KELSEYVILLE >> Competing for the first time on Kelseyville High School’s newly reconfigured cross country course, a couple of runners from the host team – Bailey Couey and Andre Williams III – led the way in record-setting time on Wednesday afternoon during a four-team Coastal Mountain Conference scoring meet.
Kelseyville scored against Clear Lake while Middletown scored against St. Helena. Pacific Union College Preparatory School (PUC) from Angwin also participated as a non-scoring team.
The 3-mile course is located in the area of Mountain Vista Middle School and the Taylor Observatory, but the new configuration features plenty of uphill climb, especially on the back end, before runners head downhill toward the finish line, which is located on the Mountain Vista Middle School track.
Since it was the first time the reconfigured course had been used, the winning times in all three divisions stand as course records although they may not stand for long since Kelseyville hosts a meet again next week.
Girls
Couey built a big lead early on in the girls race but had to hold off a determined charge by Middletown’s Grace Southern as the two runners closed in on the finish line. Couey finished in 23 minutes, 8 seconds while Southern clocked in at 23:13. The Middletown sophomore was trying to win for a fourth straight week on a fourth different course and she just missed.
Couey and teammates Laurel Weller and Yareli Lozano have taken turns finishing No. 1 for the Kelseyville girls this season and all three ran strong races again Wednesday. Weller was third overall in 23:27 and Lozano finished fourth in 24:18. Middletown’s Savannah Creager rounded out the top five at 24:39.
The second half of the top 10 featured Kelseyville’s Bailey Huggins (25:04) holding off Middletown’s Kamrin Williams (25:07) and Jessica Zell (25:08) for sixth place. PUC’s Katie Booska was ninth in 25:48 and Clear Lake’s Rainey Vanoven was 10th in 25:55.
In team scoring, Kelseyville beat Clear Lake 16-47 while Middletown defeated St. Helena 15-48.
Varsity boys
Coming of a solid showing on Saturday at the Mariner Invitational at Hayward High School, Kelseyville’s Williams blazed his way to the finish line in 17:27, almost two minutes in front of teammate and runner-up Justin Perez at 19:22. Clear Lake’s Charlie Adams was third in 19:40, St. Helena’s Jeff Baker took fourth in 20:11, and Kelseyville’s Jeff Amendola was fifth in 20:22.
At the Mariner Invitational, which is held on the same course used for the North Coast Section Meet, Williams completed the 3 miles in 15:45, which was the third-best time in the small-school division and the sixth-best time overall. He ran 16:50 on the same course at last year’s sectional meet, an improvement of more than a minute for the sophomore.
Three Middletown runners also cracked the top 10 at Kelseyville, led by Dimitri Imbrunetti in sixth place at 20:30, Jack Shrive in seventh at 20:46, and Jack Farres in ninth at 21:25.
The team duals were both competitive. Kelseyville beat Clear Lake 24-31 while Middletown edged St. Helena 27-30.
JV boys
Ethan Scuderi-Schulman of Clear Lake won the junior varsity boys’ race in 23 minutes, 38 seconds while teammate Brandt Mason finished second in 23:54, the only two runners to crack the 24-minute barrier.
PUC’s Jarvie Russell came in third in 24:38. Rounding out the top five were Clear Lake runners Diego Tejeda, fourth in 25:13, and Chris Lasher, fifth in 25:25. Another Clear Lake runner, Jaron Mertle, was sixth in 25:29.
Kelseyville’s Dylan Edwards ran eighth in 27:02.
Clear Lake had the only complete team (at least five runners) in the JV division.
Middletown hosts Lower Lake, Willits and Fort Bragg next Wednesday. Kelseyville is also home again and will be joined by Clear Lake, Cloverdale and St. Helena.
