LAKE COUNTY — Middletown High School’s varsity boys and girls cross country teams overcame the heat and the competition nearly a year ago today during Coastal Mountain Conference action at Six Sigma Ranch near Lower Lake.

Until the COVID-19-delayed 2020-21 sports season starts, which isn’t expected to occur until mid-December, the Lake County Record-Bee will take a look back at the high school happenings of a year ago and the teams and athletes who were making the headlines.

Cross country

It was the third day of autumn but it felt like the middle of summer as Middletown, Clear Lake, Kelseyville and Lower Lake ran in nearly triple-digit heat on the scenic Six Sigma course, which measured between 3 and 3.1 miles long that day. Middletown won all three races — varsity boys, girls and junior varsity boys — although individual times for the county runners were off a bit, mostly because of the intense heat. A notable exception was Erica Kinsel of Middletown, who ran second behind race winner and teammate Brooklyn Huffman with a time of 23 minutes, 16 seconds, topping her 24:32 mark on the same course a week earlier during more favorable weather conditions. Huffman won the race in 22:37.

Middletown’s Isaac Rascon dominated the varsity boys race, winning in 17:56. Teammate Isaiah Diaz was the runner-up at 19:34 followed by Quinn Wynacht of Clear Lake in third place at 19:55.

Xander Romero of Middletown led from start to finish in the JV boys race, winning in 21:40.

Middletown’s varsity boys and girls would go on to repeat as North Central League I champions.