KELSEYVILLE — Amanda Horne could have settled back and finished fourth with little effort on Wednesday as the Kelseyville Knights played host to a four-team meet at the Springer Cross Country Course in Kelseyville.
To the surprise of nobody, least of all her coach, Ernest Woodson, Horne selected another course of action.
“Over the final 400 yards she passed two runners,” Woodson said. “She caught one on the backstretch and put on a great sprint the final 50 yards and actually stole second place.”
What”s more, Horne wasn”t even 100-percent healthy.
“She has a cold, she”s had it all week,” Woodson said.
Horne”s time of 23 minutes, 21 seconds was nearly three minutes faster than her previous best on the 2.9-mile course. Only race winner Claire Wilson of St. Helena had a better time (22:24).
“Wilson ran an outstanding race,” Woodson said. “She”s a class act the whole way.”
Horne caught and passed Nina Brunn of Rincon Valley Christian (23:20) and Lauren Hale of St. Helena (23:26) late in the varsity girls” race. Kendall Robbins of Rincon Valley Christian (23:33) rounded out the top five.
Cracking the top 10 were Kelseyville runners Amanda Mueller (25:52) and Paz Lozano (26:10), the ninth- and 10th-place finishers, respectively.
Upper Lake”s Ashley Burns finished 12th in 26:18.
Rincon Valley Christian edged out Kelseyville 35-45 in team scoring.
Varsity boys
Brendan Vonkoss of St. Vincent won the varsity boys” race in 18:09, finishing well ahead of Rincon Valley Christian”s Luke Sanders (18:43) and St. Vincent”s Albert Felice (18:54).
Kelseyville”s fastest runner was Eddie Ledesma, who was 12th in 20:24. His teammate, Beau Woodson, was 18th in 21:02.
Upper Lake”s top finisher was Michael Dolan, who was 21st in 21:44.
Rincon Valley Christian won the team title with 28 points to St. Vincent”s 47.
Kelseyville”s teams return to action Wednes-day in Willits.
