Benefield: Middletown athletes give rebuilding community a running head start

Some don’t have shoes. Nobody has a uniform. Most will drive to the starting line from homes that are not their own, having taken shelter in pockets of Lake County and beyond, areas not ravaged by the deadly Valley fire.

But when the starter’s gun fires Saturday morning at Spring Lake, the Middletown Mustangs will run.

The Viking Opener cross country race Saturday morning marks the first time Middletown High School athletes will compete in school colors since the fire erupted one week ago. The blaze has claimed three lives, destroyed 585 homes and torched more than 73,000 acres.

Schools have been shuttered for a week. Teammates are communicating by text and Facebook. There have been no practices. Conversations mostly focus on questions: Are you safe? Is your house still there? Where are you staying?

But today, the Mustangs want to push aside the questions. The Mustangs want to provide statements Saturday - for their school, for their community, for themselves.

We’re here. We’re strong. We’re Middletown.

“It’s going to serve as a way for them to show that they are still here and they are still running,” cross country coach Sarah Carlisle said. “We have each other and that’s all that matters.”

Carlisle, who teaches Spanish at the high school, is coordinating her athletes from her travel trailer at the shelter at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga. Her house survived the blaze but she can’t yet go home. She knows that some kids on her team never will.

“I know for sure that four lost their homes and a few that are question marks,” she said.

Question marks. Imagine that. Not knowing if everything you own is gone. From the practical - your best boots, your bed, kitchen supplies; to the dear: family photos, a high school yearbook, computers with home movies, the Father’s Day card made in a child’s hand. Gone.

Through it, the unknowing, the shock and the sorrow, the Mustangs have wanted to run.

Cross country co-captain Diego Muñoz said for a week, his mind has been focused on when he could get out there again.

“The day after the fire started, all I wanted to do was run, but it was just too smoky,” he said.

To see the team together will mean a lot, Carlisle said. Seeing them run will mean even more.

“It’s just one of the most important things in their life,” she said. “That’s what they love to do. I think it’s really important that they are able to do that.”

Muñoz can’t wait. He’s spent the week at a friend’s house in Clearlake Oaks, waiting for word - on when school would open, on when practice would resume, on when he go come home.

He didn’t know until Thursday that his house still stands.

“It was hard because we didn’t know if we should start looking for other houses or how to rebuild or anything,” he said.

Rebuild. It’s a word often used in sports. It usually describes a team bouncing back from the graduation of a talented class or the departure of a key player or coach.

Middletown is facing the literal definition of rebuilding.

For some, sports will be a cornerstone of that effort, said Principal Bill Roderick.

Roderick, who lost his home in the blaze, said he can’t wait to see purple and gold clad students running around the athletic fields again.

“They need to do this,” he said.

“If they can get through this, they can get through anything,” he said.

Cross county co-captain Tiyanna Meese said her squad is more than willing to re-introduce the Mustangs to the wider world.

“We are the first team in our whole school to actually be out in public again,” she said. “We are just running for our community, pretty much showing everyone that we are still here and we can do it.”

They’ll have help. Fleet Feet in Santa Rosa is bringing shoes for those Mustangs without. Heart and Sole is bringing shorts and singlets. The Meese family had “Middletown Strong” warm up shirts made. All manner of other athletic gear is being collected for Middletown’s students.

Meese said the Mustangs feel the love. But they want to show something too.

“I think all the teams in Middletown are going to come back even stronger,” Meese said.

Meese and her teammates, none of whom have slept in their own bed for a week, don’t promise to set any personal records today. But they’ll run. Time doesn’t matter, podium place doesn’t matter, scores don’t matter.

“We aren’t running for place,” she said.

But that’s where I beg to differ. They are running for place. That place is Middletown.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.