FRESNO >> Andre Williams III didn’t bring home a medal from the CIF State Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning, but that can wait … for now.
The youngest Lake County runner ever to reach the state finals placed a strong 15th out of a field of 203 runners in the Division V boys race on Saturday at the 5-kilometer Woodward Park course in Fresno. The Kelseyville High School sophomore still has two more shots to win a medal or even a state title, and he could do both before he’s done running for the Knights.
— Consider that Williams was the fastest sophomore in the Division V race at 16 minutes and 16 seconds flat; Ethan Laubach of Desert Christian/Lancaster of the Southern Section was the next best at 16:24.4, good for 23rd place.
— Consider that eight of the runners in the top 15, including state champion Cooper Teare of St. Joseph Notre Dame of Alameda (14:58.5), are seniors and won’t be back next season, at least not in the high school ranks.
— Consider that Williams missed a medal, which are given to the top 10 in each division, by about 16 seconds. If that seems like a lot of time, you also need to consider that he ran about a minute faster this year compared to his freshman season. If he stays healthy, look for his time to keep falling in 2017.
Just reaching the state meet is a huge accomplishment for Williams given that the North Coast Section (NCS) is among the toughest in Division V in the state. Of the top 15 runners on Saturday, seven were from the NCS, including Teare and third-place finisher Brian Schulz (15:39.3) of El Molino.
Williams was the first Lake County runner to qualify for Fresno since both Lower Lake’s Mike Perez and Middletown’s Julia Malvino made it in 2005. Perez finished fourth in Division IV, the best finish by a Lake County boy so far. Williams might challenge that accomplishment next year.
The Coastal Mountain Conference champion this season, Williams went on to place eighth in the sectional meet the week prior to state. He went head to head with many of the same NCS runners in Fresno and beat a handful of them this time. One NCS runner who really rose to the occasion on Saturday and just missed taking home a medal was Wes Methum of Rincon Valley Christian. He placed second to Williams’ first at the CMC Championships and ninth to Williams’ eighth at the sectional meet, but this time he finished ahead of Williams, coming in 11th at 16:03.9, a little more than three seconds behind the 10th-place finisher and final medalist.
