By John Linker
Early Saturday morning at Spring Lake Regional Park In Santa Rosa, 23 schools from all over the North Bay descended into the misty valley of the Trione-Annadel hills to run the 37th annual Viking Invitational.
The challenging two-mile course starts with a long uphill climb leading into the mostly dirt trails of the Spring Lake Park next to the lake. The Healdsburg Running Hounds were ready for the event, with freshmen boys winning the first race of the morning, beating out teams from Casa Grande and Castro Valley.
Unlike in league rules, the Viking is run by grade levels, and each race takes the top three finishers to make up the team score. For example, all freshman boys run together, and no freshman boy may run in another division.
Another big difference is that the course is a mile shorter than most cross country courses, which are usually closer to the three-mile mark. This makes the Viking more of a challenging sprint where runners put their wind, speed and strength to the test.
Hounds’ freshmen boys showed their power and grit in the morning’s first heat. Lucas Welty with a blistering time of 11:48, with Domenico Cornilsen running a fast 12:08 and Jack Beckman just behind at 12:13. The combined score of all three runners resulted in a first place win over the participating schools.
Welty started out fast, climbing the first hill. “The first hill in the beginning was really hard,” he said. “That definitely just hung on me for the entire race, but I just pushed through it and ended up with a pretty good finish.”
Beckman also spoke of the race’s challenges compared to the team’s first two meets of the season. “This course was a lot more hilly,” he said. “The second hill just killed me, and like 15 people passed me.” But Beckman ended up strong, pulling into 13th place overall, cementing the freshmen win.
Other Classes
In the boy’s sophomore race, Lukas Brennan medaled with a seventh place overall time of 11:27. He too spoke of the hills as “brutal.”
“I went out pretty quick, I was feeling good. I tried to just stick with that pack—the pack broke up, and I was cruising in third down a couple hills, but then at the mile mark I started to feel that wall,” he said. Still, with a medal proudly dangling around his neck, he confided, “It feels great! You know, a lot of work, but I’m feeling good.”
Henry Herrod, running in the junior race with a finishing time of 16:01, spoke of the course more favorably. Herrod compared it to the team’s home course at Hoot Owl Vineyards in Alexander Valley, which he spoke of in Dickensian terms: “Pain, blood, tears, salt, and the smell of dirt and grapes. I just kept thinking to myself, ‘Next guy, next guy …’”
Two weeks ago coach Efram spoke of the joy that fuels this team’s work ethic. It showed up Saturday with each race. Coming off an injury and looking very strong, Jake McWilliams finished in eighth place among juniors, with a swift time of 11:05. Following Jake was Brandon Hausman with a time of 14:04.
Girls Races
The Hounds’ freshmen girls had impressive times as well with Maddie Herzberg finishing in fifth place overall (freshmen and sophomore) at 14:02 and Justina Domenichelli passing the ribbon at 20th place overall (freshmen and sophomore).
Pulling up in third place for the freshmen Hounds was Savannah Anderson with a time of 16:56. Seniors Sierra Anderson and Alisa Strykowski finished their race at 16:02 and 16:24, respectively. Said Anderson of the freshmen, “It’s all about them; they will make us a challenging team.” With help from the steady running of Joie Kozubal who finished at 15:22, this seems to be true.
The Hounds’ next race is the 21st Farmer Invitational, Sept. 21 at Hayward High School. This is the same place where the 2024 CIF North Coast Section Cross Country will take place later this fall, where the Hounds hope to figure prominently.
John Linker is a former HHS English teacher and cross country coach.
