FORT BRAGG >> Middletown went head to head with Kelseyville while Clear Lake challenged Fort Bragg in a Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet hosted by Fort Bragg on a rainy and muddy Wednesday afternoon on the Mendocino County coast.
“It poured on us,” Middletown coach Sarah Carlisle said. “Drenching rain and deep mud,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley added. “The kids loved it.”
Middletown defeated Kelseyville in all three divisions — varsity boys, girls, and junior varsity boys. Fort Bragg beat Clear Lake in varsity boys” and girls” scoring but the Cardinals did win in JV boys” competition.
Varsity boys
Middletown”s Joe Swehla, second last week in the Lake County Meet, covered the 2.9-mile Bald Hill course in a winning time of of 19:48, nine seconds faster than runner-up Elias Lenhardt of Fort Bragg. Third place went to Middletown”s Diego Munoz, the Lake County Meet champion, in 20:15. Another Middletown runner, Justin Hingston, claimed fourth in 20:24.
Clear Lake”s top runner was Solano Dominugez, sixth in 20:38. Also cracking the top 10 were Clear Lake”s Owen Lawler, ninth in 21:06, and Alex Beare, 10th in 21:23.
Stanley said both Dominguez and Lawler ran solid races.
“Alex can do better and will,” he added.
Clear Lake”s coach also was pleased with the 13th-place finish of freshman Ethan Wynacht, who moved from junior varsity to varsity for Wednesday”s race.
“I think he surprised himself at how well he did,” Stanley said.
Carlisle also gave her runners high marks, especially given the conditions.
“They did a great job in the rain,” she said.
Girls
Amelia Wirt of Fort Bragg won the girls” race in 23:15. Her closest pursuer was Middletown”s Tiyanna Meese, second in 26:23. Bailey Couey of Kelseyville came in fifth in 28:06 and was followed across the finish line by Middletown runners Tori Roderick (28:30), Natalie Jekel (28:39) and Michelle Williams (28:47).
Clear Lake”s Mariela Soto came in 10th (31:48).
“She”s clearly our best runner,” Stanley said of Soto.
Also for Clear Lake, Amelia Tejeda came in 12th (32:06).
JV boys
Jonny Nance of Middletown dominated in the JV boys” race, winning in 21:13. Two of his teammates, James Stocker (22:42) and Andrew Benson (22:53), came in second and third, respectively. Nick Dudley of Clear Lake was fifth in 24:04.
“Nick ran a great race,” Stanley said. “Mark Estrada also surprised me and ran a strong race.”
Estrada came in eighth in 26:41. Also for Clear Lake, Chris Lasher was ninth in 26:45 and Sereno Dominguez was 10th in 26:56.
Girls” soccer
St.Vincent 8, Upper Lake 0
At Petaluma, St. Vincent led 5-0 at halftime and went on to blank the Upper Lake Cougars in North Central League II girls” soccer action.
“They outplayed us every way ? passing, first to the ball and (they) had great communication,” Upper Lake coach Mandy Robbins said. “The girls just need to keep their heads up and not give up when they are getting outplayed.”
Upper Lake, now 0-9, is home Friday against Roseland Prep. Action begins at 4:30 p.m.
