BELL-JEFF INVITATIONAL: MATUSAK FAST ENOUGH LOYOLA RUNNER WINS BUT MISSES OUT ON RECORD.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

Only Loyola High of Los Angeles junior Mark Matusak could have been disappointed with his winning time in Saturday's Bell-Jeff Invitational at Griffith Park. That's just how high the expectations are for the All-American this season.

On a hot morning, Matusak was the only runner in the field to break 15 minutes on the hilly, 2.9-mile course. He won the Division I boys' title for the second consecutive year, beating second-place Van Nguyen from Marina of Huntington Beach by 40 seconds.

But Matusak was unable to break the 17-year-old course record of 14 minutes, 10 seconds. Instead, he had to settle for the 10th-fastest time in the invitational's 30-year history, crossing the finish line in 14:29.

``I thought I had a chance at (the record),'' said Matusak, who won Bell-Jeff last September in 14:20. ``But the weather heated up and that probably played a factor. ... I'm happy to win anything, but I'll be better. The best is yet to come.''

Matusak finished third in the state Div. I meet last year as a sophomore and already has won three invitationals this year. But Loyola coach Lalo Diaz is trying as much as possible to keep the pressure off the Cubs' star.

``If there are any record-breaking thoughts, it should be next year,'' Diaz said. ``His last go-round as a senior. Right now, we don't even talk about college recruiting and records.''

Loyola, which dropped to Div. II this year, finished second as a team to Marina 91-98 despite recording a faster team time (88:49 to 89:13). But Diaz is desperately trying to close an 86-second gap between his No. 2 runner, Mark Takata, and No. 5 Julio Martinez.

On the girls' side, La Reina of Thousand Oaks senior Katie Gose won the Division IV race in 17:05, the fastest time by any girl Saturday and fifth- fastest in Bell-Jeff history. The occasion allowed Gose to recall how she started running cross country four years ago.

New to the school, Gose had wanted to go out for La Reina's golf team. But she quickly found she wasn't cut out for the sport.

``I was so bad,'' Gose said. ``I have no coordination. The more I practiced, the worse I got.''

Instead, she decided to join the cross country team three weeks into the season. Her father, Greg, even tried to talk her out of it. But Gose finished four minutes ahead of expectation at her first meet and has excelled at running ever since. She will take recruiting trips to Harvard and Columbia in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, for Desert Christian of Lancaster senior Sky Johnston, Saturday's race offered the opportunity to forget about a third-place finish at last weekend's High Desert Invitational. Johnston, the defending Southern Section Div. V champion, had been expecting to win the local meet in Palmdale.

``It kind of surprised me,'' Johnston said. ``It made me change my attitude a little bit. Instead of worrying about what place I got, it just made me focus on effort rather than anything else.''

Johnston blitzed the field Saturday and won in 15:08, the fourth-fastest time by a boy at the meet. It also capped a big day for the runners from the tiny private school. Desert Christian's girls captured the Division IV team title as Nicole Richards finished ninth in 19:59.

In the Division I girls' race, Birmingham of Lake Balboa sophomore Emmaline Hartel took third, helping lead the Patriots to a fourth-place team finish. Hartel, who also plays the flute, took up running last fall when the school was unable to field a marching band.

``Now we do have a band,'' Hartel said. ``But this is definitely better for me.''

In other results, Burroughs of Burbank junior Katie Vahoviak won the Division II/III race in 17:59. Preston Richardson from Burbank took third in the boys' Division I race in 15:15 and Birmingham senior Mehdi Taieb-Brahim followed in fourth three seconds later.

Ross Siler, [phone]

ross.siler(at)dailynews.com