FALL SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Valley College Women Win Cross-Country Title

The Valley College women’s cross-country team scored the top-five runners to win the Mountain Valley Conference title Friday at College of the Canyons. Valley scored 15 while L.A. Trade-Tech scored 58. Antelope Valley College, College of the Canyons and L.A. Southwest College had too few runners to score.

Valley was led by Kim Stewart with a time of 17:40, Gretchen Lohr, 18:02, Sandra Martinez, 18:46, Donna DiMaggio, 20:09, and Maureen Doderlein at 21:02.

The two top schools will compete at the Southern California Regionals at Bonelli Park in San Dimas on Friday.

Other individuals to reach the regionals are Teresa Schoenmann (15th at 26:05) and Patrice Trout (16th at 27:42), both of Canyons.

Trade-Tech won the men’s division with 28 points. Antelope Valley had 72, Valley 81, L.A. Mission 85 and Canyons 94.

Valley’s top runner was Reggie Dechard, who placed fourth at 18:45, while Carlos Fonseca of Mission was fifth at 18:51. Both will compete in Friday’s regionals.

Others in the regionals: Jim Pontius of Canyons (11th at 19:16), Lane Olsen of Valley (14th at 20:13) and Ron Belisle of Valley (15th at 20:14).

Lisa Ash led the Moorpark College women’s cross-country team to a Western State Conference finals victory with a winning time of 18:38.9. Moorpark had 35 points, Cuesta College 55, Santa Barbara City College 65 and Ventura College was fourth with 66.

In men’s competition, Moorpark placed fourth behind Taft College, which placed four of the top seven runners.

The Simi Valley boys team carried a 6-0 record into the Marmonte League cross-country finals and won easily by placing four of the top five runners.

Simi had 24 points, Thousand Oaks 63, Westlake 64, Newbury Park 68, Camarillo 141, Royal 183 and Channel Islands 188.

Jim Zimmer led the Pioneers with a time of 15:55. Teammate Neff McGhie ran a 16:08, while Thousand Oaks’ John Cox ran a 16:14. Travis Briggs of Simi finished in 16:19 and teammate Chris Pressman followed at 16:20.

Simi, Thousand Oaks and Westlake will compete in the Southern Section finals at Mount San Antonio College next Saturday.

Thousand Oaks won the girls competition with 37 points. Westlake followed with 44, Newbury Park had 52, Simi 93, Camarillo 152, Royal 162 and Channel Islands 213.