Records Are Blown Away at Mt. SAC

Despite 25-m.p.h. gusts of wind that swept through Mt. San Antonio College’s Memorial Stadium, the Thousand Oaks High boys and girls track teams blew away five school records Friday at the Puma-Mt. SAC Relays.

Christy Farrell sliced 25 seconds off the previous Thousand Oaks 3,000-meters record of 10:50 by running a 10:25.9. She finished sixth in a field of more than 20 runners.

Farrell also helped her teammates break a school record in the 4 x 1,500-meter relay en route to a third-place finish behind Edison (19:42) and Esperanza (20.01). Farrell, Amy Sue Johnson, Pam Fuller and Jenny Bessel set a school record of 20:03.7. The old mark was 20:07.

The Lancer girls also ran well in the 800-meter sprint medley relay. With Karen Fu, Staci Leach, Sharon Manship and Donna Frankle, Thousand Oaks finished second in the event behind Redwood with a time of 1:49.4, more than a second faster than the previous school record of 1:50.1.

“We competed in three events and broke three school records,” said Art Green, Lancer girls track coach. “Christy Farrell was outstanding. All around, it was a very good day for us.”

It was also a good day for the Thousand Oaks boys team. In the 4 x 200-meter relay, Rick Manship, Dan Nagelmann, Eric Hubbard and Russ Blackstone placed fourth with a time of 1:35.1, breaking the school record of 1:37.7. Although they finished last in the 4 x 400-meter relay, Manship, Blackstone and teammates Matt Wallace and Ryan Vener established a school record of 3:33. The old mark was 3:36.9

In the highly competitive 4 x 1,500-meter relay, the Thousand Oaks team of Jim Harvath, Doug Fairman, John Cox and Kurt Gorman placed third with a time of 16:45.3, behind leaders University (16:33.3) and El Modena (16:44.2).

An all-senior lineup of Biagio Stasky, Ron Hunt, Ed Gagnon and Patrick Wooten scored a big victory for Simi Valley in the boys shuttle hurdles with a first-place finish in a time of 1:05.1, defeating second-place finisher Baldwin Park and third-place finisher Thousand Oaks by more than two seconds.

The Pioneer boys also placed in the 4 x 800-meter relay, an event dominated by Ganesha High of Pomona. The Ganesha team took first in a swift 8:18.9, two seconds better than the second place finisher, Corona. Simi’s Tom Iavello, John Rives, Derek Briggs and Roy Bolinger finished 13th in the 15-team field with a time of 8:49.6.

In the individual events, Simi Valley’s Mike Carpenter almost matched his season best of 21 feet in the boys long jump with a 21-0 1/2 effort.

Lisa Rizzo, a junior from Hart High, finished eighth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 10:33.9, but said the winds kept her from competing in top form. Her best mark in the 3,000 is 10:12.

“I didn’t enjoy this event at all,” Rizzo said. “The winds made it so tough out there. It was so dry, it hurt to run and breathe.”

Daren and Kirk Stonerock of Saugus had similar complaints. The Stonerock twins finished third and fourth in a 25-man field in the boys 3,000 meters, with respective times of 8:36.6 and 8:48.8.

“It was hard to swallow and my gums were so dry it felt like when you get your braces tightened,” said Daren. “It’s very hard to run in a wind like that.”

Kirk pulled out to an early lead in the 3,000-meter event, only to watch brother Daren, defending champion Roman Gomez of Belmont and Eric Mastalir of Jesuit charge ahead--and finish ahead.