CANYON REACHES FINALS.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

Lauren Fleshman helped Canyon High with more than just her Division I heat victory in the Southern Section cross country preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

Fleshman ran a controlled race to win in 18 minutes, 29 seconds for a 13-second victory over Pacific View League champion Jeanene Gerry of Camarillo. Fleshman's time was well off her mark of 17:19 run in last month's Mt. San Antonio College Invitational to become the eighth-fastest performer on the revered 3-mile course.

But perhaps most important was the time the three-time Foothill League champion spent pacing teammate Jazmin Treadway for the first mile to push the freshman to seventh in 19:25.

Canyon, buoyed by Fleshman and Treadway, finished fourth in the team standings with 116 points for the heat's fourth and final berth in next Saturday's divisional finals at Mt. SAC.

Long Beach Poly finished fifth, only a mere four points behind Canyon.

``I wanted to run near her to help her out the first mile to make sure she was on pace,'' Fleshman said. ``I told her I will stick with you the first part, but she didn't know when I was going to leave.''

Erin White finished 24th in 20:22 and Barrie Truex (20:35) and Vicky Duffy (21:20) were 34th and 52nd for the Cowboys, who reached the division finals for the fourth year in a row.

Peninsula placed four runners among the top 14 to win with 71 points. Mission Viejo and Redlands East Valley were second and third with 90 and 102 points.

In the Foothill League finals, Fleshman also towed Treadway for most of the race. The result was a 1-2 finish for the Canyon duo and the Cowboys' seventh league title in eight years.

Fleshman, a senior who finished second in the 1997 state Division I finals, is seeking her fourth berth in the state meet.

Ventura County champion Jaclyn Pedersen of Royal took second in her Division I heat in a personal-best 18:58 to lift the Highlanders to their first Southern Section finals berth. The Highlanders finished second to Esperanza, the state's top-ranked team in Division I. Simi Valley, the Marmonte League dual-meet champion, was a nonqualifying sixth.

Kelley Hess and Amanda Armstrong lifted Thousand Oaks to the Division I finals, placing third and seventh in 18:37 and 19:03, for a second-place heat finish behind Irvine. Rialto's LaTesha Jones won in 17:55 for the fastest time of the day, with Hoover sophomore Anita Siraki second in 18:18.

The Notre Dame boys won their Division IV heat to advance to the championships despite the absence of two-time Mission League champion Kevin Lelles, who is out for the season with a stress fracture. La Canada advanced in Division III with individual winner Ryan Burnett. Flintridge Prep advanced with a Division V heat victory, boosted by the 6-7 finish of sophomores Bobby Hull and Anthony Walker.

The La Canada and Desert Christian girls posted heat victories in Divisions III and V. La Canada, the defending state Division III champion and ranked 20th nationally, was paced by individual winner Kim Garnic.