Nordhoff Teams Run to Higher Ground : Cross-country: Boys and girls win Ventura County championships for first time in school history.

It has run like clockwork since the start of the 1990s.

At each of the Ventura County cross-country championships this decade, the Nordhoff High boys’ and girls’ teams have raised their performances on their way to winning titles in either the Southern Section or State championships.

At Friday’s race, Coach Ken Reeves’ squads reached new heights, winning the boys’ and girls’ team titles at Lake Casitas, a school first for each team.

The Rangers’ 53-87 victory over Thousand Oaks in the boys’ meet wasn’t surprising, but the girls’ 41-52 decision over the Lancers was stunning.

Thousand Oaks, the No. 2-ranked girls’ team in the Southern Section Division I poll behind Canyon, had clocked 96 minutes in last week’s Mt. San Antonio College Invitational compared to Nordhoff’s 98:44. But Friday the Rangers had four finishers ahead of the Lancers’ second runner.

“In your wildest dreams, you think about this,” Reeves said. “But you don’t really expect it to happen.”

Thousand Oaks’ Kim Mortensen broke a course record for the sixth time this season with a time of 17:34 over the three-mile distance, but the Lancers’ next finisher was Erin Sorensen in 11th (20:15).

Sophomore Elaine Canchola placed second for Nordhoff in 18:20, and teammates Terrah Chapin (19:37), Beth Zacher (20:08) and Bridie Hatch (20:15) followed in fourth, eighth and 10th.

Freshman Laurel Westbrook rounded out the Rangers’ scoring in 17th (20:32) as the defending Southern Section Division III champions had a team time of 98:52, four seconds faster than the Lancers.

Hatch’s strong finish gave the Rangers some breathing room as she went from 14th to 10th in the last three-quarters of a mile. In the final 300 yards, she swooped past Thousand Oaks’ Sorensen, Melissa McBain and Tara Marsden.

Temperatures in the 80s slowed many runners, but not Mortensen.

She had a seven-second lead over Canchola at the mile mark (5:38-5:45) and extended it to 27 seconds at two miles (11:28) before slicing 14 seconds from the course mark of 17:48 set by Agoura’s Amy Skieresz last year.

“I felt good,” Mortensen said. “The weather really wasn’t too bad. It was hotter than it has been, but I felt fine.”

In the boys’ race, Todd Disney extended Thousand Oaks’ individual winning streak to three with a 15:49 clocking, but the Lancers’ team title streak ended at three. Nordhoff placed five runners ahead of the Lancers’ third man.

Omar Vega (16:01) and Victor Ochoa (16:16) placed second and fourth for the Rangers. Dusty Herman (11th in 16:37), Will Bernaldo (15th in 16:44) and Mason Moore (21st in 16:54) rounded out the top five for the two-time defending State Division III champions.

“This is the fun part of the season for us,” Reeves said. “You’ve put all your money in the bank in workouts and now it’s time to start making withdrawals.”