KELSEYVILLE — It’s probably the first time it’s happened in Lake County and it may be the last. On the same late winter Wednesday when snow blanketed hills and mountains around the county, a high school cross country race took place.
If you’re wondering what’s so weird about that, welcome to the world of COVID-19 where weird is indeed the new normal. Traditionally a fall sport that begins in the triple-digit heat of late summer and extends into the late autumn when snow is just a rumor, cross country is taking a winter/spring detour in 2021 thanks to the coronavirus and all the mayhem it has caused.
Kelseyville High School served as the host for the three-team Coastal Mountain Conference meet that was orignally scheduled to be a six-team race on March 31, but was instead pushed back to Wednesday so it would not conflict with spring break. As a result, three of the expected participants — Lower Lake, Calistoga and Middletown — had to pull out for various reasons, leaving only host Kelseyville, Clear Lake and Upper Lake. There were no complete teams (at least five runners) in either the boys or girls divisions, so team scoring wasn’t a factor.
Kelseyville head coach Nicki Thomas used a staggered start with runners going off at 30-second intervals. Runners wearing red wrist bands broke from the finish line first, runners with blue bands next, and runners with green bands last. Because there were only 14 runners in all between the three competing teams, each group — red, blue and green — featured girls and boys.
Carson Mayo of Kelseyville and Hannah Garrity of Clear Lake went out with the first group, quickly jumped out in front and won their respective races, the senior Mayo leading the boys with a time of 20 minutes, 9 seconds while the freshman Garrity, who won her high school debut Feb. 24 at the Six Sigma Ranch course near Lower Lake, stayed on Mayo’s shoulder nearly the entire way and posted the top girls time (20:15).
Boys
Behind Mayo in the boys race was his brother, Elliott, a freshman, at 21:29. Upper Lake’s Erick Espinoza came in third at 24:36 and Kelseyville’s Leland Kirkpatrick was fourth in 24:46. Clear Lake’s Luke McQuaid rounded out the top five at 25:09, and Clear Lake’s Luis Aguilar was sixth in 26:40.
Girls
Garrity and another freshman, Kelseyville’s Carly Vanderwall in her high school debut, finished 1-2 in the girls race. Vanderwall clocked in at 24:57 while Upper Lake’s Zoey Petrie was third in 25:42. Next across the finish line was Upper Lake’s Dena Loans Arrow in 26:48, while Kelseyville’s Summer Anderson, who took a spill on the course and bloodied a knee, placed fifth in 27:48. Sixth and seventh place went to Clear Lake’s Riana Kniss (28:32) and Parisee Cemendtaur (33:17), respectively.
Schedule
All of Lake County’s teams are scheduled to compete March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) in Lower Lake. The site of that race will be announced.
Kelseyville’s next home meet is April 14 and may be held at Clear Lake State Park. Thomas has applied to use the picturesque venue and is awaiting confirmation.
