SANTA ROSA — Competing against the best large-school athletes in the Redwood Empire, the small-school Middletown Mustangs held their own and then some Saturday during the annual Viking Classic track and field meet at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa.
Girls
Competing in the girls elite division, seniors Kelsey Lemoine and Grace Southern finished high up on the leader board. Lemoine cracked 12 seconds in the 100 meters, placing fourth in 12.95 seconds, while also taking sixth in the 200 at 27.11. Her most impressive feat came in the 4×100 relay where the Mustangs again broke a school record at 51.41 seconds, good for fifth place. Lemoine anchored the foursome of Zamora Rogers, Grace Southern and Alyssa Terry, and when she took the handoff on the final leg of the race, the Mustangs were far behind.
“We had a slow start off the blocks,” Middletown coach Don Cobb said.
Lemoine made up a huge amount of ground as the anchor, and the Mustangs were just .17 seconds out of third place when Lemoine hit the finish line.
“She had a heck of a nice run,” Cobb said. “Kelsey was a beast.”
Southern accounted for the other Middletown school record set at the Viking as she placed a solid fourth in the elite 400 at 1:00.42, just .19 seconds out of second place. Izel Zamora of Santa Rosa High school won in 58.86.
“And she had a tough head wind,” Ford said of the windy conditions most of the runners had to deal with on Saturday. “She had to face it and she still set the record.”
Another standout in the elite division was senior Alyssa Hart, fourth in the 100 meter hurdles at 17.86.
In the field events, Taelor Roderick turned in solid showings in the discus – placing second with a throw of 112 feet, 10 inches — and in the shotput — fifth with a toss of 32-6. Only Santa Rosa High School’s Caitlin Grace had a longer throw in the discus (119-10).
Among other Middletown girls, Rogers placed 13th in the 100 at 13.85, Terry was 15th in the 200 (27.74), and Giana Tyrrell was 15th in the 400 (1:05.06) and 12th in the 1,600 (5:55.05).
Middletown’s 4×400 relay team of Tyrrell, Terry, Southern and Georgia Guerrero added a third-place finish of 4:17.20.
“We probably should have won the 4×400,” Cobb said.
Cobb said he couldn’t help but notice that the athletes who reported to practice during spring break last week certainly benefited from it based on their results at the Viking.
“Kelsey, Taylor, Grace and Giana really stepped it up,” he said.
While Cobb said he was happy in general with the turnout over spring break, especially with many of his high-tier athletes, he expected it to be better.
“As a group, I would have loved for them to recognize what they would have been capable of if they had made spring break a priority,” he said.
Even with that, Cobb said Middletown’s girls squad might be one of the best – perhaps the best – in the school’s track history.
“Nobody (in the Coastal Mountain Conference) is deeper than we are,” he said. “No one’s going to touch our hurdlers, our sprinters, our throwers.”
Cobb said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Mustang girls won not only a CMC championship but the sectional title as well.
“Right now we’re focusing on power, fine tuning,” he said.
Boys
Middletown senior Bryson Trask won a close battle with Ukiah’s Kalathan Laiwa-McKsy to win the shotput and he dominated the discus field at the Viking.
Trask topped the field in the shotput with a throw of 53-5, edging out Laiwa-McKay at 53-2. His long throw of 176-1 in the discus was nearly 21 feet long than the second-place throw of 155-4.
The scary thing, according to Cobb, is that Trask is capable of throwing much farther as is Roderick in the girls field.
“They’re not throwing the distances (in competition) we’re seeing in practice,” Cobb said. “He’s thrown 200 feet in practice,” Cobb added of Trask. “Both of them are throwing bombs in practice.”
No one worked harder over the spring break than Trask and Roderick, according to Cobb, who said his throwers are doing everything they can to improve their distances as the season enters its final month.
“Those guys were so faithful over the break,” Cobb said. “They were there every day … early. They’re making small adjustments to get even better.”
Also in that hard-working, never-misses-a-practice club is sophomore distance runner Isaac Rascon, who ran seventh in the 3,200 (10:23.63) and 11th in the 1,600 (4:46.63).
“Isaac continues to run well,” Cobb said. “He didn’t get the times he wanted, but his times are right around where they need to be for this time of year.”
Schedule
Middletown competes in a Coastal Mountain Conference meet on Wednesday in Lower Lake, a tuneup for the Lake County Meet next Monday at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport. The CMC Championships are May 4 in St. Helena.
