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Bessie Hatch third Ojai runner
to win Casitas run
by Misty Volaski
With temperatures hovering in the 80s, the 15th annual Rotary
West Ojai Invitational was held on the challenging three-mile
Lake Casitas course in Ojai.
More than 900 runners crossed the finish line and when all was
said and done the top team in the large school division appeared
to be first-time participant Martin Luther King High School of
Riverside. Meanwhile, on the small-school side, Barstow showed
it was once again going to be a force to be dealt with on the
boys' side and tiny Thacher School of Ojai was ready to step
out of the shadow of cross-town rival, Nordhoff.
In the small school girls' race Thacher's Bessie Hatch became
the third consecutive Ojai resident to win the Ojai Invitational,
crossing the finish line in 19:20. She was well in front of
her all-time best for the challenging Lake Casitas course. Carrie
Fabing, the fine freshman from Lompoc, followed up her junior
varsity race victory at the Morro Bay Invitational with a second-place
finish here at the Ojai with a time of 20:00. Jacquelyn Magdelano
of Fillmore was third at 20:10.
While the Ojai run is not a team scoring event, Thacher of Ojai
showed that they were ready to compete with the Division 5 powers
across the state. With a team of no freshmen (they are all required
to take horsemanship their freshman year at Thacher), the Toads
placed five runners in the top 24 and ran a combined team time
of 103:43 on a course that usually compares straight across with
Mount San Antonio College. They were easily the fastest team
in this combined Divisions Three, Four and Five race. Lompoc,
a Division Three team, appeared to have the next fastest team
time at 104:49, while Nordhoff (D3), the No. 2 ranked team in
Division Three for Southern Section ran a time of 107:59. Oak
Park, defending Division Four State Champions rested their top
runners for this meet.
On the boys' side for the small schools, Cabrillo's Duane Solomon
won his second invitational in a row, edging freshman teammate
Michael Coe by three seconds with his winning time of 16:00.
Both runners looked extremely comfortable during the latter portions
of the race as Coe's 16:03 time put him eight seconds in front
of Dan Nunn of San Luis Obispo, the third-place finisher. Coe's
time also placed him first on the all-time freshmen list for
Lake Casitas, replacing current California state champion in
the 1600, Phillip Reid. It is even more impressive is that Coe's
time also puts him in front of runners who have captured three
other individual State Championships and in front of two Footlocker
National finalists. Senior Juan Mejia of Fillmore was fourth
with 16:14, just in front of a pack of Barstow runners.
Teamwise, Barstow was the class of the meet as they had four
runners in the top eight and six in the top 14. In addition,
a Barstow runner lost his shoe and dropped out in the first 100
meters and an opportunity to repeat their state championship
of last year. Barstow's team time for their top five was 82:29
with a 22 second gap from one to five. Division Four Fillmore
placed three runners in the top 11 and finished in 83:51; 2000
Division Five State Champion, Santa Clara, ran well without defending
Frontier League champion, Jonathan Reed, placing two other runners
in the top 22.
In the large school girls' race, it was the battle of the Channel
League at the front of the race. Transfer Tiare Ferguson of
San Marcos of Santa Barbara, the Hawaiian State Champion and
a 4:48 1500 meter runner was able to run away from new league
foe, Alexandra Forest of Dos Pueblos, the winner of the Morro
Bay Invitational. Ferguson won her first invitational in California
with a time of 19:07 to better Forest's time of 19:28. Third
was Tarah Novelli of Quartz Hill at 19:39 and fourth was Ferguson's
teammate, Miranda McCune. Rounding out the top five was Anne
Kennedy of Santa Barbara, giving the Channel League four of the
top five finishers.
There should be some great races at the front end of the first
Channel League meet this Wednesday at Dos Pueblos High School
as San Marcos had three runners in the top seven, while Buena
had four in the top 17 and DP had three in the top 26. Martin
Luther King High School of Riverside appeared to turn in the
top team time of the day at 103:13 while Buena of Ventura finished
in 104:34.
The large school boys' race seemed to take its cue from the small
school boys' race as two runners from the same team finished
in the top two spots. Kyle Ivie of Burbank, one of the top returning
1600 meter guys in the state won in 15:59 while teammate Stratos
Christianakis was second at 16:03.
Steady Nathan Gibson of Paso Robles was third at 16:28 and Robert
Olivera of Buena of Ventura was fourth at 16:36. As far as the
top teams, it was another royal day for King of Riverside as
they captured five of the top 15 spots. Led by David Lee (sixth)
and Grant Carter (seventh) King ran a team time of 84:23.
© 2002 The Ojai Valley News
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