GARRITY KEEPS ROLLING ALONG
Clear Lake freshman wins fourth race; Fernandez runs away from boys field
UPPER LAKE >> Hannity Garrity of Clear Lake and Carly Vanderwall of Kelseyville finished one-two in the girls race while Upper Lake’s Donavan Fernandez took top honors in the boys race Wednesday during a Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet at Upper Lake High School.
Technology High School of Rohnert Park made it a fourteam meet. Cloverdale also was scheduled to compete but had to cancel for transportation reasons, according to Upper Lake head coach and meet director Samantha Ponts.
A total of 19 runners — 11 boys and eight girls — navigated a course that measured a hair under 3 miles — basically three 1-mile laps — around the Upper Lake High campus. Ponts said the Cougars may alter their course to include a downtown loop on April 7 when they host Kelseyville, Clear Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma Academy.
Girls
Garrity didn’t back off on what has been a dominating start to her high school career. The freshman had a sizable lead early into the first lap and never looked back. She hit the finish line in 19 minutes, 21 seconds, her fourth win in as many races this season — two at the Six Sigma Ranch and Winery course near Lower Lake, another at Kelseyville and now at Upper Lake.
Another freshman, Vanderwall, came in second in 22:42. Upper Lake’s Zoey Petrie (23:38 ) and Dena Loans Arrow (24:00) were the next runners to finish, and Summer Anderson of Kelseyville (26:33) rounded out the top five.
Boys
Like Garrity in the girls race, Upper Lake’s Fernandez pulled out in front in the opening stages of the boys race and built a comfortable lead before crossing the finish line in 17:58. In a battle for second place, Kelseyville’s Carson Mayo
(19:14) edged out Sonji Ing (19:17) despite a strong Ing kick during the final 50 yards. Freshman Elliott Mayo of Kelseyville placed fourth in 19:42 while Technology’s Giovanni Ledoux came in fifth in 20:42.
Other top finishers were Erick Espinoza of Upper
Lake, sixth in 21:00 and Clear Lake’s Luke McQuaid in 22:04.
Schedule
Upper Lake, Clear Lake and Kelseyville take next week off. All three teams are back in Upper Lake on April 7.
Notes
Upper Lake was hosting its first meet since 2016 when Ponts also was
coach. When Ponts moved out of the area following the season, the Cougars never replaced her and the cross country program was dropped. It was re-established for the 2020-21 school year. Ponts, who had moved back into the area, applied for her old job and got it, not knowing the season would be moved from the fall of 2020 to the winter/spring of 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.