ASTI >> The Clear Lake Cardinals got their first and only look at Cloverdale on Wednesday afternoon, competing on the Eagles” 3.0-mile course in Asti during a Coastal Mountain Conference four-team cross country meet.
Kelseyville and St. Helena also took part in the second-to-last meet of the regular season, which closes next Wednesday. The CMC Championships follow on Nov. 12 in Middletown.
“It”s a difficult course, a tough course,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said of the Asti layout, a course that runs down into a ravine and then goes back up. An added challenge was the 80-degree weather.
“I don”t think it”s ever cool when we run in Cloverdale,” Stanley said.
Cool or not, the Clear Lake boys, and especially Alex Beare, turned in a strong effort while beating an incomplete Cloverdale team in head-to-head scoring.
In a varsity boys” race that set up with Beare and Kelseyville”s Robert Lozano racing for first place and Clear Lake”s Solano Dominguez and Kelseyville”s Luis Garcia battling it out for third, the Cardinals prevailed both times.
“Beare and Lozano were running together with a mile to go,” Stanley said.
Beare pulled away and won the race in 19 minutes, 11 seconds, a good 29 seconds ahead of runner-up Lozano.
“He ran a real beautiful race. I think he planned it that way,” Stanley said of Beare”s big surge during the final mile.
Likewise Dominguez and Garca were running neck and neck for third place with a mile to go. Dominguez picked up the pace at that point and finished third in 19:57, a comfortable 17 seconds ahead of Garcia in fourth.
Emmett Lawson of Cloverdale rounded out the top five in 20:30.
Two other Clear Lake runners cracked the top 10. Ethan Wynacht was eighth in 20:46 while Owen Lawler was ninth in 21:09. Jack Farris of Kelseyville finished 10th in 21:31.
Kelseyville beat St. Helena 25-32 in team scoring.
Girls
A powerful Cloverdale girls” team defeated Clear Lake 16-45. Led by race winner Angela Romero (22:00), the first four runners to cross the finish line were Eagles. Cloverdale had six runners in the top 10.
Clear Lake”s Mariela Soto (25:58) was the first non-Cloverdale runner across the line. Soto cut the side of her ankle on some wire (used at a nearby vineyard) during the the pre-race course walk but still ran a strong race, according to Stanley.
Kelseyville”s Laurel Weller finished sixth in 26:05 and teammate Bailey Couey was eighth in 27:34.
Both Kelseyville and St. Helena had incomplete teams (fewer than five runenrs).
JV boys
Clear Lake runners finished one through four in the junior varsity boys” race while beating Cloverdale 17-31. Hunter Daily led the way in 21:31, a good two minutes ahead of second-place finisher Sereno Dominguez.
Cord Falkenberg was third in 23:36 and Jovanny Flores, competing in his first race for the Cardinals, was fourth in 23:59.
Clear Lake returns to action next Wednesday in Middletown and will score against Lower Lake.
