Thousand Oaks Sweeps Mt. SAC Invitational

WALNUT — After coughing and sputtering for the first half of the season, the Thousand Oaks High boys’ cross-country team shifted into high gear Saturday in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational.

The Lancers resembled last year’s undefeated squad for the first time while running away with their third straight team sweepstakes title. Thousand Oaks also won the girls’ team sweepstakes easily.

The boys’ team, led by Keith O’Doherty’s third-place finish, placed five runners among the top 16 to total 49 points.

Carmichael Jesuit, the top-ranked Division II team in the state, placed second with 149 points, followed by Peninsula (167), Camarillo (170), San Jose Bellarmine (185) and Hart (189).

Thousand Oaks was the No. 5-ranked team in The Harrier magazine’s national poll entering the meet, but early season injuries to Jeff Fischer and Kevin Marsden had prevented the Lancers from being the dominant team of a year ago.

Until Saturday.

O’Doherty timed 15 minutes 14 seconds over the three-mile course and fellow seniors Marsden and Fischer finished eighth and ninth with identical times of 15:41.

Add juniors Todd Disney (13th in 15:47) and Josh Carolan (16th in 15:56) to the equation and Thousand Oaks produced a team time of 78:19, the second-fastest ever by a Southern Section school at Mt. SAC.

The Lancers set the course team time record of 77:56 to win last year’s Southern Section Division I title.

“Did we run well or what?” Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell said. “I think that’s about as well as we can run right now.”

O’Doherty, Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo, Antonio Arce of Palmdale and Brett Strahan of Hart staged a spirited battle for the individual title.

Strahan lead the field through the first mile in 4:49 before opening a 10-meter lead going up the first hill.

Hernandez, Arce and O’Doherty reeled in Strahan, however, and when Arce surged up aptly named “poop-out” hill just before two miles, Strahan quickly fell off the pace.

“I knew I had to try and get them in the hills because my (finishing speed) is not that good right now,” Arce said.

Although Hernandez trailed Arce and O’Doherty by five meters, he pulled even with them as they began their ascent up the final hill and surged to victory after cresting the peak.

Hernandez’s time of 15:02 cut 25 seconds from his previous best on the Mt. SAC course. Arce finished second in 15:09.

Strahan, who out-kicked Hernandez to win last month’s Mt. Carmel Invitational, was fourth in 15:21.

“My plan was to go hard on that last hill,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t worry when (Strahan) took the early lead. I just wanted to run with the leaders and relax.”

The girls’ team sweepstakes was billed as a showdown between Thousand Oaks and defending State Division I champion Irvine, but the Lancers dominated the race.

Thousand Oaks, led by Kim Mortensen’s winning time of 18:24, placed five runners among the top 25 for a 65-point total.

Trabuco Hills was second with 172, followed by El Toro (173), Irvine (181) and Buchanan (184).

“I’m not sure what to make of today,” Farrell said.

“For whatever reason, we were the only team that had five solid runners. Most of the other teams’ fourth and fifth runners were way back.”

In other races, Amy Skieresz of Agoura suffered her first loss of the season--finishing third (18:56)--in the girls’ individual sweepstakes and Phil Gonzalez of Crescenta Valley and John Greene of Agoura placed third (15:25) and fourth (15:27) in the boys’ individual sweepstakes.

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