WILLITS >> Three races and three winners from Lake County on Wednesday afternoon as the Clear Lake, Lower Lake and Middletown cross country teams traveled to Willits to compete on the 2.87-mile Brooktrails course in a Coastal Mountain Conference meet.
One of the more scenic courses in the CMC, the Brooktrails layout winds through forestland, crosses a creek twice by way of bridge, and features a 300-yard sprint on open ground near the end.
Clear Lake scored against host Willits while Middletown scored against Lower Lake during the day’s action.
Varsity boys
Charlie Adams of Clear Lake and Izak Walker of Willits set the pace and pulled ahead of the pack in the varsity boys’ race. Walker led for the better part of the race before Adams made his move on the second loop and left Walker behind. Adams was alone when he broke into the clear near the finish line and he won in 17 minutes, 42 seconds to Walker’s 18:28.
“That was a good duel,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said. “They ran together most of the way.”
An even better race emerged for third place as Middletown teammates Jack Farres and Jack Shrive were neck and neck at the finish line, Farres edging out Shrive by about one-tenth of a second, according to Middletown coach Sarah Carlisle. Both runners were officially credited with a time of 18:24.
“Jack Farres hung on Jack Shrive’s shoulder the entire way,” Carlisle said. “They’ll be wanting to beat each other for the rest of the season.”
While Farres and Shrive were battling for third, a four-runner race developed for fourth place, all four from Lake County. Dimitri Imbrunetti of Middletown won out in 19:13 and was followed closely by Clear Lake’s Ethan Wyncaht (19:14), Lower Lake’s Billy Melvin (19:15) and Clear Lake’s Dylan Bennett (19:16).
Amida Verhey of Middletown came in 10th in 19:36.
“Ethan and Dylan ran solid races,” Stanley said.
Steven Harvey of Middletown ran his first varsity race and was 18th in 21:05. Likewise Clear Lake promoted Cole Saiz from the junior varsity squad and he was right behind Harvey in 19th place at 21:08.
“He was 37 seconds per mile faster than a week ago,” Carlisle said of Harvey.
In team scoring, Clear Lake defeated Willits 25-30 while Middletown beat Lower Lake 19-39.
Girls
Grace Southern of Middletown won her second race in a row, crossing the line in 21:38, a comfortable 21 seconds ahead of Willits’ Morgan Riley (21:59). Four Middletown runners followed Wiley, led by Savannah Creager (21:17). Next across the line were Kamrin Williams (21:20), Jessica Zell (23:03) and Natalie Jekel (23:23). Clear Lake’s Rainey Vanoven was seventh in 23:47 and Lower Lake’s Lily Wetmore took eighth in 24:16.
Two more Middletown runners closed out the top 10. Carissa Forest was ninth in 24:50 and Abi Murphy placed 10th in 25:23.
The Mustangs had six other girls in the top 20, most of them first-year runners who continue to improve at an impressive rate, according to Carlisle.
“A lot of them are still finding their pace,” Carlisle said.
Both the Clear Lake and Willits teams were incomplete (just four runners apiece). Middletown beat an incomplete Lower Lake team that was without its top runner, Aleia Milano.
JV boys
Clear Lake runners finished first through fifth in the junior varsity boys’ race led by Brandt Mason in 20:44 and Ethan Scuderi-Schulman in 20:55.
Mason kept girls’ leader Southern of Middletown in his sights the entire race (JV boys and varsity girls run together in high school cross country) and finished just six seconds behind her. While he was posting his best finish of the year, Scuderi-Schulman also ran a strong race in second place, according to Stanley.
Jaron Mertle (21:54), Sereno Dominguez (22:12) and Diego Tejeda (23:13) rounded out the top five.
Middletown’s Caden McDowell was sixth in 23:21 and Lower Lake’s Andrew Smith came in seventh in 23:23.
Clear Lake, Middletown, Lower Lake and Kelseyville all return to action next Wednesday at Highland Springs south of Lakeport.
