CROSS COUNTRY: A RECORD RUN FOR SPERRY.

Byline: KEVIN CONNELLY Special to the Daily News

AGOURA HILLS - Anna Sperry keeled over at a trash can Thursday night immediately after her race.

The Simi Valley High cross country standout had just broke the girls' Marmonte League finals record at Agoura High, and it appeared her body was about to exact its revenge.

She rested her hands on her knees, took a moment to recover, and was all smiles again just seconds after avoiding what could have been an embarrassing regurgitation incident.

``I think that was more of a cough,'' laughed Sperry, who clocked 17 minutes, 23 seconds on the hilly 3-mile course to finish four seconds faster than the record she set last year.

``I'm so happy to finish my Marmonte League career with a race like this, but it's bittersweet for me. Running in high school has been an amazing time for me, and I'm going to miss all of the other girls on the team.''

Sperry's Pioneers (72 points, 96:16) finished second in the team competition behind Royal of Simi Valley (46, 96:15).

Paige Newman (fifth place, 18:59) and Katie O'Connel (eighth place, 19:10) led the way for the Highlanders, No. 9 in the Daily News' rankings, who avenged a heartbreaking three-point loss to Thousand Oaks in last year's finals.

But most of the talk after the race centered around Sperry, who has whittled her college choices down to BYU, UCLA, Duke, and Arizona State.

``I actually started out a little too fast this race, and I definitely felt it at the end,'' she said. ``Even though I set the record last year, I wanted to go out there and break it again because I think it's cheap to take a race off.''

In the boys' competition, Royal senior Michael Cybulski clocked 14:51 to break, by four seconds, a 13-year-old record held by Agoura's Bryan Dameworth.

The two-time defending state champion at 3,200 meters, Cybulski admitted the record was on his mind throughtout the race.

``Bryan Dameworth is a business partner with (Royal coach Ryan) Luce, so there were definitely some bragging rights on the line,'' laughed Cybulski, who is being recruited by UCLA and Oregon.

``It's an honor to be considered the fastest cross-country runner in Marmonte League history.''

With Cybulski leading the way, the Highlanders swept the top four spots to win their seventh consecutive league title in 77:48.

Royal, ranked No. 2 in the nation by Harrier magazine, finished with 19 total points to win convincingly over second-place Thousand Oaks (56, 81:21).

Hudson Andrews (second, 15:16), Jun Riechl (third, 15:36), Alex Routh (fourth, 15:44) and Otto Cipolla (ninth, 16:19) were the remaining scorers for the Highlanders, who were missing No. 3 runner Danny Benson with a hip injury.

Benson is expected to recover in time for the state meet Nov.25 in Fresno.

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