HIGHLAND SPRINGS >> Lower Lake’s Aleia Milano took a wrong turn on the 3.2-mile Highland Springs cross country course, realized her mistake and recovered to win the girls’ race on Wednesday afternoon during the annual Lake County Meet.
Kelseyville’s Andre Williams III, the huge favorite to win the varsity boys’ race, wasn’t as fortunate. Williams, the defending county meet champion as was Milano, went about a mile off course before discovering his error and by then it was too late. He doubled back and still caught a handful of runners while finishing 15th out 24.
Clear Lake’s Solano Dominguez crossed the finish line first among the varsity boys, five seconds ahead of teammate Charlie Adams.
Middletown won team titles in the varsity boys’ and girls’ divisions and placed second behind Clear Lake in the junior varsity boys’ standings. The Mustangs’ Justin Harrington also won the JV race.
Clear Lake hosted this year’s county meet and Clear Lake coach and meet director Peter Stanely said both Milano and Williams went astray in the same area, making a left when they should have veered right.
“At the top of the third hill you come to a trail that goes straight and you need to make a right that takes you into a field,” Stanley said. “There are cones and a lot of white chalk (to mark the spot), but the cones might have been moved.”
If the cones were in the proper place, Stanley said there is “no way not to follow them off to the right.”
Neither Williams or Milano took part in a course walkthrough before the race, which is usually standard operating procedure in cross country so that runners can familiarize themselves with the course.
In fact, Milano, a junior running on the Highland Springs course for the first time, said she actually turned the wrong way three times although the first two mistakes were easy fixes. The third time was a different story.
“I think I ran in the wrong direction for about 30 seconds and then I doubled back,” she said.
Even with those bobbles, Milano said she felt better about her performance this week compared to last week at the Cougar Classic in Upper Lake where she also won the girls’ race.
“I did a lot of hill work in preparation for the meet,” Milano said.
Stanley, a runner himself, said it’s easy to make a wrong turn when you’re out in the lead and there is no one nearby to help you out.
“When you’re really pushing it, you are in a bit of a fog with all your blood going to your muscles,” he said. “You’re not always thinking clear.”
Boys
Williams said he had a big lead and might have mistaken white rocks for white chalk when he made a wrong turn on the course.
“I had my head down and was running hard,” he said. “After a while I didn’t see anybody or hear anybody and when I looked back I realized I was going the wrong way. I was nearly at the dam.”
Williams, who was smiling after the race and in good spirits, took the costly mistake in stride. And he never gave up on the race.
“I think I ended up running an extra mile,” he said. “My only thought was I have to finish the race. You don’t quit. Quitting is a bad thing.”
Williams did take solace in that his next race, the Viking Invitational on Saturday at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, takes place on a course where it is virtually impossible to get lost on because of signage and course marshals.
The Kelseyville sophomore, Lake County’s top male runner a year ago and the winner at last week’s Cougar Classic, also said he’ll likely do a course walkthrough when the Knights return to Highland Springs on Sept. 28. They also run there on Oct. 12.
Williams’ off-course adventure opened the door for the rest of the boys’ field and Clear Lake’s Solano Dominguez took advantage by finishing first in 22 minutes and 22 seconds. Teammate Adams was next at 22:27 followed by Kelseyville’s Jeff Amendola at 22:39 and Justin Perez at 22:57.
Middletown jerseys dominated the remainder of the top 10 beginning with Jack Shrive (23:21) in fifth place, Jack Farres (23:25) in sixth, Dimitri Imbrunetti (23:50) in seventh and Clear Lake’s Ethan Wynacht (24:08) in eighth. Three more Middletown runners — Amida Verhey (24:17), Jay Stalker (24:25) and Aiden Isaia (24:39) — followed Wynacht across the finish line.
“Solano’s in good shape,” Stanley said of race winner Dominguez. “He was the surprise of the day. Charlie was one of our top runners last year and I think you’re going to see him get better as the season goes on.”
Stanley also had praise for freshman Skylar Moore, who placed 17th in 25:55.
Team scoring had Middletown with 37 points, Clear Lake with 40, Kelseyville with 60 and Lower Lake with 91.
Girls
Milano clocked in at 25:09 to win the girls’ race, 24 seconds ahead of runner-up Yareli Lozano (25:33) of Kelseyville. Middletown runners Grace Southern (25:43), Savannah Creager (25:59) and Kamrin Williams (26:27) rounded out the top five.
The next five finishers were Kelseyville’s Bailey Couey (27:05) and Laurel Weller (28:07), Middletown’s Jessica Zell (28:57), Lower Lake’s Jenny Landeta (29:01) and Middletown’s Natalie Jekel (29:16).
Clear Lake’s top finisher was Rainey Vanoven, 13th in 29:41.
Middletown beat Kelseyville 30-44 in team scoring. Lower Lake was third with 61 points and Clear Lake was incomplete.
JV boys
Harrington won the JV boys’ race in 24:59. Finishers trickled in after that with runner-up Steven Harvey of Middletown second in 25:44, Clear Lake’s Cole Saiz third in 26:05, Middletown’s Caden McDowell fourth in 26:38 and Clear Lake’s Brandt Mason fifth in 27:16.
There was a big break before the sixth-place runner, Chris Lasher of Clear Lake, finished in 30:34. Right behind him were Lower Lake’s Tristan Day (30:35), Clear Lake’s Diego Tejeda (30:35.5) and Sereno Dominguez (30:36).
Brett German of Middletown was 10th overall in 31:51.
Stanley credited the freshman Saiz with a strong race.
“He’s a hard worker and he’s really surprised me with how well he’s doing,” Stanely said.
