UPPER LAKE — Zachary Sneathen may be only a freshman, but that kid can fly.
On a warm fall Wednesday afternoon on the Northshore, the Upper Lake ninth-grader completed his 2.86-mile home course in a winning time of 16 minutes, 52 seconds during a Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet.
St. Helena, Fort Bragg and Mendocino also took part in the meet. Point Arena, the team Upper Lake was supposed to score against, was a no-show, which means the Cougars picked up wins in all three divisions — varsity boys, girls and junior varsity boys.
“For Zack it was just a matter of time,” Upper Lake coach John Woods said when asked about Sneathen”s winning performance. “He ran so well at Frogtown (last weekend in Angels Camp). He”s gonna be a good one.”
Sneathen”s victory means that a different member of the talented varsity boys” squad has led Upper Lake in each of its five meets of the season. His winning time might have been a few seconds better had he not broken stride late in the race to re-direct Mendocino”s Nick Knoebber back onto the course. Knoebber began to go off-course when Sneathen pointed him back in the right direction. Knoebber ended up second in 17 minutes flat.
A wave of Upper Lake red and white uniforms followed behind Knoebber, beginning with Alex Rogers in third place at 17:08. St. Helena”s Grant Jeffcoat came in fourth (17:21) but the next four runners were all Cougars — Gage DeHeer (17:24), Jared Wade (17:42), Greg Gagnon (17:50) and Cory Rodriguez (17:54).
“All the varsity boys are competitive,” Woods said.
Fort Bragg beat St. Helena in head-to-head scoring 20-43.
Varsity girls
While the varsity boys” race had a bit of suspense, the girls” race belonged entirely to St. Helena”s talented Julia Eyer, who cruised to an easy win in 19:57. Upper Lake”s Bianca Cruz finished fourth overall in 22:06 and teammates Brittany Benner (25:05), Jessica Orozco (25:06) and Yamileth Plata (25:07) also cracked the top 10, finishing eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.
“We”re starting to pack the girls in there a little bit, which is nice to see,” Woods said of four runners in the top 10.
Another Upper Lake runner, Lyla Seevers, placed 14th in 25:44.
“Lyla is coming on strong,” Woods said. “And Savannah Koppenhaver (18th overall) keeps improving with every race.”
St. Helena defeated Fort Bragg 18-46.
JV boys
Senior Emmitt Quadrio, a first-year runner, motored to an easy win in the JV boys” race, crossing the finish line in 19:12, more than a minute ahead of teammate Matt Willard (20:13) in second place.
“I only wish I had him for another year or two,” Woods said of one the Cougars” most improved runners regardless of division. “He always gives me a super effort in practice. He”s tough. I”m thinking about moving him up to seventh man on the varsity.”
Quadrio and Willard led a 1-2-3-4 Upper Lake finish. Justin Lewis (20:23) came in third and Arthur Wilkie (21:20) was fourth.
“Those are really good times for Willard, Lewis and Wilkie,” Woods said. “Matt and Jutin are approaching the 20-minute barrier, which is real good.”
Upper Lake scores against Rincon Valley Christian next Wednesday at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa.
