Thirteen middle school runners compete at Clear Lake State Park
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KELSEYVILLE >> Chandler Johnson of Mountain Vista won the boys race while Claudia Corona of Mountain Vista topped the field in the girls race Thursday during middle school cross country action at Clear Lake State Park.
Mountain Vista hosted the meet on a course 2.5 miles long. The field consisted of 13 Mountain Vista runners, eight Middletown Middle School runners and two Upper Lake Middle School runners.
“Our team faced a challenging course with a tough hill section but still gave its best effort and maintained their positive mindsets,” Middletown Middle School head coach Kaytlin Zolensky said.
“Our runners have been working very hard throughout the season, and it has been great to see how much they have improved,” Upper Lake head coach Alex Carpenter said. “Their hard work really showed today, and I am so proud of how they performed at the meet.”
Boys
Johnson of Mountain Vista crossed the finish line first in the boys race at 18 minutes, 28 seconds while Middletown’s Jackson Lau was the runner-up in 18:45.
“Jackson Lau turned in another exceptional performance, missing first place by just 18 seconds,” Zolensky said. “Special recognition also to Eli Haro (third overall in 19:12) for maintaining his mile pace from last meet to this one despite the more challenging terrain.”
Zachary Williams of Upper Lake came in fourth (22:15) while Benjamin Beitman of Mountain Vista (22:20) rounded out the top five.
“Our runners have been working very hard throughout the season, and it has been great to see how much they have improved,” Carpenter said. “Their hard work really showed today, and I am so proud of how they performed at the meet.”
Other top boys finishers were Cayden Crabtree of Mountain Vista, sixth in 23:14; Donovan Perez of Upper Lake, seventh in 23:48; Sonny Anderson of Mountain Vista, eighth in 24:00; Ryan Brame of Middletown, ninth in 26:17; Korbyn Lorenzen of Mountain Vista, 10th in 27:30; and David Larios-Muniz of Mountain Vista, 11th in 33:08.
Girls
Corona opened up a huge lead in the girls race and finished first in 19:41 while Ariana Granados of Middletown took second in 22:07, and Elsie Olson-Zepeda of Mountain Vista third in 23:51.
Rounding out the top five were Inara Chestnut of Middletown, who came in fourth in 24:21, and Hailey Stetson of Middletown, fifth in 24:57.
Other top finishers were Ava Cockrill of Middletown, sixth in 26:01; Amora Garcia of Mountain Vista, seventh in 27:18; Ashlynn Zolensky of Middletown, eighth in 29:48; Sophia Raffaelli of Mountain Vista, ninth in 31:11; Sarah Raffaelli of Mountain Vista, 10th in 33:01; Kensie Chisholm of Mountain Vista, 11th in 33:28; and Stephanie Hembree of Mountain Vista, 12th in 35:31.
Schedule
The next middle school race is Oct. 15 at Clear Lake State Park.
