ANGWIN — Upper Lake High School cross country runners Zachary Sneathen and Greg Gagnon finished within a second of each other while placing one-two Wednesday during a Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet on the 3-mile Pacific Union College course at Angwin.
Clear Lake High School”s varsity boys” runners also turned in a strong showing although they weren”t scoring against Upper Lake. Clear Lake beat host St. Helena 15-48 while Upper Lake defeated a St. Vincent squad that was a no-show.
Varsity boys
Sneathen, a freshman, won the varsity boys” race in 17 minutes, 35 seconds, just a tick of the clock ahead of teammate Gagnon (17:36). Clear Lake”s Christian Van der Jagt (18:05) and Owen Lawler (18:14) were next across the finish line. Alex Rogers of Upper Lake rounded out the top five in 18:22.
The second five to finish also were Upper Lake and Clear Lake runners. Cory Rodriguez of Upper Lake was sixth (18:35), Brice Beare of Clear Lake was seventh (18:38), Upper Lake”s Jared Wade was eighth (18:39), Clear Lake”s Aaron Hodges, promoted from the junior varsity team, was ninth (19:07), and Clear Lake”s Connor Disney was 10th (19:56).
“The last time we raced Upper Lake we had only one runner in the top seven to their six,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said. “Upper Lake is the best, the one we shoot for.”
With a solid top three of Van der Jagt, freshman Lawler and Beare, the Cardinals now have another solid contender in Hodges, who made his varsity debut.
“He showed himself out there today,” Stanley said. “Our varsity boys are gelling a bit right now.”
Varsity girls
Julia Eyer of St. Helena won the varsity girls” race in 20:48, 34 seconds ahead of teammate Madi Oliver (21:22). Meghan Beare of Clear Lake finished a solid third in 22:37 while Upper Lake”s Bianca Cruz was fifth overall in 23:36.
Clear Lake”s top runner, Tamara Rojas, missed the meet as she is on vacation with her family in Southern California, according to Stanley.
St. Helena defeated Clear Lake 18-45 in team scoring.
“Meghan came through,” Stanley said of the freshman. “She ran a real good race. She”s a real fighter and she runs hard.”
Upper Lake runners Brittany Benner (24:47) and Yamileth Plata (24:55) also cracked the top 10, placing eighth and ninth, respectively.
Clear Lake”s Miranda Wanzer celebrated her 17th birthday with a 17th-place finish of 27:56.
JV boys
Ryan Smith (19:28), Kenyon Donald (19:40) and Andres Tejeda of Clear Lake finished one-two-three in the junior varsity boys” race after leader Matt Willard of Upper Lake took a wrong turn on the course.
“My three guys actually stopped and were yelling at him, trying to get him back on the course but I guess he (Willard) didn”t hear them,” Stanley said.
Willard finally doubled back but the delay cost him and he finished 13th in 22:46. His teammate, Emmitt Quadrio, was fourth overall in 20:04. Clear Lake”s Ryan Hodges was fifth.
“The surprise there was certainly Ryan,” Stanley said of Smith. “Kenyon has been beating him all season. Andres is also running real well.”
Clear Lake beat an incomplete (fewer than five runners) St. Helena team.
