ANGELS CAMP — Upper Lake High School”s cross country team turned in another strong performance Saturday during the 42nd annual Frogtown Invitational at Angels Camp.
More than 2,500 runners representing 75 high schools, most from Central California, took part in the event, which is held on hilly 2- and 3-mile courses at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds, home of the World Championship Frog Jumping competition.
Upper Lake finished 13th out of 26 teams in the varsity boys” division while the freshman boys” team came in second.
Varsity boys
Charlie Coburn finished 51st out of more than 200 runners with a time of 20 minutes flat in the varsity boys” race. Ben Mullin placed 55th (20:11), Mike Dolan was 57th (20:16), Andrew O”Meara was 67th (20:38), Christian Cisneros was 111th (22:41), Cameron Beighle was 120th (23:5), and Mike Dawson finished 126th (23:59).
“The heat took its toll on everyone running,” Upper Lake coach John Woods said. “All the varsity boys did their very best and got to compete against some of the state”s best athletes and held their own doing it.” Woods added.
Varsity girls
The Upper Lake girls finished 11th out of 19 teams and held up well despite the dusty and hot conditions, according to Woods.
“The lady Cougars were very tenacious and had no quit on a very tough course,” Woods said.
Marina Sharp placed 35th out of 140 runners with a time of 25:08. Alice Borje came in 65th at 27:54, Angel Taylor was 81st in 33:19, Mary Tucker finished 88th in 34:05, Emily Bushta was 90th in 34:46, and Emma Johnson came in 91st in 35:26.
Frosh-soph boys
The freshman boys” team of Chris Cisneros, Alex Rogers, Jared Wade, Cory Rodriquez, Gage DeHeer, Giovanni Bautista and Michael Herringshaw competed in the first race of the day and made it pay off, placing second out of 23 teams.
“They beat everyone except Bret Harte High School, who gets to run on the course every day,” Woods said.
Cisneros led the way, finishing eighth overall in 13:30, just one second ahead of ninth-place finisher Rogers. Wade came was the next highest finisher at 19th (14:28).
Other times had Rodriguez at 14:42, DeHeer at 16:34; Bautista at 16:56 and Herringshaw at 20:16.
“The freshmen boys have worked hard all summer long and the hot days and miles are starting to pay off now,” Woods aid.
Freshman team members received individual medals along with a team trophy.
In the sophomore boys” race Jordan Austin finished 37th in 15:04 and Ian Weber was 68th in 20:38 out of more than 100 runners.
Junior varsity race
Tyler Warren and Will Folger represented Upper Lake in the junior varsity race.
“Tyler and Will ran their best races of the season so far, finishing 26th and 28th with times of 23:44 and 24:04, respectively, for the very hilly and demanding 3-mile course,” Woods said.
Upper Lake team members arrived at Angels Camp Friday, set up their camp, walked the course and then traveled up the highway to Big Trees State Park to hike around and admire the giant Sequoia Redwoods. They then had dinner at a local pizza parlor before sleeping under the stars.
Next up for Upper Lake is a Coastal Moun-tain Conference meet Wednesday in Willits.
