HIGH SCHOOL PREVIEW : GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY : Agoura Primed for Another Title : Nekota, Skieresz, Camp Lead Top-Ranked Chargers in Their Quest for 3rd Consecutive State Championship

They are the two-time defending State Division I champions.

They were the No. 1-ranked team in the country last season and are again this year.

And six of their top seven runners return from last year’s team.

Yet the way Agoura High cross-country Coach Bill Duley figures it, the Chargers will be hard-pressed to win a third consecutive Division I girls’ title.

“We’ve got to get our fifth runner down under 19:30 (over a 5,000-meter course) if we’re going to have a chance at winning state this year,” Duley said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us to beat Peninsula.”

Duley could have said the same thing before the previous five seasons.

From 1987-89, Palos Verdes won the State Division I title with Agoura second each year. Agoura turned the tables on the Sea Kings in 1990, and defeated Peninsula for the championship last year.

Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills and Miraleste combined to form Peninsula before the 1991-92 school year.

“I’m always scared of Peninsula,” Duley said. “Last year was their first under the new setup, and I’ve told the girls that that might have thrown them a little off stride. I expect them to be stronger this year.”

Although Peninsula lost its top two runners from last year’s team to graduation, the Panthers’ No. 3 through 7 runners are expected to return.

That’s probably not enough to overtake Agoura, which only lost No. 3 runner Laura Hayward (Stanford) to graduation. Duley, however, is uncomfortable in the role of favorite.

“Every year, I go in trying to create an image that we are the underdogs,” Duley said. “I don’t want our girls feeling too much pressure.”

The Chargers’ opponents are the ones likely to be feeling stressed when they see a lineup that includes junior Kay Nekota, sophomore Amy Skieresz and senior Kristie Camp.

Nekota placed second in the last year’s state championships.

Skieresz placed fifth in the state cross-country championships, and third in the 1,600 meters in the state track championships in June.

Camp finished 11th in the state cross-country meet and was seventh in the 800 in the state track championships.

Nekota and Skieresz have a legitimate chance at qualifying for the Kinney national championships this year.

“I know they’re shooting for that,” Duley said. “They both want to improve upon last year’s performances at regionals.”

Nekota finished ninth and Skieresz placed 18th in last year’s West regionals. The top eight advance to the national championships.

Nekota, Skieresz and Camp should give Agoura an unmatched one-two-three punch, but how well the Chargers’ Nos. 4 and 5 runners perform will also play a big part in their quest for a third consecutive Division I title.

“Peninsula is not going to have the front three like us,” Duley said. “But they will be very tightly bunched between their first and fifth runners. Our fifth runner can’t finish too far behind their fifth runner or we’re going to be in trouble.”

Junior Allison Kaz (32nd in the state championships), senior Tiffany Burt (58th), and junior Ingrid Hemela (67th) also return.

Juniors Melissa Fox and Carie Malnekoff should add depth to a team already loaded with it.

“I don’t want to scare our kids by telling them we’re the team to beat,” he said. “We run best when we’re confident and relaxed.”

With the talent on this year’s team, the Chargers have plenty of reason to be both of those things.

OTHER TEAMS TO WATCH

Hart--The Indians have not won any State Division I or Southern Section titles like their male counterparts, but like the boys, they will be gunning for their 10th consecutive Foothill League title.

The Indians finished sixth in last year’s Southern Section championships and six of the top seven runners from that team return, led by sophomore Krissy Schranz and senior Jessica De La Cerda.

The other returners are senior Melissa Flayer, junior Elsie Munoz, and sophomores Marissa Bueno and Erica Christensen.

Freshman Michelle Caro and senior Lisa Lederman should also battle for spots among the top seven runners.

“We didn’t run very well at the (Southern Section) championships last year,” Hart Coach Gene Blankenship said. “But I think this year’s team has a great shot at qualifying for the state meet.”

Buena--The Bulldogs placed seventh in last year’s Southern Section Division I championships, and with six of their top seven runners returning, they are capable of improving on that finish.

Sophomore Amy VanAtta, the Channel League champion in the 800 meters, and senior Miriam Niednagel (personal best of 11:34.86 in the 3,200), are expected to be the Bulldogs’ leading runners.

The next five spots should be filled by seniors Christy Ruffin, Julie Correa and Wendy Dowler, and juniors Theresa Decean and Amarissa Hernandez.

“We’ve got a lot of experience,” Buena Coach Steve Blum said. “Hopefully, that will help us in the big meets at the end of the season.”

Thousand Oaks--The Lancers are very inexperienced overall, but with senior Stacey Auer leading the way, Coach Jack Farrell figures they have a good chance at advancing to the Southern Section Division I finals.

Auer placed third in the 1,600 and 3,200 in the Southern Section 3-A Division track championships in May, and Farrell expects that success to carry over to cross-country.

A quartet of four talented freshmen should comprise the Nos. 2 through 5 positions for the Lancers.

They are Tara Marsden, Cody Sorensen, Kim Mortensen and Patricia Gibby.

“We don’t have much experience,” Farrell said. “But we have some young runners with some talent who I expect to improve a lot by the end of the season.”

INDIVIDUALS TO WATCH

Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore will compete at the Division IV level at the state meet, but there is nothing small-time about her talent.

She placed seventh in the Kinney nationals as a junior last year and is expected to be one of the top three runners in California this season along with senior Milena Glusac of Fallbrook and junior Carrie Garritson of Sunny Hills.

Aparicio is coming off a fine track season as well, having run 4:55.67 in the 1,600 meters and 10:39.08 in the 3,200. She placed second in the 3,200 behind Glusac in the state championships.

She kicked off the season with a course record in the Seaside Invitational at San Buenaventura State Beach last weekend.

Karen Bockel of Nordhoff, a foreign-exchange student from Germany, should play a major role in the Rangers’ bid for a third consecutive State Division IV title.

Bockel has run 4:36 in the 1,500 meters and 17:56 for 5,000. She opened the season last week with a course-record win in the Morro Bay Invitational.

“I just met her a couple of weeks ago and she looks like she can run 4:36 in the 1,500,” Nordhoff Coach Ken Reeves said. “She looks like she’s for real. I heard about her over the summer, but you never know about what people say until you actually see the person.”

Gabriella Rodriguez of Oxnard was one of the big distance running finds of the 1990-91 season as a freshman.

She placed 12th in the 1990 State Division I cross-country championships, and she ran a personal best of 11:05.52 to place fifth in the 3,200 in the 1991 Southern Section 3-A Division championships.

Illnesses hampered her as a sophomore, however, and she failed to qualify for the State Division I cross-country championships. She finished seventh in the 3,200 in the 3-A track championships.

“She’s in the best shape of her life right now,” Oxnard Coach Derek Turner said. “If she can stay healthy, she should be in for some fast times this season.”