Agoura Track Teams Racing Ahead of Expectations

Agoura High track and field Coach Bill Duley figured his boys’ and girls’ teams eventually would contend for Marmonte League titles. He just did not figure it would happen this quickly.

When Agoura moved to the Marmonte League for the 1990-91 school year after dominating the Frontier League for several years, Duley reckoned that the Chargers could win the league title within four years.

After defeating Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley in a boys’ and girls’ triangular meet Thursday at Thousand Oaks, the Chargers appear to be ahead of schedule.

Agoura (5-0, 5-0 in league meets) won the boys’ competition with 83 points, followed by Thousand Oaks (65) and Simi Valley (22). The Chargers (5-0, 5-0) totaled 76 points in the girls’ meet to defeat Thousand Oaks (61) and Simi Valley (22).

It was only the third time during Art Green’s 15-year coaching career at Thousand Oaks that his girls’ team has been beaten by a Marmonte League team.

“I figured it would take us two or three years to get our feet wet before we could contend for the league title,” said Duley, whose girls were 5-2 and boys 1-6 in Marmonte meets last year. “There is a big difference between winning this league and the Frontier League.”

Wins in four of five field events keyed Agoura’s victory in the girls’ meet.

“I figured that we would sweep the distance races, they would win the sprints and relays, and we would break even in the hurdles,” Duley said. “And that’s pretty much what happened, but our people really came through in the field events.”

Agoura outscored Thousand Oaks, 23-17, in the field events, led by Kelly Bleiberg’s victory in the high jump (5 feet 1 inch) and Cathy Prater’s win in the triple jump (32-9). Prater also won the 330-yard low hurdles in 46.5 seconds and finished second in the 100-meter low hurdles in 15.3.

Freshman Amy Skieresz led the Chargers to 1-2-3 finishes in the mile (5:15.5) and the two-mile (11:20.5), and teammate Kristie Camp led Agoura to a 1-2-4 finish in the 880 with a time of 2:21.5.

Marion Jones, the two-time defending state champion in the 100 and 200, cruised to victories in the 220 (24.0) and the 440 (57.3) for Thousand Oaks. She also anchored the Lancers to victories in the 440-yard and mile relays with times of 50.1 and 4:09.3, respectively.

Ryan Wilson and Brent Plets were triple winners for Agoura in the boys’ meet. Wilson won the 880 in 2:02.7, the mile in 4:31.3, and the two-mile in 10:15.5. Plets took the 120-yard high hurdles (15.7), high jump (6-0) and pole vault (13-6).