Whatcom County prep and college athletes piled up 25 state titles, three top-five national placements and many other state trophies in the spring season’s final week.
Prep track and field athletes made up 19 of the county’s 25 titles, with 18 being in individual events or relays. Lynden baseball fell narrowly short of its first-ever state title as the only county team that reached a state championship game this spring.
Western Washington University’s Jordan Lee led the Vikings’ men’s golf team to a 15th overall nationals finish — its best since 2013 — by placing second at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championships.
Here’s a look at other action from around Whatcom County you may have missed.
Prep
Boys/girls tennis
Sehome boys tennis won both the singles and doubles titles to capture its first team state championship since 2017 during the 2A state tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle on May 27.
It was the Sehome boys first team state championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. The Mariners tallied 24 points, North Kitsap was second with 20 and Pullman was third with 16.
The singles and doubles titles also marked the first time a 2A girls or boys team won both in the same year since 2006.
Sehome’s doubles duo of Calvin Kraynak and Whitt Gresham kicked it off with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over league rivals Matthew Rutz and Sawyer Nichols of Anacortes to clinch the doubles championship. The Sehome duo beat the same Anacortes team in districts back in October 2022.
“We did not talk about playing them for a second time,” Sehome coach Tom Sloane said. “We talked about starting off with big targets and big spins because that allows for mishits to still be effective, then take it from there.”
Sehome’s Zach Chai followed that up with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sequim’s Garrett Little to claim the singles championship.
“He’s become very comfortable with the pressure situations and the expectations that he puts on himself,” Sloane said of Chai. “He’s more aware of the bigger picture.”
Both titles were a credit to Chai, Kraynak and Gresham’s development and patience within their matches, Sloane said.
“There was a common theme between the two [teams], and they developed the same, which was to get their groove on early — to not be over-aggressive at the start of their competitions,” Sloane said. “But get comfortable at the start of the competitions, and then, as needed, ramp up their games.”
Sehome’s Nathan Gruman also made it to state, but he lost in the quarterfinals and was eliminated in the consolation semifinals.
On the girls side, Bellingham’s Kira Carlson and Ella Morrow placed second in doubles after falling in two sets to Columbia River’s Lauren Dreves and Sydney Dreves in the title match.
Bellingham girls placed fourth as a team with 12 points, while Pullman won with 25, Columbia River was second with 19 and Sammamish third with 15.
Also in doubles, Lynden’s Kalanie Newcomb and Adia Newcomb placed third after defeating Bremerton’s Elena Andreu and Claire Warthen in the third/sixth-place match.
Boys/girls golf
Whatcom County golfers won three state titles at the 2A and 3A golf tournaments on May 24, the first local championships since Lynden’s Jordan Medcalf won the 2A individual title in 2019.
The Sehome girls won the 2A team title at Meadowwood Golf Course in Liberty Lake, as all four Mariners golfers finished within the top 30.
Hannah Hochsprung led Sehome with her fifth-place finish and a two-round score of 152 (74-78). Cassie Hogan finished 12th (167), Kaari Little took 24th (183) and Maddie Hogan came in at 27th (185).
After finishing fourth in 2022, Ferndale’s Baylor Larrabee won the 3A boys individual championship at Indian Summer Golf and Country Club in Olympia with his two-round score of 142. Larrabee finished two-under-par and shot a 71 in both rounds.
Following in his brother’s footsteps, Lynden’s Logan Medcalf won the 2A boys individual championship at Liberty Lake Golf Course with his two-round score of 141 (70-71).
Lynden finished fourth as a team as the Lions’ Jack Stapleton took 19th (154). Sehome finished fifth at the 2A tournament, led by Wes Bothel’s eighth-place finish (145). The Mariners’ John Kummer was just a few spots behind in 11th (149).
Meridian’s Daniel Blankenburg took seventh at the 1A boys tournament at Riverside Golf Club in Chehalis with his two-round score of 153 (75-78). Lynden Christian’s Griffin Dykstra finished 14th (161).
Boys soccer
After losing to undefeated, eventual state champion Columbia River in the 2A state semifinals, Sehome managed to bounce back and finish third overall.
The Mariners erased a two-goal first-half deficit to defeat Pullman 4-3 on May 27 at Renton Memorial Stadium.
Senior Gilberto Andrews scored the game-winning goal for the Mariners in stoppage time, lifting Sehome past the Greyhounds.
The win gave Sehome its best state finish since winning the 2A state championship in 2019.
Fastpitch softball
Three Whatcom County fastpitch teams attended state tournaments May 25–27, but none were able to secure any hardware.
Blaine was the most likely candidate, entering the 1A state tournament at the Columbia Playfields in Richland as the bracket’s No. 4 seed.
The Borderites beat No. 5 Riverside in the quarterfinals, 3-1, but were knocked into the consolation bracket after being shutout by top-seeded Montesano, 10-0.
Blaine still had a shot to claim third or fourth place, but the Borderites lost 8-3 to No. 6 Deer Park in their next game and were eliminated.
No. 10 Lynden Christian upset No. 7 Columbia in the first round of the 1A state tournament, earning a 13-0 win. From there, the Lyncs were tasked with beating No. 2 Royal, and they lost 5-2.
LC fell to Deer Park, 21-6, in its final game of the season.
Lynden, the No. 8 seed in the 2A state tournament at Carlon Park in Selah, earned a first-round, walk-off win over No. 9 Centralia to start its tournament.
The Lions fell 13-1 to No. 1 North Kitsap in the quarterfinals before being eliminated by No. 6 Port Angeles, 7-6.
WWU
Track and field
Western junior Marian Ledesma finished fifth in the women’s 800-meter run on May 27 at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the ThunderBowl on Colorado State University Pueblo’s campus.
In the finals, Ledesma clocked a time of 2:09.92 — her second-fastest mark of the season — earning First Team All-America honors as a result.
Sophomores Drew Weber and Ila Davis took home Second Team All-America honors with their nationals finished, as Davis placed 11th in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:58.97) and Weber finished 12th in the men’s 800-meter run (1:51.25).
Western’s women’s team tied for 44th place with four team points.
Women’s rowing
Western finished fourth out of six teams at the NCAA Division II Rowing Championships on May 27 at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, New Jersey.
The Vikings finished with 14 team points — four points behind third-place Seattle Pacific University — led by its Varsity Four group that finished third with a time of 8:20.610.
Western’s Varsity Eight team finished fifth (7:29.235) after a head-to-head matchup with Thomas Jefferson University in the petite final.
Western women’s rowing has reached the national championships in 19 of the last 21 seasons.
Eric Trent contributed to the reporting of this story.
An earlier version of the story misstated the number of total state championships Whatcom County athletes earned. Prep athletes finished the weekend with 25 state titles, not 24. The story was updated to reflect these changes at 11:14 a.m. on May 30. Cascadia Daily News regrets the error.
