M’town boys dominate meet in St. Helena

Tucker West breaks 19 minutes, finishes second on 3.0-mile Bothe State Park course

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ST. HELENA >> Middletown High School’s boys cross country team dominated the field Wednesday, landing its first five finishers in the top 10, during a North Central League I cross country race at the 3.0-mile Bothe State Park course near St. Helena.

Middletown finished with 31 points, well ahead of Fort Bragg’s 68, St. Helena’s 71 and Willits’ 80. Kelseyville (135) and Lower Lake (139) also had complete teams (at least five runners).

Cloverdale edged St. Helena 38-44 in girls team scoring. Willits came in third with 78 points, Middletown was fourth with 86, and Kelseyville had 112 for fifth place.

Boys

Johann Garcia of Fort Bragg won the boys race in 18 minutes, 30 seconds. Middletown’s Tucker West (18:47) was the only other runner to break 19 minutes.

Isael Haro (19:51) came in fourth for Middletown while teammates Ren Ueno (20:20), Kai Sooy (20:51) and Gerardo Rodriguez (21:06) were sixth, ninth and 10^th, respectively.

“Our boys team is on fire,” Middletown head coach Taylor Tiraterra said.

Also cracking the top 10 were Walter Aycock of Fort Bragg, third in 19:00; Charlie Watson of St. Helena, fifth in 20:13; Lucas Zuniga of St. Helena, seventh in 20:27; and Cassius Lane of Willits, eighth in 20:50.

Jose Pintell of Kelseyville finished 11^th in 21:14.

Other top Lake County finishers were Middletown’s Gabe Alspuro, 13^th in 21:34; Kelseyville’s Maverick Watson, 14^th in 22:19; Lower Lake’s Emiliano Rivero, 19^th in 22:40; and Lower Lake’s Daniel Zamoro, 20^th in 22:40.

“It was a very hot day for a tough course, but they powered through,” Kelseyville head coach Beth Garcia said.

Girls

Corinna Schlatter of St. Helena won the girls race, finishing more than three minutes ahead of Middletown’s Charlize Hill, the runner-up in 23:27. Schlatter broke the course record (new course) in 20:02, eclipsing the 20:10 mark of Clear Lake’s Hannah Garrity in 2022.

Middletown’s Lupita Cabrera had the next best Lake County time at 28:28, good for 12^th place.

Cloverdale placed four runners in the top 10, led by Malia McGrath, fourth in 25:14.

Among other Lake County runners in the field, Kelseyville’s Aylin Aguilar was 18^th in 30:27 while teammate Aubrey Wiser was 19^th in 31:16. Clear Lake’s Madison May was 22^nd in 31:19, Middletown’s Nick Lopez was 24^th in 31:48, and Lower Lake’s Shayla McGrath was 25^th in 33:09.

Schedule

NCL I teams return to action next Wednesday at Six Sigma Ranch near Lower Lake. Middletown is the host team. Action begins at 3:30 p.m.