WILLITS — Not only did Middletown High School’s cross country teams bring home a pair of undisputed league titles on Monday from the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships at the 3.1-mile Brooktrails course near Willits, but they added a cherry on top as the Mustang girls outscored everyone at the meet, including North Central League II champion and small school power Rincon Valley Christian of Santa Rosa.
The CMC Championships bring together the top teams out of the NCL I and NCL II. Middletown’s two squads went undefeated during the NCL I dual meet season and followed that up on Monday by winning outright among their other NCL I competitors. In overall scoring, Middletown’s girls also beat Rincon Valley Christian 38-47 followed by Fort Bragg in third place with 56. The Middletown boys ended up fourth in overall scoring behind NCL II champion Rincon Valley Christian (42), Sonoma Academy (58) and Technology (101) with 115 points.
“I know NCS is coming, so I feel like we really can’t take a breath yet,” Middletown head coach Don Cobb said with an eye toward the North Coast Section Championships on Nov. 17 at Hayward High School where Middletown’s runners will be competing for berths in the CIF State Championships on Nov. 24 in Fresno. “I see our vulnerability and have to help them remain focused. I need to get them ready to stay fast, especially after we’re now past big hills.”
Girls
While Middletown’s girls beat Fort Bragg for a second time this season to lock up the NCL I championship, the real focus Monday was on the Mustangs’ head-to-head battle with NCL II champion Rincon Valley Christian, a team they’ll run up against again in Hayward.
While Middletown’s top two runners, Brooklyn Huffman and Grace Southern, ran strong races and finished second and third in the overall standings, the team’s No. 3 runner, Erica Kinser, struggled a bit and ended up ninth. Fortunately her other teammates picked her up as Giana Tyrrell came in eighth while Mariela Martin del Campo finished 17th.
“Giana ran out of her mind,” Cobb said of Tyrrell’s time of 23 minutes, 54.8 seconds. “She saved us. So did Mariela.”
Martin del Campo clocked in at 24:57.7 to round out Middletown’s five scoring runners.
Rincon Valley’s No. 5 runner came in 15th, but Middletown had four runners place in the top 10 – Huffman (22:09.9), Southard (22:24.2), Tyrrell and Kinsel (23:59.0) – compared to only two for Rincon Valley Christian, which was led by Vivian Marseglia’s fourth-place time of 22:58.5. Allie Methum had the next-best Rincon Valley Christian finish, sixth in 23:21.2.
Middletown’s top-five depth clearly carried the day, according to Cobb.
Dylan Hutchinson of Fort Bragg won the girls race going away with a time of 21:17.9. Haley Hutchinson of Fort Bragg rounded out the top five in 23:11.5.
In straight NCL I team scoring, it was Middletown 25, Fort Bragg 34, Cloverdale 85 and Kelseyville 99.
Boys
Middletown’s boys had no problem beating Fort Bragg, their chief competition during the regular season, to lock up the outright NCL I championship. Scoring head to head with the big boys of the NCL II, the Mustangs could do no better than fourth.
As expected, Andre Williams, formerly of Kelseyville High School and now running for Sonoma Academy, dominated the field, winning in 16:59, the only runner to crack 17 minutes on the Brooktrails course. The top NCL I runner, Paden Collard of Cloverdale, placed fourth overall in 17:41.3 while Middletown’s Isaac Rascon was eighth in 18:02.1.
St. Helena’s Jordan Reilly was the only other NCL I runner to crack the top 10 as he finished ninth in 18:18.0.
After Rascon, Middletown’s next-best finish was Tyler Cobb, 13th in 18:43.4. Clear Lake’s Quinn Wynacht was 20th in 19:41.1, Kelseyville’s Luis Mosqueda was 21st in 19:43.1, and Middletown’s Isaiah Diaz was 23rd in 19:49.0.
“Well, the mission for that group was to hold Fort Bragg back,” Cobb said of the Middletown boys, who were less than full strength because of the absence of Forrest Devine, who is out of action with a groin injury.
“He couldn’t run today and that left us vulnerable. That hurt us,” Cobb said.
Even without Devine, Middletown’s top three finishers – Rascon, Tyler Cobb and Diaz – all placed ahead of Fort Bragg’s No. 1 runner, Remy Namvar, who finished 24th in 19:57.9.
“My son Caleb (Cobb) and Jordan Rego will have to step it up,” Cobb said as the team turns its attention to the upcoming sectional meet in Hayward.
Brady English of Rincon Valley Christian finished second overall in the varsity boys race at 17:21.6 and Technology’s Aidan Barker was third in 17:28.7.
Kelseyville’s Jeff Amendola placed 27th in 20:01.8.
In straight NCL I team scoring, it was Middletown 46, Fort Bragg 83, Kelseyville 90, Cloverdale 100, St. Helena 115, Willits 148, Clear Lake 152 and Lower Lake 175.
