HIGHLAND SPRINGS >> There’s never a dull moment when sophomore Andre Williams III of Kelseyville High School races at the 3.2-mile Highland Springs cross country course just south of Lakeport.
Williams made his Highland Springs debut last month during the Lake County Meet and was the heavy favorite to win a second straight county title until he lost his way on the course while way out in front. He ended up finishing in the middle of the pack after an estimated 1-mile detour. Two weeks ago he returned to Highland Springs and blew away the field with a time of 19 minutes, 4 seconds.
On Wednesday, in his third and final appearance at Highland Springs this season, he bettered that time by some 38 seconds, winning in 18:26 against a field that included Middletown, Clear Lake, Lower Lake and non-scoring Pacific Union College Preparatory School (PUC). As he was making his way down the homestretch that is also the Highland Springs parking area, a Chevy Tahoe decided to add a degree of difficulty to Williams’ finish by backing up in front of him. With the vehicle directly in his path, Williams made a quick course correction, veering left around the front end of the Tahoe and then steering back to the right before crossing the finish line a few seconds later.
Fortunately that was the only close encounter of the vehicular kind during a meet where Middletown’s varsity boys’ and girls’ squads enjoyed plenty of individual and team success, including wins by Grace Southern (24:42) in the girls’ division and Caden McDowell (24:31) in the junior varsity boys’ division.
Varsity boys
Williams established a big lead early and continued to pull away from his closest pursuers as the runners made their way around the challenging Highland Springs course, where the footing on the many narrow paths can be tricky at times, especially on the front end of the course.
So impressive was Williams’ run on Wednesday that he finished nearly three minutes ahead of Clear Lake’s Charlie Adams, who has placed second in all three of his races at Highland Springs this season – the last two times behind Williams and last month behind teammate Solano Dominguez in the Lake County Meet. Adams crossed the line in 21:19 – the exact same time he posted two weeks ago at Highland Springs.
The remainder of the top five included Jeff Amendola of Kelseyville (21:52), Dimitri Imbrunetti of Middletown (22:04) and Billy Melvin of Lower Lake (22:07).
Top-10 finishers were Ethan Wynacht of Clear Lake, sixth in 22:25; Jack Shrive of Middleotwn, seventh in 22:54; Jack Farres of Middletown, eighth in 23:12; Tyler Duckett of PUC in 23:22; and Howie Huang of PUC (23:25).
In team scoring, Middletown defeated Clear Lake 24-33 while Lower Lake edged out Kelseyville 25-30.
While Lower Lake had only one top-10 finisher in Melvin, the Trojans got a lift from their second and third finishers, Blake Fredrickson (23:42, 11th place overall) and Eric Graves (23:46, 12th place). Kelseyville was without one of its top runners in Justin Perez (injury).
Girls
Southern has won each of her last three races, all at different courses. She edged out Lower Lake’s Aleia Milano three weeks ago at the Diamond D Ranch in Middletown, won by a much bigger margin last week at Willits, and continued her streak at Highland Springs. Her winning time of 24:42 was 61 seconds faster than her third-place finish on the same course last month at the Lake County Meet (25:43).
Unlike Williams in the varsity boys’ field, setting a fast pace isn’t Southern’s race strategy, according to head coach Sarah Carlisle, who said her runner likes to go out at a slower pace while keeping the leader(s) in sight, which is exactly what she did Wednesday as Kelseyville’s Bailey Couey grabbed the early lead with teammates Yareli Lozano and Laurel Weller also near the front of the pack. Southern made her move on the back side of the course where it flattens out and opens up, which makes it more conducive to passing.
Couey stayed close the entire way and finished seven seconds behind Southern in second place at 24:49. Weller (25:09) and Lozano (25:25) were next across the finish line alone with Savannah Creager of Middletown in fifth place at 25:32.
The Mustangs’ strength in numbers included top-10 finishes by Jessica Zell, eighth in 27:25, and Natalie Jekel, ninth in 27:44. Lower Lake’s LilyWetmore rounded out the top 10 at 27:44, just a fraction of a second behind Jekel.
PUC runners Emma Payne (26:36) and Katie Booska (27:23) were sixth and seventh, respectively.
Clear Lake’s top runner, Rainey Vanoven, finished 11th in 27:46.
Middletown beat Clear Lake 16-47 and Kelseyville defeated an incomplete Lower Lake team that was without two of its top runners in Milano (illness) and Jenny Landeta (injury).
JV boys
McDowell, the younger brother of former Middletown standout runner Madax McDowell, posted a 48-second win in the JV boys’ race. McDowell was the only runner to crack the 25-minute mark at 24:31. Lower Lake’s Anderw Smith came in second at 25:19, Jacob Lopez was third in 25:33, Jarvie Russell of PUC finished fourth in 26:44; and Jaron Mertle of Clear Lake was fifth in 27:32.
Middletown, Clear Lake and Kelseyville all return to action next Wednesday in Kelseyville while Lower Lake travels to Fort Bragg.
