MCKINLEYVILLE — Michael Dolan finished sixth in the varsity boys” race while leading the Upper Lake Cougars to a third-place finish in the team standings Saturday at the Clam Beach Invitational cross country race in McKinleyville.
Other highlights for the Cougars included Marina Sharp”s fourth-place finish in the varsity girls” race and another team title for the Upper Lake junior varsity boys, who were led by Chris Cisneros” fifth-place time.
Varsity boys
Dolan completed the 3-mile course in 17 minutes 51 seconds. He was followed across the finish line by teammates Ben Mullin (18:33), Andrew O”Meara (18:54), Charlie Coburn (19:30), Christian Cisneros (19:44), Cameron Beighle (20:08) and Michael Dawson (20:38).
The barefoot runners raced on the sand at the edge of the surf. The course is deceiving because of the varying consistency of sand and because of wind gusts up to 25 mph.
Powerhouse Corning won the team competition and host McKinleyville came in second.
Varsity girls
Sharp”s fourth-place time in the varsity girls” race was 22:39.
Also running for Upper Lake was newcomer Melissa Coburn, who finished 13th overall in 24:46.
JV boys
In the 2-mile JV boys” race, Chris Orr of Willits topped the field, but Upper Lake combined five strong individual finishes to take the team title, led by Chris Cisneros at 13:37.
Also for Upper Lake, Jordan Austin came in seventh at 14:03, Alex Rogers was ninth in 14:09, Jared Ward placed 11th in 14:15, and Gage DeHeer was 13th in 14:23.
Other top finishers for the Cougars were Tyler Warren (14:47),Will Folger (14:58), Cory Rodriquez (15:03), Daniel Van Meter (15:54), Giovanni Bautista (15:57), Ian Weber (18:55) and Michael Herringshaw (19:00).
JV girls
Upper Lake placed second as a team in the 2-mile JV girls” race. Alice Borje led the way with a 10th-place finish of 18:38. She was followed by teammates Angel Taylor (19:28), Mary Tucker (21:59), new runner Lacee Petrovsky (24:39), Emily Bushta (26:15) and Emma Johnson (32:14).
The JV girls were confronted with a brutal headwind and driving surf that made running the course considerably more difficult.
After the race, Upper Lake traveled to Humboldt State for a tour of the field house, the Redwood Bowl stadium complex and the new gym.
On Friday, the 27 Cougar runners camped out at Patrick”s Point State Park.
Upper Lake returns to action Wednesday in Middletown at 3:30 p.m.
