MIDDLETOWN — Middletown High School”s Cassidy Parker made his move at the 2-mile mark and went on to win the varsity boys” race Wednesday during a Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet at the 2.94-mile Diamond D Ranch in Middletown.
Lower Lake, Rincon Valley Christian and Roseland Prep also took part in the first meet held on Middletown”s new home course, which is just a stone”s throw from Bill Foltmer Field on the Middletown campus.
The figure-eight course is flat for the most part but features a moderate grade at the 2-mile mark, which is exactly where Parker, who was running fourth at the time, made his move.
“Fortunately we”re able to practice there one day a week and he has the advantage of knowing the course although everyone got to walk it (before Wednesday”s meet),” Middletown coach Eric Olson said of Parker, who clocked in with a winning time of 19 minutes, 14 seconds.
Elliot Serena and Madax McDowell of Middletown finished second and third at 19:37 and 19:52, respectively. Minh Cao of Roseland Prep, the race leader at 2 miles, came in fourth in 19:54. Jake Tangermann of Middletown (20:29) rounded out the top five.
“Elliot has been the surprise,” Olson said of the junior, a first-year runner.
Middletown beat an incomplete Lower Lake team in head-to-head scoring.
Varsity girls
Madison Provost of Rincon Valley Christian ran away from the field in the varsity girls” race, hitting the finish line in 21:25, more than a minute ahead of runner-up Liz Nunez (22:32) of Roseland Prep. Tori Roderick of Middletown came in third in 22:50.
Five other Middletown runners also finished in the top 10. Nikki Erb (26:16) was sixth, Kylie Ruggio (27:32) was seventh, Ashley Thompson (28:05) was eighth, Carmen Sandoval (28:13) was ninth, and Alana McSween (28:34) finished 10th.
Middletown beat an incomplete Lower Lake team in head-to-head scoring.
JV boys
Luis Vasquez of Roseland Prep won the junior varsity boys” race in 19:44, beating out Middletown”s Parker Spadaro (19:55) by 11 seconds.
Also for Middletown, Diego Munoz came in fourth in 20:08 and Riley Adams, who removed both of his shoes at the 2-mile mark and ran in his socks the rest of the way, was fifth in 20:48.
“He said his feet were just too hot,” Olson said.
Because it was the first race held at Middletown”s new home course, the winning times in all three divisions are course records.
Olson said he was pleased with the work of all of his runners and said the meet went off with no problems.
“If they could all go that way, that would be great,” Olson said.
Middletown scores against Willits next Wednesday in Calistoga.
In other cross country action Wednesday:
Clear Lake, Upper Lake at Cloverdale
Nine teams were scheduled to compete but only eight showed up to run on the 3-mile Asti course located just south of Cloverdale.
The no-show was Calistoga, Upper Lake”s scheduled opponent. The Cougars won by forfeit in all three divisions. Clear Lake scored against Cloverdale. While the host Eagles beat the Cardinals in the varsity boys” (17-39) and girls” divisions (24-33), Clear Lake”s JV boys did win (23-38).
Varsity boys
Darin Marcucci of Cloverdale won the varsity boys” race in 18:35, 20 seconds ahead of teammate Axay Patel (18:55). Cory Rodriguez of Upper Lake (18:57) finished two seconds behind Patel in third place while teammate Gage DeHeer, the winner in the open boys” division Saturday at the Viking Invitational in Santa Rosa, finished fifth in 19:13.
Leading Clear Lake was Christian Van der Jagt, seventh overall in 19:23. Zach Sneathen of Upper Lake also cracked the top 10, placing ninth in 19:28.
“He was less than a minute behind the winner,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said of Van der Jagt. “He”s doing real well.”
Clear Lake”s second finisher was a bit of a surprise, none other than freshman Owen Lawler, the Lake County Meet champion in the JV division last week. Promoted to the varsity for Wednesday”s meet, Lawler clocked in at 20:30, good for 16th place.
“He earned it today,” Stanley said. “He ran a great race.”
Brice Beare, Clear Lake”s third runner across the line, was 18th in 20:45. Right behind him was teammate Jake Egger in 19th place at 21:01.
For Upper Lake, Greg Gagnon was 12th overall (19:52) and Jared Wade was 17th (20:41).
Varsity girls
Erin Thomas of Mendocino won the varsity girls” racing going away, finishing in 19:56, the only girl to finish in less than 20 minutes. Julia Eyer (21:47) and Madi Oliver (22:17) of St. Helena finished second and third, respectively, and Clear Lake”s Tamara Rojas (24:01) came in fourth.
Upper Lake sophomore Bianca Cruz led the Cougars with a sixth-place time of 24:54 and Meghan Beare finished eighth for the Cardinals in 25:27.
Other top finishes went to Upper Lake”s Brittany Benner, 14th in 27:38, and to Clear Lake”s Melissa Thibeau, 16th in 28:02.
Stanley praised the efforts of Rojas, Beare and Thibeau.
“Tamara”s going to be one of the top runners in the CMC,” Stanley said. “Beare did a great job and Melissa had a really good race.”
Both Beare and Thibeau are first-year runners.
JV boys
Josh Riboli of Point Arena won the JV boys” race in 20:35, edging out Upper Lake”s Emmitt Quadrio (20:36) by a second. Clear Lake”s Aaron Hodges was third in 21:37 and Upper Lake”s Matt Willard was fifth in 22:02.
“He did really well,” Stanley said of Hodges.
Upper Lake competes in the Frogtown Invitational on Saturday at Angels Camp.
