Agoura Girls Overpower Peninsula

Peninsula High cross-country runners Molly Mehlberg and Jaime Artzner gave all the credit to the Agoura girls in Saturday’s Southern Section final at Mt. San Antonio College.

Buoyed by the one-two finish of Amy Skieresz and Kay Nekota, Agoura edged Peninsula for the fourth consecutive year to win the Division I title.

“We thought we had it won, but Agoura pulled through,” Artzner said.

The three-time defending state champion Chargers totaled 78 points to win their seventh sectional title in a row. Peninsula was second with 83, followed by Thousand Oaks and Irvine with 101 and 105 points.

The top four teams in each division and the top five individuals not on a qualifying team advance to Saturday’s State meet at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Agoura defeated Peninsula, 42-56, in the 1992 Southern Section championships. Peninsula also finished second to Agoura in the 1991 State meet.

Peninsula’s chances for challenging Agoura seemed slim before Saturday. Mehlberg, the Panthers’ No. 1 runner, had not run for three days because of illness. The junior did not decide to race until Saturday morning.

Still, Mehlberg came within two seconds of her personal best on the hilly, three-mile course, placing fifth in 18 minutes 29 seconds.

Skieresz overtook Eliaser Estrada of Santa Ana Valley shortly after a mile to successfully defend her individual title in 17:51. Nekota was second in 18:10 with Thousand Oaks’ Kim Mortensen and Irvine’s Jessica Corben third and fourth in 18:21 and 18:25.

Mehlberg ran among the top 15 for most of the race and closed within 15 meters of Mortensen and Corben cresting the last incline with a half-mile remaining, but faded down the stretch.

“I can’t say I ran a bad time or the team had a letdown, but we can do better,” Mehlberg said. “There’s no way Agoura is going to beat us in state.”

Artzner was seventh in 18:53. Jamille Claiborne and Mary Blake finished 18th and 20th in 19:36 and 19:44 for Peninsula. Rina Kato (20:18) rounded out the Panthers’ scoring in 33rd.

Hide Sano placed 10th in 15:51 and Ken Goodrich was 15th in 16:06 to pace the Peninsula boys to a fourth-place Division I finish with 134 points and their third consecutive trip to State. Thousand Oaks won the meet.

South Torrance’s Simone Ferrara (19:11) and Mira Costa’s Matt Harris (16:13) qualified for State, placing fifth and sixth in the girls’ and boys’ Division III races.