WILLITS — Tiko Landa of Kelseyville passed race leaders Elias Lenhardt of Fort Bragg and Owen Lawler of Clear Lake on the third and final loop to win a 2.86-mile cross country race on Wednesday afternoon at Brooktrails in Willits.
Six teams participated in the non-league invitational event. Joining Kelseyville, Fort Bragg and Clear Lake were runners from Lower Lake, Cloverdale and Fort Bragg.
The Brooktrails course is a run through the redwoods along a path that follows a stream crossed by a bridge. It”s a fan-friendly course in that spectators can see the runners for a good part of the 2.86 miles.
Lenhardt and Lawler were running neck-and-neck through the first two loops before Landa made his move at about the 2.25-mile mark.
“They (Lenhardt and Lawler) followed close behind him but couldn”t catch him,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said. “It was a well-run race by Kelseyville. He ran a smart race.”
Landa finished in 17 minutes, 19 seconds. Lenhardt (17:23) edged out Lawler (17:23) for second place.
Everardo Chavez of Lower Lake finished sixth in 18:10 and Juan Flores of Kelseyville also cracked the top 10, taking seventh in 18:13.
Fort Bragg was first in the team standings with 49 points. Clear Lake was next with 74.
Varsity girls
Angela Romero of Cloverdale posted a 15-second victory over Clear Lake”s Meghan Beare in the varsity girls” race, winning in 20:26 to Beare”s 20:41. They were the only two runners to finish under 21 minutes.
Kim English of Clear Lake was 12th in 24:57.
Cloverdale dominated in team scoring with 22 points to runner-up Fort Bragg”s 50.
JV boys
Running in his first cross country race, Clear Lake freshman Solano Dominguez won the junior varsity boys” race in 20:02, nine seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Anthony Sorace of Willits (20:11).
Dominguez was a member of Clear Lake”s soccer team until a little more than a week ago when he joined the cross country team.
“He ran away with the race,” Stanley said. “He had a great sprint at the end.”
Clear Lake runners Aaron Hodges (20:38) and Nate Falkenberg (20:59) finished third and fourth, respectively.
Other top-10 Lake County finishers were Clear Lake”s Jose Estrada, seventh in 21:54; Lower Lake”s Ethan Watson, ninth in 22:23; and Lower Lake”s Eric Graves, 10th in 22:23.
