MIDDLETOWN >> Lower Lake High School runners won all three races while Middletown High School flexed its considerable cross country muscle against Fort Bragg during a Coastal Mountain Conference meet on Wednesday on the 2.9-mile Diamond D Ranch course in Middletown.
Lower Lake scored against Clear Lake while Middletown went head to head with Fort Bragg. PUC of Angwin competed as a non-scoring team.
Varsity boys
Everardo Chavez of Lower Lake stayed up with the lead pack of Middletown runners Joe Swehla, Diego Munoz and Justin Hingston before making his move in the varsity boys” race. While those four runners and Fort Bragg”s Elias Lehnhardt were within feet of each other near the midway point, Chavez and Swehla gradually pulled away and it was Chavez winning in 16 minutes, 14 seconds, just two seconds ahead of Swehla (16:16).
Munoz (16:43), Hingston (16:48) and Lehnhardt (16:50) were tightly packed in a battle for third place.
Middletown had six runners in the top 10 overall as Tanner Tarelli (17:23), Jonny Nance (17:41) and Jake Olson (17:48) ran strong races as well.
“It”s a really strong team,” Midldetown first-year coach Sarah Carlisle said of the varsity boys, who lose only one runner — Swehla — to graduation. “I expect us to be even better next year.”
Middletown beat Fort Bragg 17-45 while Lower Lake defeated Clear Lake 22-25.
Clear Lake”s Alex Beare, sixth in 17:06, and Lower Lake”s Joey Llewellyn, ninth in 17:41, ran to top-10 finishes. Also for Clear Lake, Owen Lawler came in 12th in 18:15.
“Alex had planned for the race,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said. “His goal was to beat the four top Middletown runners and Lehnhardt of Fort Bragg.”
While that didn”t happen, Beare did shave 90 seconds off his previous best time at the Diamond D Ranch course.
“He ran a real good race,” Stanley added.
In fact, nearly all of Clear Lake”s runners posted personal-best times at the Diamond D. Lawler was 94 seconds quicker than the last time he ran there and Ethan Wynacht, who came in 21st overall, bettered his time by 75 seconds.
“Pretty much all the varsity runners were one to two minutes better,” Stanley said.
Varsity girls
Lower Lake freshman Aleia Milano led Fort Bragg”s Amelia Wirt by a few strides at the midway point of the girls” race, but it was Milano who took control after that while posting her most impressive win of the season with a time of 18:56, a healthy 14 seconds ahead of the powerful Wirt (19:08), who beat Milano last week in Willits.
Middletown”s Tori Roderick ran fifth in 20:46, teammate Tiyanna Meese was sixth in 21:22, Lower Lake”s Madison Fletcher came in ninth in 22:39, and Clear Lake”s Mariela Soto was 10th in 22:49.
“She”s a real hard worker ? she works out with the guys and stays up with the guys,” Stanley said of Soto, who finished in 26:14 the last time she ran in Middletown. “That”s almost three and a half minutes faster,” Stanley said.
Finishing just outside the top 10 were Lower Lake”s Claire Alderson (22:52) and Middletown”s Abby Murphy (22:57).
Middletown beat Fort Bragg 25-31 while Lower Lake knocked off Clear Lake 19-43.
“We had everyone back today ? we still aren”t all 100 percent ? but we really needed the win to bump us up in the standings going into the CMCs next week,” Carlisle said.
JV boys
Lucas Plesia of Lower Lake dominated the field in the junior varsity boys” race with a winning time of 18:48. James Stalker of Middletown finished second in 19:33 and was followed closely by Christian Nikolov of Middletown (19:35) in third place.
Jovanny Flores, competing in only his second race of the season for Clear Lake, led the Cardinals with a time of 20:09. Teammate Nate Falkenberg was ninth overall in 20:37.
The battle for 19th place also brought some roars from the assembled runners and spectators as Clear Lake”s Tyler Buchholz edged out teammate Chris Lasher in a near photo finish. Buchholz finished in 23;32.37 to Lasher”s 23:32.67.
“They weren”t trying to finish together like some runners try to do, they were trying to beat each other,” Stanley said.
In a great battle between Middletown and Fort Bragg for team honors, the host Mustangs prevailed 26-29. Clear Lake also beat an incomplete Lower Lake team (fewer than five runners).
Looking back on the final conference meet of the regular season, Carlisle said the improvement of her runners from earlier races on their home course was clear and impressive.
“They all had great races today and we had a lot of PRs,” she said. “I”m very happy with what they have accomplished.”
Decorated signs along the course honored Middletown”s runners during their final home conference meet.
