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    | | | | | | | | | | | | Cross Country search Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH › › High School Cross Country Notebook: Newbury Park now has base to work with By ( ) Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Download this story as a podcast! STORY TOOLS More from Cross Country To move into the upper crust of the Marmonte League cross country programs, Newbury Park High coach Marty Maciel understood that he needed to establish a distance base. Halfway into the 2008 season and into today's double-dual with Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley at Cal Lutheran, the Newbury Park boys' program is all alone in second place with a 3-0 record. The Panthers are within 1-2 wins of clinching a spot in next month's CIF Prelims at Mount San Antonio College. It wasn't always so. Newbury Park was winless in league in 2005 and 2006. Finding a reason wasn't difficult. "We didn't have a feeder program in Newbury Park four years ago," said Maciel. "We had not had one in years. For us to compete with Royal and Thousand Oaks, we needed one." Debra Klein and Don Klein volunteered. They began cultivating young talent that has begun to flourish. Sophomore Sean Grumney was an all-state freshman in track last spring for the 800 and 1,600 and won the sophomore race last Saturday at the Staub/Barnes Invitational in La Crescenta. Gray Chason, Willson Horne, Brandon Rista and Erik Muller are among the budding runners, blending in with seniors Steven Bradley and Tyler Benson. "Once you get that youth going, the excitement builds," said Maciel. "It has been a four-year process where we've slowly turned up the heat. "And once you turn up the heat in the program, everybody gets used to it." Bradley, Grumney and Benson, the anchor for Newbury Park's 4x400 relay team, have traded being the team's No. 1 runner through the first four weeks of the season. Similar to most meets this fall, only 21 seconds separated the top three in Newbury Park's win over Agoura last week. Thomas Jones has closed the gap on the top three, making Newbury Park more competitive at the top against the better teams. "The young kids in our program can see the intensity that we have," said Maciel. "With the base that we have, we will be around for quite a few years." Turning on the heat: Don't expect Thousand Oaks to remain ranked No. 4 in the state among Division II boys' teams for very long. After beating Royal in a dual meet on Thursday and winning the Pepperdine Invitational on Saturday over a field that included Arcadia, No. 3 in Division I, and Barstow, ranked No. 1 in Division III, the Lancers are due a spike upward in the poll. At Pepperdine, Thousand Oaks placed four runners — Kevin Joerger, Sean Gildea, Asher Lober and Andrew Snyder — in the top 10 with a 27-second time gap. Donald Morrow was the No. 5 runner and placed 19th, 50 seconds behind Joerger. Notes: After missing the early part of the season to an injury, Zuly Jimenez made an impressive showing at the College Park Invitational. The Channel Islands runner was third in 19 minutes, 51 seconds. She finished three seconds ahead of Rio Mesa's Ivonne Solis. ... At the first Tri-Valley League meet, winner Oak Park and runner-up La Reina had 12 of the top 14 girls' runners. Melissa Skiba of Oak Park was the individual champion. Oak Park had just a 40-second time gap between its No. 3-No. 7 runners. La Reina was strong at the top with only seven seconds separating its top three finishers. ... After Saturday's Clovis Invitational, the last remaining major meets for area schools before their league finals will by the Mount San Antonio College Invitational (Oct. 24-25) and the Ventura County Championships (Oct. 31). The Star's rankings BOYS 1. Thousand Oaks (4-0) Comment: Had four of the top-10 finishers at Pepperdine. Last week: Defeated Royal and Calabasas; won Pepperdine Invitational. 2. Ventura (4-0) Comment: Easton Tackett is one of the top sophomores in the county. Last week: Had bye week. 3. Camarillo (4-0) Comment: Heyden Wooff has Camarillo off and running. Last week: Placed sixth at Staub/Barnes Invitational. 4. Oak Park (7-0) Comment: Had seven of top eight runners in league meet. Last week: Won Tri-Valley League meet. 5. Royal (2-1) Comment: Hurting without injured Travis Edwards. Last week: Defeated Calabasas, lost to Thousand Oaks. GIRLS 1. Simi Valley (3-0) Comment: Upfront runners have been solid through first month. Last week: Defeated Moorpark and Westlake. 2. Newbury Park (4-0) Comment: Met first major challenge of the season. Last week: Defeated Agoura. 3. Agoura (2-1) Comment: Katie Klezek running right at the top in every race. Last week: Lost to Newbury Park. 4. Oak Park (6-0) Comment: Could make impact at Clovis Invitational. Last week: Won Tri-Valley League opener. 5. La Reina (3-1) Comment: Rachel Brajkovich was the Regents' top runner at league meet. Last week: Placed second at TVL meet. Upcoming: Today: Newbury Park, Simi Valley at Thousand Oaks; Friday: Clovis Invitational. Discussions Discuss this article (Requires free .) Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials. Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial. We do not allow the following: Posts that degrade others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability. Disparaging remarks, abusive language or obscene comments. Threats, whether obvious or veiled. We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary. Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. 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