VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS : Not Exactly Walk in Park for Lanning : Cross-country: Buena High senior makes up for sub-par race last year by winning Seaside Park Invitational senior division.

There’s nothing like taking a little disappointment and turning it into a whole lot of motivation.

That’s what Jason Lanning of Buena High did in the Seaside Park Invitational cross-country meet on Friday.

Lanning finished a disappointing sixth in the junior boys’ race of the Seaside meet last year, but he exorcised the ghosts of that performance with a resounding victory in the senior race Friday.

“Last year was on my mind,” Lanning said. “I didn’t run well here. I basically [stunk] in this race and I didn’t want to do that again.”

Lanning shared the lead with Seth Neumuller of Thousand Oaks for the first 2 1/4 miles of the three-mile race before breaking away and finishing in 15:10.

The pair clocked 4:55 for the first mile and 10:05 at two miles, but Lanning opened up a 10-yard lead on Neumuller with a half-mile left.

“I threw in a surge,” Lanning said when asked how he broke away from Neumuller. “I had thrown in a couple before then, but he kept responding and coming back on me. He’s a great runner.”

Neumuller, defending Marmonte League champion, ran 15:15 in winning the junior race last year, but he clocked 15:19 on Friday to finish a second ahead of fast-closing Ruben Ruiz of Birmingham.

Brian Anderson of Burroughs placed fourth in 15:35 after running with Ruiz for the first half of the race.

Lanning, third in the Channel League final behind the Ventura tandem of Josh Spiker and Matt Swaney last year, was one of the five winners from the region.

Phillip Reid of Rio Mesa won the freshman boys’ race in 16:20 and Rosanna Kirkendall of Lancaster took the senior girls’ event in 19:02.

Kelley Hess of Thousand Oaks won the junior girls’ race in 18:41 and Erin Weesner of Royal placed first in the sophomore event in 18:58.

Kirkendall clocked 18:20 in winning the junior race last year, but a stiff wind contributed to a slower time Friday.

“I wanted to break 18,” said Kirkendall, who advanced to the state championships in the 1,600 meters in track. “But once I saw the conditions here, I just went for the win.”

Hess was expected to renew her rivalry with Jaclyn Pedersen of Royal in the junior race, but Pedersen was sidelined by a cold.

Hess was never seriously challenged with Pedersen out.

She had an 11-second lead after coming through the mile in 6:10 and she had a 31-second margin of victory over runner-up Jennifer Turk of Newbury Park at the finish.

Weesner defeated runner-up Jennifer Wright of Lancaster Desert Christian by 28 seconds.

McFarland swept the boys’ and girls’ team titles.

The Cougars’ top five runners posted a team time of 79:08 in the boys’ meet and 99:03 in the girls’.

La Verne Damien finished second in the boys’ meet in 79:15, followed by Thousand Oaks in 81:01.

Defending champion Thousand Oaks was second in the girls’ meet in 99:40 and Quartz Hill was third in 101:04.