UPPER LAKE — If you live near Upper Lake High School and find a piece of paper floating around with a lot of numbers written on it, please return it to cross country coach Samantha Ponts.
On a hot day in Upper Lake with nary a breeze to cool off the proceedings — at least not until the end of the meet — the Cougars hosted Mendocino, Credo, Calistoga, Technology, Sonoma Academy and Point Arena in a Coastal Mountain Conference meet that drew 60 runners.
Unlike past seasons when the Upper Lake course finished out in front of the high school, the 3.1-mile course used Wednesday finished on the school track.
While there was no cooling breeze to take the edge off a steaming-hot first day of autumn, the meet was hit with a single hurricane blast of wind near the end that scattered time sheets in every direction. They were all recovered but one even though a massive search ensued.
“I was looking in the cemetery (that borders the track),” Ponts said. “Somewhere there’s a paper floating around with places 36 through 41 on it. It was an intrusion into an otherwise fun afternoon.”
Upper Lake suited up only three runners, all boys, and Erick Espinoza led the way with a 21st-place time of 23 minutes, 6 seconds. Teammates Jacob Colcleaser (25:03) an Daniel Chavira (28:24) finished 31st and 40th, respectively. Chavira was competing in his first 5-kilometer race.
“Erick and was happy with his time,” Ponts said. “Erick and Jacob are both on loan from the soccer team, but when I get them they’re really excited to run.”
Espinoza also ran cross country during the late winter/early spring 2021 season, which was the delayed fall 2020 season when all fall sports except cross country were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ponts, the meet director, ran a single race with boys and girls combined. An exciting boys finish went down to the final stride as Athena Ryan of Sonoma Academy ran down and passed Mendocino’s Hector Alanis just short of the finish line, Ryan coming in at 17:33 to Alanis’ 17:34. Tiernan Colby of Sonoma Academy was third in 18:50.
The top girls time went to Sonoma Academy’s Lucy Gott at 20:25. She finished well ahead of the runner-up, her teammate Ally Glenn (23:55).
Upper Lake returns to action Oct. 6 in Calistoga against the same teams it faced Wednesday.
