MCKINLEYVILLE — Competing against a cast of large schools, including host McKinleyville, Arcata, Corning, Red Bluff, Yuba, Ukiah and Central Valley (Oregon), the Upper Lake High School cross country squad turned in a strong showing Saturday at the Clam Beach Invitational in McKinleyville.
Several Clear Lake High runners also participated.
Varsity boys
In the 3-mile varsity boys” race, Paul Holden of Ukiah won in 15 minutes, 47 seconds, the only runner to crack the 16-minute barrier. Gage DeHeer was the first Upper Lake runner to finish, crossing the line in 17:13, good for 17th place. Right behind him in 18th was teammate Jared Wade (17:15).
Other top finishers for Upper Lake were Alex Rogers, 24th in 17:47; Nick Davison, 25th in 16:49; and Chris Cisneros, 30th in 18:06.
“I was really pleased with the improved times of the top seven varsity runners,” Upper Lake coach John Woods said. “They all showed marked improvement.”
Varsity girls
Carmen Arguello of McKinleyville won the 2.5-mile varsity girls” race in 16:10. Tonya Bennett of Upper Lake finished ninth in 17:32 and teammate Angel Taylor was 25th in 19:15.
“Bennett had the best race of the year and seems to be back ready to help the varsity girls contend for the (Coastal Mountain Conference) title,” Woods said.
JV girls
Upper Lake”s JV girls placed second out of eight teams to bring home individual team ribbons as well as a second-place plaque. Cougar runners finished ninth through 14th, led by Brittany Benner at 14:17 in the 2-mile race. Next came Markie Stifter (14:35), Courtney Aceves (14:40), Bianca Cruz (14:51), Jessica Orozco (15:20 and Yamileth Plata (15:23).
“The ladies are running faster each meet and it”s really exciting to see the improvement,” Woods said.
For Clear Lake, Tamara Rojas placed 22nd in 17:48 and Miranda Wanzer was 25th in 18:21.
Verna Heidman of Arcata won the race in 12:18.
JV boys
Upper Lake”s top five JV boys tied Ukiah”s top five in the team standings, but Ukiah was awarded third place and Upper Lake dropped to fourth because of the sixth-man tiebreaker.
Giovanni Bautista and Brandon Lovrin, both of Upper Lake, finished eighth and ninth, respectively, at 11:52 and 11:55 on the 2-mile course. Another Upper Lake runner, Jesse Noble, placed 17th in 12:36 while Clear Lake”s Christian Vander Jagt was 20th in 12:45.
Other top Lake County finishers were Clear Lake”s Ryan Smith, 23rd in 12:50; Clear Lake”s Josh Tate, 25th in 12:57; Clear Lake”s Kenyon Donald, 26th in 12:58; and Clear Lake”s Ryan Hodges, 28th in 13:03.
Alex Yeomen of Arcata finished first in 11:01.
There also was a division for middle school runners and Upper Lake sixth-grader Lyndsey Wade, running in her second Clam Beach Invitational, won the overall girls” division in 7:35.
Upper Lake hosts Point Arena in a Coastal Mountain Conference scoring meet Wednesday at Upper Lake beginning at 3:30 p.m. St. Helena and Cloverdale are also entered.
