HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Gastelum Sets Personal Best in Cross-Country

Birmingham High’s Brian Gastelum clocked a personal-best 15 minutes, 15 seconds on Pierce College’s three-mile course during a Mid-Valley League cross-country meet Thursday, improving his best by 13 seconds.

The senior’s mark was the year’s fastest time by a City Section runner at Pierce, the site of the section’s championship meet.

Gastelum’s victory also pushed the Braves (1-0) to a 16-43 victory over Van Nuys (0-1).

Gastelum, who posted an impressive 15:28 a week ago in winning his race at the All-City Conference Classic, ran with a cold at the City championships last year and finished a disappointing 64th.

“This was a real confidence builder for him,” Braves Coach Scott King said. “When he gets sick, it really zaps him.”

Gastelum, the defending Valley Pac-8 Conference champion, timed 4:58 for the final mile.

“He really had a lot left,” King said.

In other boys’ meets:

Taft 20, Canoga Park 43--Colin Pratt (16:38) finished first for the Hunters (0-1) but Taft claimed the next five places in a West Valley League meet at Pierce College.

Junior Brian Godsey (16:38) and sophomore Mike Krentzin (16:43) placed second and third for the Toreadors (2-0, 1-0).

Camarillo 15, Westlake 48; Camarillo 15, Simi Valley 50; Westlake 17, Simi Valley 41--The Scorpions, the top-ranked team in the Southern Section 4-A Division, swept the first five places at Camarillo Grove Park.

Seniors Abe Valdez (15:11), Shawn Goetzinger (15:26) and Derek Kite (15:44) finished first, second and third for Camarillo (5-0 overall, 4-0 in the Marmonte League). Juniors Josh Gerry (16:07) and Shannon Brusca (16:33) were the Scorpions’ Nos. 4 and 5 runners.

Thousand Oaks 25, Channel Islands 32--Senior Louis Leano (15:47) finished first for Channel Islands but the Lancers grabbed the next three places to improve to 3-1 in the Marmonte League.

Junior Erik Spayde (15:48) led Thousand Oaks with a second-place finish.

Channel Islands fell to 3-2 in league.

GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY

Channel Islands 22, Thousand Oaks 39--Freshman Stacey Auer (19:08) of Thousand Oaks (2-2) finished first but the Raiders’ superior depth prevailed in a Marmonte League meet at College Park in Oxnard.

Sophomore Veronica Barajas (19:10), junior Yung Chong (19:23) and senior Bonique Rodriguez (20:25) placed second through fourth for Channel Islands (5-0 in league).

GIRLS’ TENNIS

Calabasas High (8-0, 2-0) won seven out of nine singles matches to beat visiting Agoura High, 10-8, for the first time in four years.

Agoura (6-2, 2-1) has won four consecutive Frontier League championships but couldn’t handle a strong Calabasas singles lineup that featured No. 1 Natasha Pospich, who swept Trisha Silverman, Bryn Malnekoff and Halyce Richard by a combined score of 18-0.