One Last Hill to Climb : Cross-country: Thousand Oaks High girls have unfinished business from last year: a state championship.

Call it the one that got away.

The Thousand Oaks High girls’ cross-country team won four of five major meets during the second half of the 1994 season, but after finishing second in last year’s State Division I championships, the Lancers feel like they’ve got some business to finish.

Thousand Oaks posted runaway victories in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational and the Ventura County, Marmonte League and Southern Section Division I championships last year. However, the Lancers’ runner-up finish to Peninsula in the State meet still gnaws at them.

“The girls have made no bones about it, they want to win the state title this year,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell said. “They feel like they missed a great opportunity last year.”

Peninsula, which finished 25 points behind Thousand Oaks in the Southern Section finals at Mt. SAC, rebounded a week later at Fresno’s Woodward Park for an 82-91 victory over the heavily favored Lancers.

Thousand Oaks, ranked eighth in Harrier magazine’s national preseason poll, is well stocked for its pursuit of the state title.

Six of the Lancers’ top seven runners return, including seniors Kim Mortensen and Tara Marsden.

Mortensen placed fourth in the State cross-country championships last year and lowered her personal bests to 4 minutes 59.23 seconds in the 1,600 meters and to 10:42.85 in the 3,200 during track season. Farrell said she’s training with even greater intensity.

“I don’t want to make any predictions about how fast Kim will run because I don’t want her to feel any added pressure,” Farrell said. “But she’s training on another level, altogether, right now.”

Marsden had a mediocre junior track season after missing the first half of the year because of mononucleosis, but she’s regained the form that carried her to a 13th-place finish in last year’s State cross-country finals.

The Lancers’ other returning runners are seniors Alison Feinstein, 36th in the State championships, and Katie Scherrei (62nd), junior Tamara Savage (72nd) and sophomore Erin Sorensen (84th). Junior Megan Cordes should give Thousand Oaks added depth.

Feinstein, Scherrei, Savage and Cordes are in good shape, according to Farrell, but Sorensen was hampered by bronchial problems for most of the summer after performing well in track.

With defending state champion Peninsula having lost three of its top seven runners to graduation and with third-place--and 1993 champion--Irvine having lost two of its top seven, Thousand Oaks is a logical favorite for this year’s Division I title.

Farrell is not taking anything for granted, however. He knows that the Lancers have always run better over Mt. SAC’s hilly course--site of the Southern Section championships--than on Woodward Park’s relatively flat layout--home of the State finals.

“We just seem to have a little lack of confidence when it comes to [the Woodward Park course],” he said. “When we get to Mt. SAC, we’re like, OK, we own this place. But when it comes to [Woodward Park], it’s more like, let’s get out of here with as little damage as possible.”

Other teams to watch:

* Nordhoff: The top seven runners are back from last year’s Southern Section Division III champion that placed fourth in the State finals.

Sophomore Elaine Canchola, runner-up in the Foot Locker West regionals, could contend for a top-10 finish in this year’s national championships. Juniors Terrah Chapin, Bridie Hatch, Yadi Ramirez and Kendra Greene should round out the top five for the No. 1-ranked team in the Division III preseason poll.

One of the state’s most consistent programs, Nordhoff has finished seventh or higher in the previous six State championships.

* Agoura: Two-time state champion Amy Skieresz is a freshman at Arizona, but four of the Chargers’ top seven runners return from last year’s team that placed sixth in the State Division II finals.

Junior Jessica Lepisto, 29th in the State meet, and senior Mary Higgins, who transferred from Chaminade in the spring, are expected to battle for the No. 1 spot.

Juniors Meredith Hellman, Sarah Chulack and Lindsey Raser should round out the top five early in the season. Coach Bill Duley says several promising underclassmen could contend for spots as the season progresses.

* Canyon: The Cowboys tied Hart for last year’s Foothill League title, but with six of its top seven runners back, Canyon is favored this season.

Junior Julie Harris, the defending league champion, won league titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 in track and has run 11:31.3 in the latter.

Seniors Danielle Hadfield, Kellie Stigile and Tiffany Furuya ran two, three and four last year, but juniors Jean Drummond and Angelica Huato are capable of breaking into the top four spots, according to Coach Dave DeLong.

* Buena: With five of their top seven runners back from last year’s team and the addition of senior Stacy Hebert, the Bulldogs are favored to win their 13th consecutive Channel League title.

Hebert is an outstanding 300-meter hurdler who is running cross-country for the first time. In a 5k run on Labor Day, she finished ahead of Ventura’s Alyson MacIntosh, the defending league champion.

Junior Meaghan Dunne, and sophomores Melanie Grider and Janelle Payne are the other top returners for the Bulldogs.

* Quartz Hill: Sophomore Danielle Day leads a squad that returns its top six runners from last year’s Golden League champion.

Day, fifth in last year’s Southern Section Division I cross-country championships, ran 10:57.78 in the 3,200 during track.

Seniors Louise Crane and Denise Johns, sophomore Elisha Rubio and freshman Carly Harrill round out the top five.

* Taft: The Toreadors’ top seven runners--including seniors Sadaf Sehati and Michele Klein--are back from the team that placed second in the City Section championships.

Sehati finished ninth in the City finals and Klein was 11th.

Also expected to contribute are sophomore Francis Santin, runner-up in the 300 hurdles in this year’s City track championships, and senior Daisy Roque and junior Jill Fairchild.