LAKEPORT — In just four short seasons, Middletown High School has gone from having no track team to having the best boys” and girls” squads in Lake County.
The person responsible for that would be track coach Louise Owens, who has just one assistant in parent-volunteer Todd Nelson.
“I”ve got a good group of athletes who work hard,” Owens said. “They do very well and they deserve the credit.”
On Wednesday, Middletown”s track squads took the annual Lake County Meet by storm, winning team titles in both the boys” and girls” divisions by healthy margins. In the boys” competition, it was Middletown 120, Kelseyville 68, Clear Lake 58, Lower Lake 24 and Upper Lake 9. In the girls” division, it was Middletown 136, Clear Lake 65, Kelseyville 40, Lower Lake 39 and Upper Lake 23.
Clear Lake did win the junior varsity” boys division with 114 points to Upper Lake”s 52, Middletown”s 35, Lower Lake”s 23 and Kelseyville”s zero.
Owens said the interest in track at Middletown is off the charts, so much so that she had to makes cuts this season because she didn”t have enough uniforms or transportation capacity.
“We had 50 (on the team) and now we”re down to 45,” Owens said. “The seniors deserve a lot of the credit for recruiting kids. I really didn”t have to recruit that much.”
Middletown had a pair of double-event winners in the boys” competition. Nick Valdovinos won the shotput (37 feet, 6 inches) and the discus (128-10), while Myles Moffat won the long jump (19-1/2) and triple jump (41-0).
Also winning two events were Kelseyville”s Chris Lopez in the 1,600 meters (5 minutes, 27 seconds) and 3,200 (12:07), and Lower Lake”s Michael Bell in the 300 hurdles (43.92 seconds) and the 200 (24.38).
Other winners were Mark Gonzalez of Middletown in the 110 hurdles (17.6); Jake Clouse of Middletown in the 400 (54.6); Seth Glazier of Clear Lake in the 100 (11.83); Russell Rosenthal of Middletown in the 800 (2:23.4); Mark McDonald of Kelseyville in the high jump (5-10); and the Middletown 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
Girls
In the girls” competition, Anisa Green of Clear Lake turned in four first-place finishes for the runner-up Cardinals, winning the 100 (13.80), the high jump (4-8), the long jump (16-10) and the triple jump (35-7).
Middletown”s Jenny McGee won the 1,600 (6:38.8) and the 3,200 (14:31). Teammate Emily Beckwith finished first in the 100 hurdles (19.03), lowering her own school record in the process.
Other firsts for Middletown came in the 800, where Brianna Nelson won in 3:05.20; in the 400, where Alexis Rockwell won in 1:11.2; and in the 4×100 relay (57.3).
Also claiming firsts were Tashee Denson of Lower Lake in the 300 hurdles (54.68); Darlena White of Lower Lake in the shotput (28-2?); Ashley Tipton of Clear Lake in the discus (81-1); and Melissa Coburn in the 200 (29.88).
Middletown won the 4×100 relay (57.3) and Lower Lake won the 4×400 relay (5:41).
