Westlake girls, Ventura boys win Ventura County Cross Country Championships
Maybe it's time to return Westlake High to the upper crust of the Division 2 girls cross country poll.
Ranked third in the CIF-Southern Section's preseason cross country list in August, Westlake dropped out of the Top 10 three weeks ago.
After running past three ranked schools Saturday to capture the Ventura County Cross Country Championships at Lake Casitas, Westlake reaffirmed its standing as a not-to-be-overlooked Division 2 power.
Placing all five scorers in the top 20, Westlake finished with 51 points.
Oak Park, ranked No. 8 in Division 3, was second with 68 points. Division 2 second seed Ventura was third, followed by Thousand Oaks, ranked No. 3 in Division 3.
Led by individual winner Micah Grossman (15:15.1), Ventura easily won the boys team title with 36 points for the title. Grossman edged Westlake's KC Barber (15:15.9) for first.
Other top boys team finishers were: 2. Moorpark, 95; 3. Royal, 100; 4. Thousand Oaks, 116; 5, Oaks Christian, 132; 6. Westlake, 140, and 7. Camarillo, 143.
Melanie True of Ventura was the individual girls champion. True completed the 3-mile course in 18:43.5, winning by 24 seconds.
Kathrina Modrzejewski (19:07.0) of Oak Park and Cassidy Kajita (19:15) of Thousand Oaks were second and third.
Westlake's top three finishers were separated by only 21 seconds. Kalista Traversa (19:18.4) and Laura Castagna (19:20.3) were third and fourth. Alexa Piñon (19:39.5) placed ninth.
Other Westlake scorers were Michelle Navarro (16th, 20:12.3) and Rae Castagna (20th, 20:22.1).
Flexing its upfront strength as the section's No. 2-ranked Division 2 boys team, Ventura had five of the top 13 finishers. Placing behind Grossman were: 5. Nick DeGeorge, 15:35.5; 7. Anthony Fasthorse, 15:43.1; 10. Henry Hammel, 16:00.3; and 13. Hollis Costa, 16:06.4.
For Moorpark, Tyler Smith (15:54.7) was eighth. Hunter Lee (16:06.2) and Christian Brady-Breton (16:20.6) were 12th and 20th.
Noah De La Rionda (15:23.5) placed third for Royal. Jonah Bazerkanian (15:40.8) and Samuel Bado (16:01.0) were sixth and 11th.
Rio Mesa's Nicholas Weinerth (15:30.9) finished fourth. Oliver Clippinger-Zimm (15:56.3) and Liam Papavasiliou (16:12.2) of Thousand Oaks were ninth and 14th.
Leading Oaks Christian were Ethan Smith (16:12.8) and William Peterson (16:14.2), who were 15th and 17th.
Other top 25 finishers were: 16. Luke Morgan, Westlake, 16:14.0; 18. Samuel Adams, Oxnard, 16:19.0; 19. Diego Rodriguez, Santa Paula, 16:19.6; 21. Diego Montag, Camarillo, 16:24.2; 22. Isaac Garcia, Thousand Oaks, 16:26.7; 23. Jared Stimpson, Camarillo, 16:30.4; David Raigoza, Moorpark, 16:31,3; and 25. Diego Escalante, Thacher, 16:32.9.
For the Oak Park girls team, Tate Creason (19:35.2) and Michelle Yu (20:01) were seventh and 13th.
Without No. 1 runner Sadie Engelhardt for the second straight week, Ventura was led by True, Bailey Burman (12th, 19:59.0) and Caroline Von Gunten (15th, 20:05.7).
Thousand Oaks packed Madeline Cooper (10th, 19:40.4) and Maggie De La Rionda (18th, 20:15.5) behind Kajita.
Malibu's Tallula Murphree (19:33.1) and Camarillo's Samantha Villavicencio (19:38.2) were sixth and eighth.
Also placing in the top 25 girls were: 11. Kimberly Willard, Camarillo, 19:54.3; 14. Jane Layton, Moorpark, 20:01.0; 17. Olivia De La Cruz, Moorpark, 20:14.8; 19. Angelica Espinoza, Simi Valley, 20:20.3; 21. Lindsey Ramirez, Santa Paula, 20:27.3; 22. Leah Lopp, Moorpark, 20:28.9; 23. Isabella Bietsch, Oxnard, 20:30.9; 24. Allyson Youde, Oak Park, 20:50.0, and 25. Brody Daw, Ventura, 20:56.4.
Westlake and Ventura won the boys and girls frosh/soph team titles. Ventura needed an individual sixth-place tiebreaker to edge Rio Mesa.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Westlake girls, Ventura boys win Ventura County XC Championships
