Memorial Day Weekend means one thing in the spring preps world: state championship time.
Track and field, tennis, baseball, softball, boys soccer, lacrosse . . . every spring sport except for golf crowns its title winners (because the golfers already decided theirs).
Sequim’s Allison Cutting already claimed a championship of her own on Thursday, winning the Class 2A girls 3,200 meter race in Tacoma.
While the North Olympic Peninsula doesn’t have a team or athlete in all of those championships, it’s certainly well-represented across the board.
Here’s a quick rundown of each:
Track
Cutting might have taken home a title already, but there’s still plenty of state track action left during the next two days.
All eight track and field programs on the Peninsula will have at least one athlete competing either today or Saturday in Tacoma and Cheney.
The Crescent boys will send nine to the 1B state meet at Eastern Washington University by themselves, with 400-meter runner Dylan Christie a state title favorite.
His Loggers girls counterpart, Kylie Mitts, should also be in the running for a state crown in the javelin. The boys also have an outside shot at a top-three team finish.
Port Angeles sent 11 athletes on to the 3A state meet in Tacoma, led by star Ceci Stevenson, who took second in high jump Thursday.
Nathan Hofer, who was second in the boys high jump at Bi-Districts last week, could make some serious noise at state as well for the Rider boys.
Sequim’s Anna LaBeaume will look to defend her title in the 2A girls shot put.
She took second in the event at districts last week, falling short of state leader Shreese Gotel of Steilacoom for the second straight week.
LaBeaume will likely have to throw her best toss of the year to beat Gotel, who has cleared 41 feet consistently the last few weeks.
Cutting will also get a chance at another state title on Saturday in the 1,600. She currently has the third-best time in 2A.
Port Townsend (1A), Chimacum (1A), Neah Bay (2B) and Clallam Bay (2B) also have athletes competing in Cheney.
Baseball
The Chimacum Cowboys (17-3 overall) return to the 1A state semifinals for the third time in four years this Saturday in Yakima.
Chimacum absolutely destroyed the competition at its regional last week, beating host Castle Rock 10-0 and Onalaska 22-9 on 36 hits combined.
A familiar face is waiting for the Cowboys at Yakima in the Meridian Trojans, the same team that beat Chimacum 3-2 in the Tri-District semis two weeks ago.
Cowboys ace Landon Cray was brilliant most of the game against the Trojans, striking out 11. Yet it was his bases loaded bean ball that cost Chimacum the game.
Meridian went on to win the Tri-District crown, and beat Montesano and Cascade Christian to set up the rematch.
Will he get a second chance at the Trojans? Or will Cowboys coach Loren Bishop save him for a possible championship game matchup against Naches Valley or Cashmere?
One never knows with Bishop, who once saved ace Arlo Evasick for the 2007 1A final.
The Cowboys rewarded Bishop’s faith that season, winning the semi 5-4 against Nooksack Valley, then taking the championship game 4-2.
Against who? Semifinal counterpart Naches Valley.
Softball
The Chimacum Cowboys (18-3) are red-hot entering this weekend’s 1A state tournament in Pasco.
Chimacum submitted a pair of blowout victories to claim the 1A Tri-District and had won 11 straight 1A Nisqually League games before that.
It’s the team’s eighth straight visit to state, so they are more than veterans, they are regulars.
Chimacum takes on Southwest Washington League power Toledo in the first round.
A possible matchup with the defending state champion Montesano Bulldogs lurks in the semifinals.
The Bulldogs handed Chimacum one of its two defeats at state last year, a 13-0 six-inning loss.
Those Cowboys took fourth, also losing to Connell 3-2 in the consolation final.
The team’s goal this year is to reach the finals, which would be a first for the program.
Tennis
The Sequim boys and girls typically send a girls and boys doubles team to state, and this spring is no different.
The tandem of Reed Gunstone and Malory Maloney will make its their third straight 2A state appearance today when they take on Sehome’s Bjorn Thorpe and William Giller in the first round today at Nordstrom Tennis Center at the University of Washington.
Gunstone and Maloney took fifth last year in the same event, and are coming off a district title run in which they didn’t lose a set.
It’s been a busy week for Maloney, who also participated in the 2A boys golf state championship.
Now they are looking to match, at the very least, Michael Richards and Cody Hanson, who finished a Wolves-best second in the 2A doubles tourney in 2007.
Sequim girls doubles team Katrina Chan and Stacy Hanson will also compete at state.
This will be the first time on the big stage for either of them.
