Jones Revs Up Thousand Oaks’ Title Drive

The wait finally could be over for Thousand Oaks High girls’ track Coach Art Green.

After coaching several Southern Section individual champions during 14 seasons at the school, this could be the year the Lancers give Green his first championship at the Southern Section and state levels.

The reason for such optimism?

Marion Jones.

Last season, Jones led Rio Mesa to the 3-A Division title, winning the 100, 200 and 400 meters to help the Spartans outdistance runner-up Thousand Oaks, 66-37 1/2.

But when the two-time defending state champion in the 100 and 200 transferred to Thousand Oaks last November, Jones gave Green the ingredient his teams have lacked since Marlene Harmon competed for the Lancers in 1980: a dominating athlete.

No one is about to call such former Thousand Oaks standouts as Sharon Manship and Staci Leach slouches, but few runners can match Jones’ credentials. She set a national high school and junior (age 19 and under) record in the 200 (22.76 seconds) as a sophomore last year and in June is expected to contend for a berth on the U. S. Olympic team.

“Last year’s team might have been the best I’ve ever had from top to bottom and from event to event,” Green said, “but we still weren’t able to win the section title. We didn’t have that real big gun who could score a lot of points for us in the big meets. Now we do.”

Under Green, Thousand Oaks finished second in the 4-A meet in 1978, 1980 and 1987.

The addition of Jones also improves the Lancers’ stock in the relays. Thousand Oaks finished third in both the 400 and 1,600 relays in the 3-A meet last year, but if Jones is a member of those quartets, the team will be regarded as a championship contender in both events.

“When she transferred here, she made quite an impact,” Green said. “She gave us a lot of options.”

She also made a good team outstanding.

Stacey Auer, Heather Hanger, Lisa Gillette and Wendy Wendelstein are some of Thousand Oaks’ returning athletes.

Auer has run 10 minutes 38.63 seconds in the 3,200, and Hanger has timed a wind-aided 14.69 in the 100-meter low hurdles. They each placed sixth in their events in last year’s 3-A meet.

Gillette ran 2:21.38 in the 800 and was a member of the 1,600-relay team last year, and although Wendelstein posted solid sprint times of 12.69 in the 100 and 26.3 in the 200, she will concentrate on the hurdles and the triple jump while remaining a member of the 400-relay team.

“Winning a (Southern Section) title is not everything to me,” Green said. “But it’s one of the things that my teams hadn’t achieved. And I wasn’t sure if we ever would after last year.”

OTHER TEAMS TO WATCH

Agoura--Distance standouts Deena Drossin and Tiffany York have moved on to Arkansas and UC Irvine, but the Chargers might have more depth.

Senior Laura Hayward, junior Kristie Camp, sophomore Kay Nekota and freshman Amy Skieresz could rack up a bundle of points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 in the 3-A meet. Of course, to get that far, they must place among the top three in their respective events in the traditionally tough Marmonte League finals.

Hayward upset Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore in the 3,200 in the Spartan Relays at Rio Mesa High on Saturday, and Camp placed third in the 800 in the 3-A meet last year.

“I think we have more versatility this year than in previous seasons,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “Before, (our best runners) were predominantly two-milers. This year, we have girls who can run the 800 and 1,600 too.”

Tamika Greer, a sophomore transfer from El Camino Real, gives the Chargers potential for great versatility with bests of 16.03 in the 100 low hurdles, 4 feet 10 inches in the high jump and 15-11 1/2 in the long jump.

Sophomore Kelly Bleiberg cleared 5-2 in the high jump last year. Senior Jennifer Blechen placed sixth in the discus in the 3-A meet and is expected to score points in that event and in the shotput.

Rio Mesa--For the first time since 1985, the Spartans will be without an elite sprinter, but co-Coach Brian FitzGerald still believes his team is capable of winning a seventh consecutive Channel League title.

“We’re not going to score a lot of points at the Southern Section meet because we don’t have an Angela (Burnham) or a Marion (Jones),” FitzGerald said. “But we’re going to be real solid at the dual-meet and tri-meet level.”

Carla Knudsen, one of the few seniors, will be the Spartans’ most highly touted athlete. Knudsen, who is headed for San Jose State on a gymnastics scholarship, placed second in the high jump in the 3-A meet and has a best of 5-6.

Junior Genie Van Scoy will compete in the shotput and discus, and senior Danielle Tanner, the 1990 Ventura County champion in the 400, is expected to give the Spartans quality in the one-lap race and relays.

Junior twins Ashanti and Chianti Austin will compete in the 100, 200, long jump and 400 relay.

Fillmore--The Flashes lack the depth to compete with some of the region’s larger schools at the dual-meet level, but with senior Nikki Shaw and junior Aparicio, they might contend for the 1-A and state titles.

Shaw, runner-up in the 1,600 in the state championships, won the 400, 800 and 1,600 in the 1-A meet. She is considering an 800-1,600 double in the state meet.

Aparicio placed seventh in the Kinney national cross-country championships in December and finished sixth in the 3,200 in the state meet in June.

INDIVIDUALS TO WATCH

Crystal Brownlee (Westlake)--The runner-up by a quarter-inch in the shotput in the state championships, Brownlee opened with a victory in the Spartan Relays.

The junior’s personal best of 45-4 ranks third on the all-time region list and is less than a foot shy of the record of 46-0 1/2 set by Lorraine Constanzo of Saugus in 1981.

Veronica Barajas (Channel Islands)--The surprise of the 1990 cross-country season when she placed fifth in the Kinney national championships as a junior, Barajas ran 10:51.47 in the 3,200 before a stress fracture ended her season.

If she remains healthy, she is expected to contend for a top-six finish in the 3,200 in the state championships.

Jen Frank (Oak Park)--The No. 2 sprinter in the region behind Jones, Frank won the 100 and 200 and placed second in the long jump in the 1-A championships as a sophomore last year.

Frank ran a personal best of 24.84 seconds to win the 200 in the 1-A meet and qualify for the Masters meet, but a family obligation kept her from competing.

Expect to see her in the state meet this season.