ROUNDUP : Channel Islands Boys Prevail in Cross-Country Invitational

Channel Islands High cross-country Coach Tom Kiddie did not hide his emotions Saturday after his Raider boys had romped to the Paramount Ranch Invitational large-schools title.

Behind the 1-2 finish of Fernando Mendoza (16 minutes 1 second) and Stewart Ellington (16:02), Channel Islands scored 57 points to runner-up Fontana’s 114.

West Torrance (121), Thousand Oaks (140) and Crescenta Valley (159) rounded out the top five.

“I was real pumped up,” Kiddie said. “I called home and my wife gave me a list of grocery items and I just forgot about it.”

Mendoza and Ellington were running fifth and sixth with three-quarters of a mile remaining before putting on a tremendous surge to overtake Lakewood’s Antonio Martino (16:03) in the final stretch.

After three rebuilding years, Kiddie has his best team ever. Channel Islands last won a league championship in 1967 as a Frontier League member.

“I handed the (invitational) trophy to (James Darpino) and he just sat there for a long time and looked at,” Kiddie said. “We were really proud of it.”

Darpino, the Raiders’ third runner Saturday, finished 10th in 16:52.

Veronica Barajas of Channel Islands won the girls’ large-schools race in 18:25 to give the Raiders a sweep of the individual titles.

The Channel Islands girls’ team, competing without No. 3-runner Yung Chong, was a distant third behind Lakewood (55) and Marmonte League-rival Simi Valley (59).

The Raiders finished with 75 points.

La Reina sophomore Jamie Kendig timed 19:27 in winning the small-schools race and leading the Regents (87) to a third-place finish.

San Luis Obispo won with 65 points and La Canada finished second with 81.

In other meets:

Bell-Jeff Invitational--Perennial City Section power Belmont upset defending City champion Taft, 69-81, for the Division I title at Griffith Park.

Sergio Lopez finished fourth in 15:06 to pace the Saracens and Taft’s Brian Godsey (15:10) was fifth over the 2.8-mile course.

Fillmore scored 67 points to win the Division III boys’ title over Salesian (90).

The championship was the Flashes’ fourth in as many invitationals this season.

Burbank’s Krista Ayuso timed 18:35 in winning the Division II girls’ race and Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore claimed the Division III title in 19:29 for her third invitational win in a row.

Golden League four-way meet-- Canyon’s Dave Hartman timed 16:26 at College of the Canyons to lead the Cowboys (3-0) past Quartz Hill, Saugus and Palmdale in their league opener.

Sophomore Joe Bedortha (17:14) finished fourth for Quartz Hill (4-1), which locked up second place in the league dual-meet standings based on previous league races.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Cal State Hayward d. The Master’s, 15-6, 15-13, 15-6--Brenda Bement had 7 kills to lead Master’s in a nonconference match at Hayward. Master’s is 10-11.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Cal Lutheran 8, Occidental 2--Rachel Wackerman scored four goals to lead Cal Lutheran in a nonconference match at home.

Tracy Mulherin scored two goals and Danielle Deyarmond had a school-record three assists for Cal Lutheran (4-2).

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

Burroughs d. Rim of the World, 15-9, 15-10, 15-13--Jennifer Wagner had 20 kills and Loretta Russell added 11 as the Indians (7-1) defeated Rim of the World in a nonleague match at Burroughs.

WATER POLO

Crespi 10, Agoura 7--Vince Greco scored a team-high three goals to lead Crespi in a nonleague game at Agoura. Paul Vincze, T. J. Greene and Jean Michel each added two goals for Crespi (11-0).