SEASIDE CROSS-COUNTRY INVITATIONAL : Thousand Oaks, Missing Top 2 Boys, Out of Its Depth and Finishes 4th

Jack Farrell wasn’t lying.

The coach of Thousand Oaks High’s highly regarded boys’ cross-country team said a lack of depth would be a problem for the Lancers this season if one of their top five runners was unable to race because of illness or injury.

The proof came Saturday when the defending state Division I champions finished fourth in the Seaside Invitational on the bicycle path at San Buenaventura State Beach.

With Jeff Fischer sick and Kevin Marsden sidelined because of a back injury, Thousand Oaks’ cumulative team time for its top five runners was 79 minutes 30 seconds, nearly four minutes slower than its course-record performance (75:37) of last year.

Hart, led by individual winner Brett Strahan, placed first with a time of 77:29, followed by Palmdale (78:03) and Newport Harbor (79:16).

Thousand Oaks senior Keith O’Doherty had the second-fastest time of the meet--running 14:35 over the flat three-mile course, but without Fischer, the third-place finisher in last year’s state meet, and Marsden (fifth), the Lancers lacked the horsepower to win.

Juniors Todd Disney (15:19) and Josh Carolan (15:34) were Thousand Oaks’ Nos. 2 and 3 runners, but there was a big gap to senior Tony Smith (16:27) and sophomore Eric Stoutenberg (17:35).

If Fischer and Marsden had been in the race and run as fast as expected, the Lancers probably would have broken their course record, but O’Doherty didn’t seem disappointed about the missed opportunity.

“Jeff’s been sick and Kevin has had a small problem with his back,” he said.

“It’s nothing serious with Kevin, but he didn’t want to take a chance on injuring it more by (running on a hard asphalt) course like this.”

Though Saturday’s meet was a temporary setback for Thousand Oaks, the No. 2-ranked team in the The Harrier magazine’s national poll, it was a big breakthrough for O’Doherty and re-established Strahan as one of the state’s top runners.

Strahan had finished second in last year’s Southern Section Division I championships, but a lung infection limited him to a 21st-place finish in the state championships and forced him to drop out of the Foot Locker West regional.

“I was crushed when that happened,” he said. “It’s like I have one more shot this year and I want to show people that what happened was a fluke.”

Strahan led at the mile mark in 4:42, with Antonio Arce of Palmdale and John Greene of Agoura next at 4:45. At two miles (9:43), Strahan had a seven-second advantage over Arce, Greene, O’Doherty and Francisco Sandoval of Channel Islands.

O’Doherty shaved a couple of seconds off Strahan’s lead in the last mile, but the Indian senior timed 14:30 to win.

Sandoval finished third in 14:45, followed by Arce (14:46) and Greene (14:58).

There were few surprises in the girls’ meet as Amy Skieresz of Agoura won the individual title and Thousand Oaks took the team championship.

Skieresz, the defending state Division I cross-country champion, did not run track last season in order to concentrate on her studies, but the competitive layoff did not appear to hurt her as she cruised to a 17:21 clocking and a 59-second margin of victory.

Thousand Oaks was without top runner Kim Mortensen--who was attending a church function--but the Lancers (96:49) edged Agoura (96:53), Saugus (96:57) and Hart (97:04) in a tight team race.