HIGHLAND SPRINGS >> Brothers Solano and Sereno Dominguez figured prominently in Clear Lake High School”s team wins against St. Helena on Wednesday during a four-team Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet at the 3.1-mile Highland Springs Reservoir course near Lakeport.
Kelseyville also scored against Fort Bragg during the meet, which took place in nearly ideal early autumn conditions — warm but not hot and with no appreciable wind.
“Solano blasted down the stretch (in the varsity race) as did his brother (Sereno) in the JV race,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanely said of a solid showing by both the Cardinals” varsity and JV boys” teams. “Both ran really strong races,” Stanley added.
Varsity boys
Clear Lake beat St. Helena 19-36 while Fort Bragg topped Kelseyville 21-35 in head-to-head conference scoring in the varsity boys” division. Elias Lehnhardt of Fort Bragg won individual honors with a time of 21 minutes, 19 seconds, but three other runners, two of them Cardinals, were within striking distance most of the race. Solano Dominguez finished second in 21:29, teammate Alex Beare was close behind in third at 21:32, and Fort Bragg”s Sam Russell was fourth in 21:39.
“Alex picked it up and ran well, he was close to Solano,” Stanley said. “It”s going to be fun watching those two race against each other the rest of the way.”
Also cracking the top 10 were three Lake County runners who finished within a second of each other while battling for sixth place. Luis Garcia of Kelseyville won out in 21:58, Clear Lake”s Owen Lawler was right behind at 21:58.5, and Kelseyville”s Roberto Lozano was eighth in 21:59.
Clear Lake”s solid team finish included a 12th-place finish by Ethan Wyncaht (23:43) and a 16th-place finish by Nate Falkenberg (24:56).
Girls
Fort Bragg”s Amelia Wirt dominated the girls” race, winning comfortably in 26:00, more than a minute ahead of teammate and runner-up Raina Sciocchetti (27:02). Kelseyville freshmen Laurel Weller (27:59) and Bailey Couey (29:17) were next across the finish line followed by Fort Bragg”s Becky Sanchez in fifth at 29:37.
Other top finishers were Kelseyville”s Yareli Lozano, sixth in 29:51 and Clear Lake”s Mariela Soto, seventh in 31:03.
“Mariella is one of the great spirited kids on the team and our top runner,” Stanley said.
Also running strong for Clear Lake was Aubrey Geare, according to Stanley.
In team scoring, St. Helena topped Clear Lake 20-43 and Fort Bragg beat Kelseyville 23-36.
JV boys
Cele Caldera of St. Helena ran away with JV boys” race, winning in 23:34. Sereno Dominguez (25:43) of Clear Lake sprinted down the stretch to hold off third-place finisher Royce Whitaker (25:46) of Fort Bragg.
Clear Lake runners Nick Dudley (26:07) and Hunter Daily (26:19) turned in solid fifth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively.
“Sereno ran the race of the day for us,” Stanley said. “He was our fourth runner last week.”
Dudley, who posted Clear Lake”s top JV time a week ago, still ran a strong race, according to Stanley, as did Daily, who was the Cardinals” fifth man a week ago.
“He was the latecomer on the team so I”m hoping he”s only going to get stronger every week,” Stanley said of Daily.
Scotty Mather (28:55) and Tyler Buchholz (29:27) also cracked the top 10, taking ninth and 10th, respectively.
Although most of the day went without a hitch, Stanley said a handful of runners took a wrong turn during the combined JV boys” and girls” race although the course was well marked at the various turns and forks. In fact, in keeping with a healthy lifestyle that many runners pursue, Stanley said he marked the course with gluten-free flour (because he ran out of the other kind).
“That stuff is expensive,” Stanley said.
The Cardinals return to action next week in Middletown against the host Mustangs, Lower Lake and Willits. Kelseyville also hosts a meet next Wednesday.
