ST. HELENA — Isaac Rascon did it again and he wasn’t the only member of the Middletown High School track and field team who met or exceeded the expectations of head coach Don Cobb during a multi-team Coastal Mountain Conference meet on Tuesday in St. Helena.
The meet was moved up from Wednesday because of a storm that arrived Tuesday night and carried over into Wednesday morning.
“St. Helena did a good job putting on that meet,” Cobb said of the host Saints. “They had a lot of volunteers and it went quickly. They were great hosts.”
Middletown, among the visiting teams along with Clear Lake, Lower Lake, Upper Lake, Calistoga and Technology, accomplished pretty much everything it set out to do, according to Cobb, who said his boys and girls squads haven’t hit their stride just yet because of some nagging injuries and with the recent addition of the school’s basketball players and wrestlers, many of whom were still playing their winter sport of choice when track practice started.
“We’re pretty excited to have the guys who have just joined us,” Cobb said.
Many of the newcomers are making steady progress, among them freshman Georgia Guerrero, according to Cobb.
“She qualified for our 4×400 team after only a couple of weeks of practice,” Cobb said. “I’m very excited about where she is.”
Middletown’s 4×100 and 4×400 girls relay teams have already experienced significant success, especially a 4×100 team of Alyssa Terry, Zamora Rogers, Grace Southern and Kelsey Lemoine that has already broken the school record.
That team is only going to get faster in the coming weeks, according to Cobb, as runners recover from injuries.
“And we’re still tinkering with the order of both the 4×100 and 4×400,” Cobb said. “We’re thankful where we’re at right now considering the injuries we’ve had.”
Cobb said the Mustangs also have a few surprises to spring on their conference opponents as the season progresses.
“There’s a few things were practicing that we haven’t shown yet,” Cobb said. “We will soon.”
Given what the Middletown runners and throwers have shown so far, that’s a scary thought. Multiple school records have been set to date and two more went down in St. Helena where the sophomore Rascon, only four days removed from breaking a nine-year-old Middletown record in the 1,600 meters, did it again on St. Helena’s artificial surface. After finishing in 4 minutes, 49.21 seconds at the Santa Rosa Twilight Invite to break the old record of Alejandro Maldanado (4:53.44 in 2010), Rascon ran 4:47.5 at St. Helena, finishing first in a tight race with Technology’s Aidan Barker (4:49.4).
“He had a huge pull-away in the fourth and final lap,” Cobb said of Rascon. “They were neck and neck when the kid (Barker) started closing on him with 300 meters to go. Isaac did his kick at that point and sailed to the finish line.”
Rascon also won the 3,200 meters (10:34.9) and he was fifth in the 800 with a personal-best time of 2:13.9.
Also for Middletown, Bryson Trask won the shotput (52-2) and Jack Farres won the 300 hurdles (47.0 seconds). Upper Lake’s Kenny Hodges finished first in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches) and took second in the triple jump (36-5 ½).
Among other second-place finishers were Lower Lake’s Alex Castillo in the shotput (37-6 ¾) and Middletown’s Hagen Cadwallader in the 110 hurdles (16.8), Forrest Devine in the 400 (56.0), Jacob Mendes in the 300 hurdles (49-7), Casey Chicoine in the 200 (24.4), and the school’s 4×100 (47.1) and 4×400 (3:58.5) relay teams.
Girls
Kelsey Lemoine didn’t set a school record for Middletown on Tuesday — she already owns the 100 and 200 records — but the senior did pretty much everything else with individual firsts in the 100 (13.4), 200 (26.6) and triple jump (29-8). She also ran the anchor leg for the winning 4×100 relay team (52.1) that also features Alyssa Terry, Grace Southern and Zamora Rogers.
“She’s finally starting to get healthy after battling through shin splints,” Cobb said of the ultra-quick Lemoine, who volunteered to compete in the triple jump to give the Mustangs a few more team points.
Such unselfishness is a team trait, according to Cobb, who said several of his athletes stepped up on Tuesday to enter events they don’t normally compete in.
“Ninety percent of them were doing four events (on Tuesday) and most volunteered to do events,” Cobb said. “It’s a completely unselfish team. I couldn’t have asked any more of them.”
Two Middletown girls records did fall at the meet. Southern won the 400 in 1:00.9, breaking her own record of 1:01.56, and she also beat the school record in the 3,200, an event she was competing in for the first time this season, with a mark of 12:43.6. Unfortunately for Southern, teammate Brooklyn Huffman ran a faster 3,200 (12:35.1), so the new record now belongs to her (the old record was 13:04.25 set in 2011 by Miriam Lane).
Other firsts among Middletown girls went to Huffman in the 800 (2:39.6), Taelor Roderick in the shotput (31-5), Bella Dubois in the 300 hurdles (55.2), and to the 4×400 (4:34.9) relay team.
Among second-place finishers were Huffman in the 1,600 (5:44.4) and 3,200, Terry in the 400 (1:03.4), Giana Tyrrell in the 800 (2:41.1), Southern in the 200 (26.7), and Alyssa Hart in the 100 hurdles (18.1) and 300 hurdles (55.3).
St. Helena’s Harper McClain won the 3,200 in 10:52, finishing well ahead of both Huffman and Southern. Cobb said the race could have been closer.
“I had them both concentrating on their 200 splits, that was our goal for this race,” Cobb said. “They wanted to go after her, I don’t know if they could have caught her, probably not, but they are capable of going faster.”
The versatile Southern, who competes at distances from 100 to 3,200 meters, was a cross country standout this past season for the Mustangs as were Rascon and Huffman, who qualified for the CIF State Championships.
Among third-place finishers in St. Helena were Lyzet Montanez of Lower Lake in the 100, Tianna Jardstrom of Clear Lake in the 300 hurdles, Addisyn Sator of Clear Lake in the high jump, and Middletown’s Tyrrell in the 1,600, Dubois in the 100 hurdles, Southern in the 3,200, Rogers in the triple jump, and Tully Leonard in the long jump.
