KELSEYVILLE — Jose Hernandez and Hannah Garrity nailed down their first cross country wins of the 2022 season in perfect running weather Wednesday afternoon during a three-team North Central League I meet hosted by the Kelseyville Knights at Mountain Vista Middle School.
While Kelseyville was the only Lake County team to run a week ago when two other league meets were canceled because of excessive heat, the Lower Lake and Clear Lake teams, each consisting of exactly two runners, made their season debuts on the newly reconfigured 3.1-mile Kelseyville course that doesn’t include a climb up a portion of Mount Konocti as in past years.
In all, there were only 12 runners participating — eight of them from Kelseyville, which had the only complete team with five boys in action.
Wednesday’s race also featured two first-year coaches in Kelseyville’s Bert Olsen and Lower Lake’s Rob Riel. Tammy Lisk returns as Clear Lake’s head coach.
Boys
Hernandez, a veteran runner for the Trojans, covered the 3.1 miles in 20 minutes, 11 seconds, the best time of the day. Triton Marlowe was the first of five straight Kelseyville runners to finish as he crossed the line in 23:48. Alex Fordham (23:56), Evan Weller (27:04), Joshua Fossa (30:56) and Jason Key (31:14) were the next across, with Lower Lake’s Skyler Day clocking in at 55:19.
Girls
Garrity, a state qualifier a year ago as a junior, was one of only five runners in the girls race and she took top honors at 22:37 while teammate Lilianna Cruz came in second at 33:13. The Kelseyville trio of Ari Fossa, Ashley Hobbs and Alayna Boyd finished the race hand in hand, all with a time of 42:45.
“I liked the old course better,” Garrity said of the 2021 layout used by Kelseyville, which included a run up a switchback trail on the side of Mount Konocti, which is in sight of the start/finish line at Mountain Vista Middle School.
Garrity’s teammate, Cruz, begged to differ, saying the flatter course this year was more to her liking.
Numbers
Team numbers were down for all three schools although Kelseyville and Lower Lake stand to pick up a few more runners in the coming days, according to their coaches.
Schedule
Lower Lake returns to action next Wednesday with a home meet against Cloverdale and St. Helena. Kelseyville and Willits travel to Roseland University Prep (Santa Rosa) while Clear Lake and Middletown visit Fort Bragg.
