Spiker Might Set Another Record Without Trying

Josh Spiker of Ventura High thrilled everyone with his runaway victory in the individual sweepstakes race of the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut on Saturday. Just don’t expect him to be gunning for a course record in the Ventura County championships at Lake Casitas near Ojai today.

Spiker, a senior, moved to sixth on the all-time Mt. SAC course list with a 14:42 clocking that was the fastest over the hilly 2.95-mile layout since 1990. Coach Bill Tokar of Ventura doesn’t want him chasing course records every race.

A second consecutive county title would be enough today.

“We’re not going to get obsessed with times, either at Mt. SAC or at county,” Tokar said. “We want to keep him under control for the first mile [today] and then see how he feels.”

Even if Spiker doesn’t run a comparable race to Mt. SAC, there’s a good chance he’ll break the Lake Casitas three-mile course record of 15:04 set by Keith O’Doherty of Thousand Oaks in the 1994 county meet.

Last year, Spiker won the county title in 15:22 at Lake Casitas. Now, he’s in vastly superior shape this season.

Juniors Mark Nevers of Oak Park and Roberto Contreras of Nordhoff, and seniors Seth Neumuller of Thousand Oaks and Jason Lanning of Buena are the runners expected to be closest to Spiker.

Nevers, runner-up last year, is the leader of an Oak Park team that is ranked second behind McFarland in the state Division IV poll.

The Eagles are expected to battle two-time defending county and state Division IV champion Nordhoff for the team title.

Nevers ran 15:31 to place fourth in the Division IV sweepstakes race at Mt. SAC last Friday while Contreras was eighth in 15:56.

Neumuller and Lanning each ran 15:48 in finishing 13th and 14th in the individual sweepstakes on Saturday.

Junior Laura Jakosky of Agoura is favored to win the girls’ individual title, with Nordhoff tabbed to take the team championship.

Jakosky, defending Southern Section Division II champion, has won six of seven races this season.

Like Spiker, she ran well at Mt. SAC, clocking a career best of 18:11 to finish sixth in the individual sweepstakes race.

Junior Kelley Hess of Thousand Oaks is regarded as Jakosky’s biggest challenger.

Hess has lost to Jakosky three times this season, but she was ahead of her at the two-mile mark at Mt. SAC before finishing eighth in 18:29.

Nordhoff, defending state Division IV champion, won the Division IV sweepstakes race at Mt. SAC.

Westlake, 6-0 in Marmonte League dual-meet competition, is expected to be Nordhoff’s biggest challenger, followed by league rivals Agoura and Thousand Oaks.

The meet starts at 1:45 p.m. with the boys’ junior varsity race.

The girls’ varsity race is scheduled to begin at 4:40 with the boys’ varsity at 5:10.