CROSS-COUNTRY : Sutton Finishes 1st to Lead Newbury Park to 2nd at Preliminaries

Melissa Sutton of Newbury Park ran to her 12th consecutive win Saturday in the Southern Section 4-A cross-country preliminaries.

She ran a 17:57 in the first heat at Mt. San Antonio College to lead fourth-ranked Newbury Park to a second-place total of 64 points.

Brigid Freyene, a junior at Riverside Poly who finished 10th at last year’s 4-A championships, posted the fastest girls time with a 17:45 over the three-mile course in the second heat. Santa Barbara sophomore Jamie Park had an 18:01.

Five teams from the Valley area won qualifying heats. Thousand Oaks (4-A), Hart (3-A), and Agoura (2-A) boys were victorious, and the Thousand Oaks and Westlake girls finished first in their qualifying races.

Individual winners included freshman Bryan Dameworth (15:32) of Agoura, Frank Flores (15:40) of Hart and sophomore Heather Scobie (18:16) of Saugus.

Flores led a second-ranked Hart team. The Indians placed three runners in the top five and four in the top eight to easily win heat two of the 3-A Division with 33 points. Alemany was second with 104.

Led by the 1-2 finish of Dameworth (15:32) and Matt Thomson (15:40), second-ranked Agoura won the second heat of the 2-A Division with 51 points. Dameworth’s time was the fastest in the 2-A.

Thousand Oaks, led by Bryan Gibby (15:52), took four of the top nine places to win heat two of the 4-A with 28 points.

Christy Farrell (18:16) finished second behind Freyene to lead second-ranked Thousand Oaks to a 41-point total in heat two of the 4-A girls race. Jennifer Feller (third in 18:52) led Marmonte League-rival Westlake to a 42-point total in heat three.

COLLEGE MEN

Cal Poly SLO 41, CS Hayward 67, CS Northridge 70--Led by sophomore Dave Walsh, the Matador men qualified for the national championships with a third place in the NCAA Division II West Regionals at Riverside.

It is the first time a CSUN men’s team has qualified for the Division II championships since 1980.

Walsh, the recently crowned CCAA champion, broke away from the lead group after the three-mile mark and was never challenged. His time of 31:34 over the 10,000-meter course defeated second-place Mike Livingston of San Luis Obispo by 21 seconds.

Freshman Derik Vett finished eighth in 32:25. Teammates Wilbert James (11th in 32:27), Doug Sullivan (24th in 32:55) and Craig Ingram (28th in 33:03) rounded out the Northridge scoring.

COLLEGE WOMEN

Cal Poly SLO 38, CS Northridge 73, Seattle Pacific 77--Cal State Northridge, led by freshman Darcy Arreola in fifth, also qualified for the national championships with a second-place finish.

It is the sixth time in the last seven years that CSUN has qualified for the Division II championships.

Arreola ran a 17:26 over the 5,000-meter course, and teammate Nancy Bowman finished 11th in 17:44.