Lancers Run Fast Enough Under Wraps : High school cross-country: Thousand Oaks breezes to Southern Section win in preliminaries while saving a little for championship meet.

A little relaxation paid big dividends for the Thousand Oaks High boys’ cross-country team in Saturday’s Southern Section preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College.

Although the Lancers entered the meet as the No. 5-ranked team in the nation according to Harrier magazine, their goals were modest. They wanted to run fast enough to win, but easy enough to save themselves for the section championships on Nov. 20.

“I basically told them to take off about 5% from their normal effort,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell said. “I told them to run about two or three seconds slower per mile, or 10 seconds slower overall, than they would if they were running all-out. I was not concerned with their times at all.”

The result was a runaway victory in the first heat of Division I-A and a school-record team time for the Mt. SAC course--the combined time of its top five runners--of 79 minutes 15 seconds.

Thousand Oaks placed five runners among the top 10 finishers to total 31 points, followed by Arroyo Grande (93) and Buena (96).

The top three teams in each heat and the top four individuals among the top eight finishers but not on a qualifying team advanced to the championships.

The Lancers’ time broke the school mark of 79 minutes 24 seconds set in 1979 and moved them to ninth on the all-time section list.

Camarillo (78:27 in 1989) and Saugus (78:36 in 1985) rank first and second.

“Our goal before the race was to put five runners among the top 15 finishers, but to run as easily as possible,” senior Chadd Aldrich said. “I lowered my (personal record) by about 20 seconds, but I feel like I probably could have run a little faster.”

Aldrich, hampered by a sinus infection for much of the season, placed fifth in 15:40 over the three-mile course.

Senior Brandon Del Campo was the Lancers’ top finisher in third (15:37), with juniors Kevin Marsden (sixth in 15:53), Jeff Fischer (seventh in 15:54) and Keith O’Doherty (10th in 16:08) rounding out Thousand Oaks’ top five.

The Thousand Oaks girls turned in one of the more surprising efforts of the meet by stunning Foothill League champion Saugus, 52-58, to win the second heat of Division I-A.

The Lancers were led by sophomores Kim Mortensen and Tara Marsden, who finished first (19:00) and fourth (19:36).

Overall, nine teams and nine individuals from the region won their respective heats.

Brett Strahan of Hart finished first in 15:27 to lead the Indians to a 69-71 victory over Palmdale in the second heat of the boys’ Division I-A.

Kay Nekota and Cathy Prater finished first (18:33) and second (19:19) in the first heat of the girls’ Division I-AA to lead Agoura to a 61-80 win over Dana Hills.

The Nordhoff boys--led by winner Javier Ramirez (15:52)--placed four runners among the top eight finishers in the second heat of Division III-A to total 39 points.

The Rangers’ team time of 82:47 was the fastest of the meet by a Division III squad.