Coastal Mountain Conference Championships
At Trailside County Park in Middletown, the Willits boys team won the league title, while Willits and Cloverdale tied for the girls championship.
Brian Cole of St. Helena set a course record with a time of 15:49, but Willits set the pace to win the team title in the rain. Junior Julia Malvino led the way for Middletown, finishing the three-mile course in 20:24, two seconds off her own course record. Cheyenne Waldman finished second for Willits with a time of 20:52.
From Harry Skandera, Coach, SRC
The Varsity Boys’ race matched soph phenom Brian Cole against state meet veteran Jeff Jackson. Jackson took the first mile out in under 5 minute pace with the speedy Cole doggedly following on his heels. Despite all efforts of Jackson to open up a gap, the St. Helena harrier stayed on his shoulder until with 1/3 of a mile to go Cole exploded into a devastating kick to finish with a 23 second margin. The course was flat on winding level trails. It had rained intermittenly for the previous 24 hours, leaving large puddles and some slick footing at spots along the course.
The footing and weather was to the liking of the Willits Wolverines as they turned back the challenge of the Santa Rosa Christian Lions to cap an undefeated CMC dual meet season with the Conference Meet Championship. Santa Rosa Christian finished 2nd in the Conference Meet as well as 2nd in the dual meet season. Rincon Valley Christian finished third with defending champion Ft. Bragg in 4th.
The Girls’ competition was equally exciting with 4 teams vying for the top spot. Cloverdale, with 2 losses during the regular season edged Willits in the Conference finale to earn a co-championship. St. Vincent’s edged Santa Rosa Christian for third place. Julia Malvino of Middletown, scored a convincing win over Cheyenne Waldmann who finished runner up for the 2nd year in a row.
The JV race was won by Santa Rosa Christian in a close meet with Willits. Skip Volpert from Tomales was the individual champion.
The CMC teams now prepare for the sectional finals at Hayward on November 20th. Willits will attempt to qualify for State in Division IV. Santa Rosa Christian, Cloverdale, St. Vincent’s and Rincon Valley Christian will try to finish in the top 4 in Division V to qualify for the state meet in Fresno.
AT MIDDLETOWN (3 mi) Boys Willits 38, Santa Rosa Christian 64, Rincon Valley 86, Ft. Bragg 117, St. Vincent 125, Calistoga 166, Kelseyville 174, Lower Lake 175, Middletown 239, Clear Lake 259, Cloverdale inc., St. Helena inc., Tomales inc. 1. Brian Cole St. Helena 15:49(course Record) 2. Jeff Jackson Santa Rosa Christian 16:12 3. Mike Perez Lower Lake 16:55 4. Alex Boyles Kelseyville 17:04 5. Chase Smith Cloverdale 17:19 6. Alex Bowlds Willits 17:24 7. Sam Carey Willits 17:25 8. Ken Smith Willits 17:27 9. Zach Nave SRC 17:29 10. J. Atkinson St. Vincent's 17:35 11. N. Huckaba RVC 17:42 12. J. Schwartz RVC 17:54 13. K. Merritt Willits 17:55 14. J. Mehtan Willits 18:03 Girls Cloverdale 60, Willits 74, St. Vincent 103, Santa Rosa Christian 105, Ft. Bragg 120, Rincon Valley 124, Middletown 141, Kelseyville 177, Lower Lake 222, Tomales inc., St. Helena inc., Calistoga inc., Clear Lake inc. 1. Julia Malvino Middletown 20:24(New course Record) 2. Cheyenne Waldman Willits 20:52 3. Sarah Hughes Willits 21:16 4. Roseann Davis Willits 21:20 5. Jen Miller Cloverdale 21:22 6. Jessica Rentz Cloverdale 21:33 7. Theresa Vegher St. Vincent's 22:05 8. Anna Aquilina Santa Rosa Christian 22:13 9. Danielle Kershner Ft. Bragg 22:21 10. Suzanne Albers Calistoga 22:34 11. Jasmine Lampert Cloverdale 22:38 12. Hannah Crouse RVC 22:41 13. Sarah Zalusky Kelseyville 22:44 14. Angelica Barrera Ft. Bragg 22:51 Junior Varsity Boys Santa Rosa Christian 25, Willits 32 1. Skip Volpert Tomales 19:03 2. Jarrod Sutton Santa Rosa Christian 19:44 3. Nathan Campbell Willits 20:19 4. John Diekmann SRC 20:37 5. Dane Schindler SRC 20:59