EMBARGO LIFTED ON PREP SPORTS
Freshman Garrity, senior Rascon dazzle during five-team meet at Six Sigma Ranch
LOWER LAKE >> This fall sport took place in the wintertime on a spring-like day.
“The irony,” Middletown High School cross country head coach Taylor Tiraterra said of the return of competitive sports to Lake County, long delayed by a COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the county’s high school sporting world back on March 12, 2020, or almost a calendar year before Wednesday’s fiveteam meet took place at Six Sigma Ranch and Winery near Lower Lake, ushering in a return of some kind of normalcy for local prep athletes.
It was only fitting that Middletown — joined by county teams Clear Lake and Upper Lake as well as Napa County schools Calistoga and PUC Prep of Angwin — fired the first shot in Lake County’s long-awaited return to competition. Back in 2015, when the Valley Fire ravaged the town as well as the surrounding areas of Hidden Valley Lake and Cobb Mountain, Middletown fall sports came to a screeching halt. The first sport back was cross country as the Middletown runners, some of whom who had lost everything they owned in the fire, refused to give in, quickly pulled themselves together despite great personal loss, and demonstrated what resilience and toughness are all about during the Viking Invitational at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa.
The general feeling prior to Wednesday’s season opener was one of great happiness and perhaps even greater relief that the COVID-19 sports embargo had finally, mercifully ended. Combine all of that with first-meet nerves and the euphoria of competition and you had the makings of a pretty good day with no shortage of bright smiles.
While Middletown’s veteran squad returns several seasoned runners, both boys and girls, the Clear Lake contingent on Wednesday featured only two girls — including the girls race winner — while Upper Lake’s entire team was running its first race ever. The school shut down its cross country program following the 2016 season. It’s now back in business under head coach Samantha Ponts and the Cougars acquitted themselves quite well in their season debut.