Simi Valley Girls Pull Off Triple Crown in One Week

It’s not often that a high school cross-country team races three times within a week.

It’s even more rare that a team wins three high-quality meets within that time span.

Simi Valley accomplished that triple Friday by winning the girls’ title in the Channel Islands Invitational at College Park in Oxnard.

The Pioneers, with individual winner Amanda Anderson, totaled 61 points to turn back second-place Arroyo Grande, which had 70.

Newbury Park, with runner-up Jennifer Turk, placed third with 109 points, followed by Buena with 145 and Westlake with 148.

Anderson, a senior, clocked 18:18 over the three-mile course to finish nine seconds ahead of Turk, a sophomore.

“I wanted to break the school record [of 17:59],” Anderson said. “But I came up a little short.”

Anderson nonetheless won for the first time this season and cut 47 seconds from her previous best at College Park.

“We are absolutely exhausted,” Simi Valley Coach Roger Evans said. “One side of me was saying that we shouldn’t be running this race today, but the girls wanted to race.”

Simi Valley, which won the Division I title in the Bell-Jeff Invitational last Saturday and defeated Thousand Oaks and Westlake in a Marmonte League meet on Monday, appeared tired during the first mile.

The Pioneers trailed Arroyo Grande, 53-66, based on their places at that point, but they were two points ahead at two miles and nine in front at the finish.

“We didn’t get out as a group like we usually do,” Evans said. “Fatigue might have had something to do with that. I told the girls at the mile mark that they had to get going if they wanted to win the race.”

Senior Ashley Luna finished fifth in 18:38 for Simi Valley and senior Karen LeBlanc was 14th in 19:12. Junior Summer Tracey placed 17th in 19:20 and freshman Danielle Fernandes finished 24th in 19:46 for the Pioneers.

Buena, with individual champion Jason Lanning, was a runaway winner in the boys’ race.

The Bulldogs totaled 59 points, with Lancaster second with 101 and San Diego third with 103.

Lanning, a junior, clocked 15:24 to move into 10th on the course’s all-time performer list.

He lowered his best at College Park by 28 seconds and helped Buena to its second consecutive victory after struggling to a ninth-place finish in the season-opening Seaside Invitational three weeks ago.

“Jason ran very well today,” Buena boys’ Coach Ray Seay said. “I was real pleased with his time.”

Lanning had an eight-second lead over the field when he came through the mile in 4:49. That advantage grew to 12 seconds at two miles and he was 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Alex Cocina of San Diego at the finish.

Junior John Burt finished eighth in 16:05 for Buena and senior Ryan Robinson was 12th in 16:10. Senior Tyler Ross placed 17th in 16:19 and junior Francisco Velazquez was 21st in 16:23 for the Bulldogs.

Senior Richard Butler finished fourth in 15:43 for Lancaster and junior teammate Joe Gocong was ninth in 16:06.