KELSEYVILLE — The first day of autumn felt a whole lot like summer Wednesday afternoon as Kelseyville High School hosted Clear Lake and Roseland University Prep of Santa Rosa in a Coastal Mountain Conference meet on its 3.1-mile course.
Temperatures in the mid-90s greeted the 30 assembled runners — 18 boys and 12 girls — of which 19 wore purple RUP jerseys. One race was held instead of separate girls and boys races. Twenty-nine runners finished, with one RUP girl unable to complete the course, which features a short but steep up-and-down climb toward the end.
RUP had the only complete boys team (five or more runners) and it would have had a complete girls team had its fifth runner not retired from the race with heat exhaustion. Members of the K-CORPS were on hand and made sure she was OK before escorting her back to the start/finish area.
Boys
Alexis Lorenzana of RUP posted the fastest boys time at 18 minutes, 34 seconds. He was among five RUP runners to finish in the top six, with Kelseyville’s Elliott Mayo breaking up the string with a solid second-place time of 20:53, which was more than two minutes ahead of third-place finish Bryan Vigil (22:56).
The only two non-RUP runners in the top 10 were Mayo and teammate Alex Fordham, who placed seventh overall in 24:20. Just outside the top 10 was Kelseyville’s Evan Weller, who was 11th in 26:26, just five seconds behind 10th-place finisher Eliel Aparicio.
Clear Lake’s Luis Aguilar placed 15th overall in 30:11.
Girls
Hannah Garrity won her third straight race to open the season, following victories at Six Sigma (Sept. 15) and Fort Bragg (Sept. 8). Only Lorenzana and Mayo posted faster times on the course than the Clear Lake sophomore, who clocked in at 21:51. Another sophomore, Carly Vanoven of Kelseyville, came in second at 28:38, and Clear Lake sophomore Lilianna Cruz claimed third place in 30:25.
Other top-five finishers were Shayla Ornelas of RUP, fourth in 33:04, and Summer Anderson of Kelseyville, fifth in 35:00.
Kelseyville’s Ari Fossa, competing in her first cross country race, came in seventh in 38:18. Teammate Grace Agustinovich was 10th in 42:16.
Clear Lake’s Madison Waechtler placed 11th in 43:07.
Schedule
Kelseyville is on the road next Wednesday against St. Helena and Cloverdale in St. Helena. Clear Lake hosts Middletown and Willits at Highland Springs Reservoir.
