Thousand Oaks Flattens Field in Cross-Country at Ventura

The book on the Thousand Oaks High boys’ cross-country team read as follows before Saturday’s Seaside Invitational at San Buenaventura State Beach in Ventura:

Good team loaded with depth which performs best on rugged, hilly courses such as Mt. San Antonio College. Somewhat vulnerable, however, when competing on relatively flat courses against teams with top-notch track runners.

The book needs amending after Thousand Oaks rolled to an impressive victory on a flat Seaside course against a field that included five teams ranked among the top eight in the state Division I poll.

“We don’t point for this race, we don’t rest for this race,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell said. “We just show up and run. But I’m very pleased with the way we ran today. Obviously, we’re much further along than we were a year ago at this time.”

Led by seniors Brandon Del Campo (14 minutes 53 seconds over the three-mile course) and Chadd Aldrich (15:04), Thousand Oaks compiled a cumulative team time of 75:37 for its top five runners to easily turn back Hart (76:52), Peninsula (77:36), San Diego (77:48) and Palmdale (77:59).

Hart, which defeated Thousand Oaks for its third consecutive state Division I title last season, was led by junior Brett Strahan (14:43), but the Indians could not match the Lancers’ depth. Four Thousand Oaks runners ran 15:08 or faster and seven timed 15:57 or better.

“We’ve always considered ourselves to be a hills team so we’ll take this race,” Farrell said. “Why some other teams don’t run well on hilly courses has always been a mystery to us.”

There was nothing mysterious about the Lancers’ performance on a cool, overcast day.

Thousand Oaks was bitterly disappointed when Hart won the the state championship last season after the Lancers defeated the Indians for the Southern Section Division I title the previous week. And though Farrell tends to downplay the significance of the loss, Saturday’s race was a great chance for the top-ranked Lancers to draw first blood in the 1993 campaign.

In a big surprise, Jessica De La Cerda of Hart had the fastest time in the girls’ meet, timing 17:23 over the three-mile course to turn back standouts Molly Mehlberg (17:27) of Peninsula and Gabriela Rodriguez (17:57) of Oxnard.

Mehlberg placed third in last year’s state Division I championships and Rodriguez finished third in the 3,200 meters in the state track championships in June, but De La Cerda was philosophical.

“It’s still early in the season,” she said. “And it might not have been (Mehlberg’s) best race.”

Hart (95:48) was second behind Peninsula (94:37), the state’s second-ranked Division I team.

Saugus (95:51), Buena (96:45) and Canyon (97:24) rounded out the top five.