CLEARLAKE OAKS — Middletown’s cross country girls ran first through fifth while beating Cloverdale 15-58 in a Coastal Mountain Conference dual meet on Wednesday afternoon at Cache Creek Vineyards in Clearlake Oaks.
Lower Lake and Willits also participated in the CMC opener for all four schools.
Brooklyn Huffman, a freshman, covered the 3.1-mile course in 21 minutes and 15 seconds. She won the Lake County Meet on that same course a week earlier.
Following Huffman across the finish line were teammates Grace Southern (22:51), Eric Kinsel (23:54), Mariela Martin del Campo (25:21) and Gianna Tyrell (25:33).
Molly Collins led Lower Lake with a 17th-place finish of 32:33 and teammate Faye Rippe was 18th in 33:20. Neither Lower Lake or Willits had complete teams (at least five runners).
Boys
Paden Collard of Cloverdale held off a stiff challenge from Middletown’s Isaac Rascon to win the varsity boys race in 17:08. Rascon stayed tight on Collard’s heels for the first 2 ¼ miles and ended up second in 17:32.
“It seems to help when he’s stalking,” Middletown head coach Don Cobb said of Rascon’s race strategy against the veteran Collard, one of the top runners in the Redwood Empire. “He battled to the finish.”
Rascon knocked 30 seconds off his winning time at the Lake County Meet a week earlier.
Middletown’s other runners also turned in strong showings as the Mustangs beat the Eagles 21-45 in head-to-head scoring. Tyler Cobb finished third overall in 19:05, Isaiah Diaz was fifth in 20:06, Filemon Sanchez placed seventh in 20:38, and Forrest Devine was ninth in 21:31.
Lower Lake’s top finisher was Josh Bratton, 15th overall in 23:14. Teammate Jared Meek was 16th in 23:32.
Willits edged Lower Lake 27-28 in head-to-head scoring.
Middletown runs head to head with Lower Lake next Wednesday at Six Sigma Ranch near Lower Lake.
In the junior varsity boys race, Ben Madden of Mendocino won in 25:08. Tyler Olson of Middletown was fifth in 39:16 and Derric Blakesley of Lower Lake was sixth in 42:50.
In other cross country action Wednesday:
Clear Lake
At St. Helena, the Clear Lake Cardinals opened the CMC dual season against St. Helena the 3.0-mile Bothe-Napa Valley State Park course in Calistoga. Kelseyville and Fort Bragg also were present.
In varsity boys action, St. Helena beat Clear Lake 22-34 while Fort Bragg defeated an incomplete Kelseyville squad.
Jeffrey Amendola of Kelseyville was the top Lake County finisher, placing fourth in 19:54. Clear Lake’s Quinn Wynacht was fifth in 20:25. Other top county finishers were Clear Lake’s Cole Saiz, 14th in 23:04, and Clear Lake’s Luke McQuaid, 15th in 25:13. McQuaid, a sophomore, was competing in his first varsity race.
Among the girls, St. Helena beat Clear Lake 22-37 and Fort Bragg defeated an incomplete Kelseyville team.
Clear Lake’s Catherine Braider and Paolo Garcia finished seventh and eighth with times of 26:45 and 26:57, respectively.
“Those two are going to battle all year,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said.
In the JV boys division, Fort Bragg had the only complete team. The best finish by a Lake County runner belonged to sixth-place finisher Johnny Glass of Clear Lake at 27:55.
“He’s a freshman and ran much better than he did a week ago,” Stanley said.
Looking back on the day’s action, Stanley said, “Certain individuals ran well. As a team we ran OK.”
Clear Lake battles Willits next Wednesday at Six Sigma Ranch near Lower Lake. Kelseyville hosts Cloverdale next Wednesday in a four-team meet that includes St. Helena and Fort Bragg.
