in the shot put.
Christensen has the top girls shot put mark in the Peninsula.
Miguel Morales will throw the discus, Kari Larson will run the 800.
