SANTA ROSA — John Dedmon and Kelsey Welton of the Middletown High School cross country team turned in the fastest times among Lake County runners competing in the Viking Opener on Saturday at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa.
Dedmon placed 27th in 11 minutes, 26 seconds in the senior boys” division and Welton finished 30th in the junior-senior girls” division in 14:19 on the 2-mile Spring Lake course.
Kenny Smith of Willits won the senior boys” race in 10:16 and Sarah Sumpter of Healdsburg won the junior-senior girls” race in 11:46.
Lower Lake”s Jamie Dawson placed 91st in the junior-senior girls” race at 18:25.
In the boys” junior race, Middletown”s Russell Rosenthal placed 50th in 12:49, Lower Lake”s Jeremy Parks was 76th in 14:33, and Upper Lake”s Amos Burns was 79th in 15:20. The race winner was Wyatt Landrum of Liberty in 10:20.
In the frosh-soph girls” race, Middletown runners Natasha Gibbs and Thea Olson finished 56th (15:45) and 57th (15:48), while teammate Alyssa Fusek was 73rd in 17:24. The race winner was Casa Grande”s Jacque Taylor, who had the best overall girls” time of 11:15.
In the frosh-soph boys” division, Chris Nance of Middletown placed 64th in 12:37 and Jarrod Rudy of Middletown was 86th in 13:19. Charlie Coburn of Upper Lake was 93rd in 13:31. The race winner was Erik Olson of Novato in 10:22.
Taylor”s winning time of 11:15 in the frosh-soph girls” division was the third-fastest time in the event”s history, trailing only Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa High (10:40 in 1996) and Sara Bei of Montgomery (11:05 in 1998).
Lake County”s teams return to action Wednesday in a series of meets throughout the North Coast.
