Herman Crosses County Line First

You’ve got to give Dusty Herman of Nordhoff High credit.

The Ranger senior was a man of his word when it came to the Ventura County cross-country championships.

Herman said last week that winning a second consecutive individual county title wasn’t a big goal of his and he reiterated that Friday after leading senior teammates Victor Ochoa and Matthew Torres to a 1-2-3 finish in the meet at Lake Casitas.

“This is not a big deal,” Herman said as he received scores of congratulatory high-fives from well-wishers, teammates and opponents. “Victor could have won as easily as me. I just wanted the team to run well.”

Nordhoff did more than just run well. The top-ranked Division IV team in the state romped to a 37-90 victory over runner-up Ventura and the cumulative time of the Rangers’ top five runners was 2 1/2 minutes faster than their 1995 state Division III championship squad ran in the county meet.

“We really didn’t come in here with any plan,” Nordhoff Coach Ken Reeves said. “We’re just trying to stay healthy and keep it going for the meets ahead.”

Herman moved to sixth on the all-time course list with his 15:25 clocking. When Ochoa finished in 15:37 and Torres clocked 15:55, Nordhoff became the first team in the 22-year history of the county championships to sweep the first three places in the boys’ varsity race.

“We talked about doing that and we knew we could,” Herman said.

Nordhoff got a great race out of sophomore Aidan Short and a solid one from junior Chris Proudman to round out its five scoring runners.

Short placed eighth in 16:18 and Proudman finished 23rd in 16:40.

Sophomore Josh Spiker placed fifth in 16:08 and junior Matt Swaney was sixth in 16:15.

Thousand Oaks romped to victory in the girls’ meet to end Nordhoff’s title streak at two, but the Rangers’ Elaine Canchola finally won the individual championship.

Canchola finished third behind Amy Skieresz of Agoura and Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks in the 1994 county meet as a freshman and was second behind Mortensen as a sophomore.

She was third last year behind Alyson MacIntosh of Ventura and Amanda Armstrong of Thousand Oaks after being favored, but there was no stopping her this time.

Her time of 18:26 gave her a 28-second margin over Royal freshman Jaclyn Pedersen and made her the first Nordhoff girl to win a varsity title in the county meet.

Freshman Kelly Hess was third in 19:07, Armstrong, a junior, finished fourth in 19:27 and senior Erin Sorensen ran sixth in 19:35 to help Thousand Oaks defeat runner-up Camarillo, 56-110, for the team title.

The Lancers won their second county title in four years and their third overall.

Sophomore Laura Richardson finished ninth in 19:44 and junior Jeanene Gerry placed 10th in 19:46 for Camarillo.