ANGELS CAMP — Another meet, another new face leading the Upper Lake High School varsity boys” cross country team to the finish line.
On Saturday it was Alex Rogers” turn as he placed 42nd out of 169 runners at the Frogtown Invitational in Angels Camp. The event brought together small and large schools and the Cougars” top four finishers placed in the upper third of a strong field.
“A lot of teams that are cross country powerhouses came to Frogtown this year,” Upper Lake coach John Woods said. “It was a very competitive field.”
Rogers, a senior, is the fourth Upper Lake varsity boy to lead his team this season, following in the footsteps of teammates Jared Wade (Lake County Meet), Gage DeHeer (Viking Invitational) and Cory Rodriguez (Coastal Mountain Conference meet at Cloverdale).
“They hang out together at school all day, they take turns being the rabbit in practice, but definitely when it comes to racing they”re a competitive bunch,” Woods said of his varsity runners. “Alex stepped up … I guess he figured it was his turn.”
Coming off a 13th-place finish at the Cloverdale meet on Wednesday, Rogers completed the 3-mile Frogtown Invitational course in 19 minutes, 51 seconds. The winning time was 16:40.
Packed in tight behind Rogers were teammates DeHeer (51st in 20:06), Wade (53rd in 20:08) and Rodriguez (56th in 20:16). Greg Gagnon was 76th in 21:13.
Zachary Sneathen, who competes with the varsity during conference meets, placed third out of 60 runners in the freshman-only division, finishing the 2-mile course in 12:30, eight seconds behind the winner and two behind the runner-up. He might have finished higher but a wrong turn on the course cost him a few seconds, according to Woods.
“He had the lead quite a bit of the race,” Woods said. “It was a sprint at the finish line (for second place).”
Two other Upper Lake runners, Matt Willard (22nd in 14:51) and Justin Lewis (26th in 15:11), also finished in the upper half of the field.
Both Sneathen and Willard received medals for placing in the top 25.
“They”re both putting in a huge amount of effort,” Woods said of Willard and Lewis.
In the sophomore race, Upper Lake”s Arthur Wilke placed 49th out of 83 runners in 15:27 on a 2-mile course.
In the JV boys” race, Upper Lake”s Emmitt Quadrio, a first-year runner, placed 17th on the 3-mile course in 22:12.
“He puts in the effort,” Woods said of Quadrio. “He”s turning into a very quiet leader by showing the amount of effort he wants to put into it.”
Girls
In the small-school division for varsity girls, sophomore Bianca Cruz led the Cougars with a 61st-place time of 26:11 (out of a field of 120 runners) on a 3-mile course. Brittany Benner was 88th in 28:53, right behind her in 89th place was teammate Yamileth Plata in 28:69, and Jessica Orozco was 91st in 29:14. Savannah Koppenhaver was 107th in 31:17.
“They stepped up,” Woods said of his varsity girls, many of whom ran only 2 miles a year ago as freshmen and sophomores. “They had a good, steady run and they”ll just do better (next year).”
In the frosh-soph girls” race on a 2-mile course, Upper Lake sophomore Lyla Seevers placed 54th out of 92 runners in 19:09.
Upper Lake hosts a conference meet on Wednesday.
and will go head-to-head with Point Arena for scoring purposes. St. Helena and Fort Bragg will also take part.
