SANTA ROSA — Upper Lake High School used to be a football and varsity girls” basketball powerhouse. Now the Cougars are starting to flex their considerable muscle in another sport … cross country.
Upper Lake”s varsity boys” and girls” squads made their presence felt in a big way on Saturday in the open division at the Viking Invitational at Spring Lake. The boys won the team title in the 3,200-meter open race and Marina Sharp finished third overall in the 3,200 girls” open race.
“Everyone had personal records,” Upper Lake coach John Woods said. “I”m a very proud and excited coach.”
Boys” open
Led by Charlie Coburn, Michael Dolan and Christian Cisneros, Upper Lake edged out large school Maria Carrillo of Santa Rosa, 17-18, to win the boys” open title.
Coburn came in third (out of 106 total runners) with a time of 11 minutes, 56 seconds. Dolan was sixth overall in 12:14 and Cisneros finished eighth in 12:17.
Also for the Cougars, Ben Mullin placed 20th (12:53) and Cameron Beighle was 40th (13:43).
Race winner Emilio Horner of Maria Carrillo crossed the finish line in 11:44 and runner-up Adam Fain of Analy crossed in 11:47.
Upper Lake”s other finishers were Tyler Warren (14:31, 64th), Gage DeHeer (14:32, 65th), Daniel Van Meter (15:29, 84th), Giovanni Bautista (16:44, 97th) and Michael Herringshaw (18:50, 100th).
Fourteen teams scored in the open division.
Girls” open
Sharp”s third-place time in the girls” open was 14:49, just two seconds behind runner-up Sidney Sullivan of Maria Carrillo. Race winner Leila Nacouzi of Montgomery (Santa Rosa) finished in 14:30.
Alice Borje had Upper Lake”s next best time at 17:09, good for 34th place in the 70-runner field. Angel Taylor placed 52nd in 18:43, Mary Tucker finished in 22:36, and Emma Johnson had a time of 26:36.
Frosh-soph boys
All of Upper Lake”s frosh-soph boys ran personal bests at Spring Lake, led by Chris Cisneros (12:53), Alex Rogers (13:10), Jordan Austin (13:56), Jared Wade (14:07) and Cory Rodriguez (14:12).
Luis Luna of Piner won the race in 10:21.
The Cougars return to action Wednesday in a four-team meet hosted by Lower Lake at Anderson Marsh State Park.
