Friday was another big day for Cabrillo/s boys cross country team in general and Michael Coe in particular.

Coe led the unbeaten Conquistadores to their fourth consecutive Santa Barbara County Meet title at River Park in Lompoc. The smooth running senior smashed the 2004 course record of 14:54 by running 14:27 over the 3.02 mile course.

&#8220My legs feel great,C he said afterward. &#8220I was going as hard as I could 7 I wanted that record. I left it all out there.C Coe, like his team, is unbeaten this season. The Conquistadores are top-ranked in the CIF Southern Section Division III.

They are the defending Southern Section Division III champs. They finished second in the Division III state meet.

&#8220Everything/s working for us right now,C Coe said. Though there/s still a lot of racing left in the season Coe said that, as far as importance to his team, the Santa Barbara County Meet was pretty important.

&#8220We wanted another championship,C he said.

Jenna Ridgway of San Marcos set the girls course record Friday. She was a runaway winner in 17:22 as she led the Royals to the team championship. Amy Chandes of Dos Pueblos was runner-up in 18:48. The old girls course record was 17:35.

Cabrillo/s boys scored 27 points to runner-up Dos Pueblos/s 53. San Marcos was third with 109.

Lompoc was fifth in the 12-team boys field with 146 points. Santa Maria was seventh with 180 points, St. Joseph was eighth with 200, and Righetti was 10th with 251. Pioneer Valley finished in 11th place with 288. Dunn did not score.

Cabrillo/s girls finished second with 79 points. Dos Pueblos was third with 102. Lompoc finished fourth in the 12-team field with 105. Santa Maria was sixth with 159, Santa Ynez finished seventh with 187, St. Joseph was eighth with 200, and Righetti and Pioneer Valley did not score.

All five of Cabrillo/s scorers finished in the top 12. Colin Hacker was runner-up in 15:08. Miguel Ortiz ran third in 15:28, Oscar Torres was ninth in 16:12, and Jeff Monteleone finished 12th in 16:19. Kyle Owen, Cabrillo/s sixth man, was 13th in 16:32.

St. Joseph junior Julio Ortega worked his way through the field and finished an impressive fourth in 15:25. Santa Maria/s Oscar Sanchez ran fifth in 15:58.

Liza Truax of Santa Ynez ran third in the girls race in 18:56. Cabrillo/s Tarah Balden was fourth in 18:59. Claire Woodard of San Marcos finished fifth in 19:03.

Lexie Warrick and Carrie Fabing of Lompoc all cracked the girls top 10. So did Alexa Heter of Cabrillo. Warrick finished sixth. Fabing was seventh. Both ran 19:09. Heter came in ninth in 19:16.

Truax and Balden will race against each other in the Los Padres League Finals at Waller Park. The meet starts at 2 p.m. next Wednesday with the junior varsity girls race. Santa Maria will host.

Balden won at the LPL Mid-Season Meet earlier this month. Truax finished fourth.

At the LPL Finals, &#8220I think I have to attack the last two miles and take it easy the first one,C Truax said.

She felt she didn/t have enough left in the last half of the race at the Mid-Season meet. &#8220That/s why I finished fourth.C

Though there is grass all over River Park, the runners spend their time on hard dirt surrounding it. Thus, &#8220I like this course a million, zillion, gazillion times better,C than the Waller Park course, said Truax. &#8220I/m just not built to run on grass,C the slender junior said.

Coe said his team is gearing up for the LPL Finals 7 along with bigger races.

&#8220The league finals, CIF, individuals at state, the team race at state 7 I want it all,C he said. &#8220Our team wants it all.

&#8220Last season I was running on empty the last three weeks of the season. The state meet was it for me. I had a hip injury, and it wasn/t just a minor hip injury. I think I hurt my right hip compensating for the left leg injury I had during basketball.C

The basketball injury happened during Coe/s sophomore year and cost him the track season. He said he plans to run in the Footlocker West Regionals after the state cross country meet. And, he said with a wry smile, no more basketball for him.

Angel Fernandez was the first Lompoc boys runner home. He finished 21st in 16:49. Rocky Herrera led Pioneer Valley with a 23rd-place finish in 16:53. Shane Soden was the first Righetti boy in. He placed 35th in 17:27.

Andrea Zimkowski led St. Joseph/s girls. She finished 20th in 20:11. Freshman Oyuki Reyes led the Santa Maria girls with a 21st-place in 20:15.

Rebekah Herrera paced Pioneer Valley. She was 25th in 20:22. Sara Mathews led Righetti, finishing 36th in 21:21.

Cabrillo breezed to the boys junior varsity title with a 1-2-3-5 finish. Ben Li won in 16:51. Alex Mayorga was second in 17:17. Allan Waechter finished third in 17:36.

Miguel Buenrostro of Santa Barbara finished fourth in 17:40. Cameron Caton of Cabrillo was fifth in 17:42.

Amanda Spaulding of Dunn School won the girls junior varsity race in 21:05. Laura Jennings and Miranda Rich of Cabrillo finished second and third respectively, in 21:34 and 21:39.

Nicole Spaeth of Carpinteria was fourth in 21:40. Lynn Egan of Cabrillo ran fifth in 21:55.

October 30, 2005