Nordhoff States Case for 3 Titles in a Row

Questions, answers and some predictions with the high school cross-country season fast approaching:

* Can the Nordhoff boys win an unprecedented third consecutive state Division III championship?

Maybe. Will Bernaldo, Omar Vega and Mason Moore, who placed third, fifth and 16th in the State meet last year, graduated in June. But juniors Dusty Herman (eighth) and Victor Ochoa (11th) will return for Coach Ken Reeves, a master at getting his teams to peak at the end of the season.

* Will Nordhoff junior Elaine Canchola be the dominant runner she was in 1994 and ’95 after sitting out last track season to help care for her younger siblings and to take a break from the pressures of competition?

Yes. The time off will rekindle Canchola’s desire to compete. She might have lost some of that after placing second in the 1994 West regional as a freshman, but she has something to prove after finishing a disappointing 26th in last year’s national championships.

A rejuvenated Canchola could make Nordhoff the best team in the state, at any level, by the end of the season.

The Rangers probably won’t start quickly, but with six of their top seven runners expected back from last year’s state Division III winners, they should be plenty tough by the time of the championship meets.

* Can the Canyon girls successfully defend their state Division I title?

Yes. The Cowboys posted a 43-point margin of victory over runner-up Los Alamitos last year and with 10th-place Julie Harris and 13th-place Lauren Fleshman coming off superb track seasons, Canyon could have the top duo in the state.

* Is Highland’s Andrea Neipp the heir apparent to Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks as the Southern Section Division I girls’ champion?

Maybe. Neipp placed third in the State championships last year behind Santa Rosa’s Julia Stamps and Mortensen, but missed the last month of track season because she was academically ineligible. During that time, Harris and Fleshman ran 10 minutes 46.48 seconds and 10:58.26 in the 3,200 meters. Neipp clocked 10:58.82 in the Arcadia Invitational in April.

* Will the region produce at least one top-five finisher in each of the Division I races at the State championships?

Probably. Since the State meet’s inception in 1987, the region has had between one and three top-five finishers in every Division I boys’ and girls’ race.

Eight individual titles are included in the streak, topped by three each from Agoura’s Bryan Dameworth (1987-89) and Deena Drossin (1987, 89 and 90).

* Can Hoover senior David Lopez contend for the state Division I title?

Yes. Lopez was the top performer in the region during the first half of the season last year, but a strained hamstring limited him to a 13th-place finish in the State meet.

He came back strong in track, however, running 9:15.75 in the 3,200 and finishing ninth in the State championships.

* Will Thousand Oaks sophomore Amanda Armstrong carry on an impressive Lancer tradition by placing among the top 10 finishers in the State Division I championships?

Probably. Thousand Oaks’ boys and girls have combined for 11 top-10 individual finishes in the State meet over the previous four years and Armstrong appears capable of extending the streak to five in a row.

Although she placed 33rd in the Southern Section Division I championships last year, she is coming off a strong track season in which she clocked 2:21.08 in the 800 and 5:13.96 in the 1,600.

* Who will end Thousand Oaks’ run of individual boys’ winners in the Ventura County championships?

Take your pick. The Lancers’ Brandon Del Campo, Keith O’Doherty and Todd Disney won the 1993, ’94 and ’95 titles, but Thousand Oaks is not expected to have a standout individual this year. That leaves Ochoa of Nordhoff, Efrain Garcia of Fillmore and Ronald Almaguer of Rio Mesa as the top three preseason contenders.

* Can Littlerock senior Bryan Green become the first runner from the region to win the state Division III boys’ championship since 1991 when Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park won his second consecutive title?

Yes. Green placed seventh--behind six seniors--in last year’s race and lowered his personal best to 9:22.4 in the 3,200 in track.

* Will Birmingham become the first girls’ team from the San Fernando Valley to win consecutive City Section titles?

Yes. The Braves, paced by the second-place finish of freshman Tiffany Burgess, easily turned back Taft, 47-92, in the City meet last year. And with six of their top seven runners expected back this season, they should be even stronger.