HIGHLAND SPRINGS >> Andre Williams III did not take a wrong turn on the Highland Springs course Wednesday afternoon, much to the dismay of those trying to keep up with the Kelseyville High School sophomore.
Williams dominated the varsity boys’ race during a four-team Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet, covering the 3.2-mile trail course and its rolling hills in 19 minutes and 4 seconds. Two weeks earlier on the same course during the Lake County Meet, Williams veered left instead of right early in the race and the mistake cost him a chance to repeat as Lake County champion. The winning time that day was 22:22 by Clear Lake’s Solano Dominguez, who came in eighth on Wednesday in 22:53.
Winners in all three divisions on Wednesday enjoyed comfortable margins of victory. Fort Bragg’s Amelia Wirt won the girls’ race in 23:50 while Clear Lake’s Jacob Lopez, who trailed a handful of Fort Bragg runners in the first half of the junior varsity boys’ race, reeled them all in on the back side of the course and went on to win in 25:01.
Boys
Williams finished more than two minutes in front of runner-up Charlie Adams of Clear Lake in the varsity boys’ race. Adams (21:19) chopped more than a minute off his time at the county meet two weeks earlier when he finished second to teammate Dominguez in 22:27. Justin Perez of Kelseyville finished close behind Adams in third place at 21:25.
“It’s not a course record, but it’s a good time,” Clear Lake coach and meet director Peter Stanley said of Williams’ winning time. “He’s a strong runner and he did well.”
Adams was the story of the day for Clear Lake in the varsity race, according to Stanley.
“He keeps improving,” Stanley said. “Solano beat him in the last two races.”
Fort Bragg’s top runner, Oscar Hernandez, came in fourth in 21:32 and St. Helena’s Jerry Schweigler was sixth in 22:20. Also cracking the top 10 from Lake County were Kelseyville’s Jeffrey Amendola, seventh in 22:31, and Clear Lake’s Dominguez in eighth.
Clear Lake’s Ethan Wynacht finished 12th in 23:30.
“Ethan, our third runner, is always strong; he’s our old reliable out there,” Stanley said.
In team scoring, Clear Lake beat an incomplete St. Helena squad (fewer than five runners) while Fort Bragg edged Kelseyville 28-31.
Girls
Wirt enjoyed a 40-second cushion over teammate Hailey Hutchinson (24:40), who came in second behind Wirt in the girls’ race. Emerelda Plascencia of Fort Bragg was third in 26:13.
The next five finishers were from Kelseyville beginning with Yareli Lozano (26:33) in fourth, Laurel Weller (28:32) in fifth, Brianne Henry (29:04) in sixth, Bailey Couey (29:17) in seventh and Kia Kohler (29:27) in eighth.
Clear Lake’s Rainey Vanoven was 13th overall in 30:25.
St. Helena defeated Clear Lake 24-31 in team scoring while Fort Bragg made the most of its 1-2-3 finish of Wirt, Hutchinson and Plascencia to beat Kelseyville 25-30.
JV boys
Lopez posted a 29-second victory over Fort Bragg’s Clay Andrews (25:30) in the JV boys’ race. Another Clear Lake runner, Cole Saiz, came in fifth in 26:18.
“Out of nowhere,” Stanley said in describing Lopez’s first win. “He’s been our fifth or sixth runner and he ran the race of his career so far. In my mind I thought he was going to fast when he first came around.”
