CROSS COUNTRY: LANCASTER RUNNERS LEAVE THEIR MARKS.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

Somewhere on the rolling hills of the Rancho Vista cross country course is Lancaster High School's shrine.

The Eagles boys' team prepared for Wednesday's Golden League finals with numerous workouts on the Palmdale course.

The team paid homage to its battlefield by using rocks to spell out LNHS on one of the many small mountains.

Lancaster, which started the season with a new coach and just six volunteers on the first day of practice, broke away from a first-place tie with Palmdale in a convincing 40-59 advantage over the Falcons.

``I guess you can call it `Lancaster Hill' now,'' Eagles junior Francis Weu said of his team's temple.

Lancaster runners, not a senior in the group, had unlaced their sneakers and planned to tie them to a tree close to the LNHS rock formation.

Though their seasonlong performance has been a pleasant surprise, Weu and his mates predicted a Golden League championship to new coach Dawn Dziuban when she arrived from Michigan to take over Lancaster's program.

``They told me they wanted to win the league right from day one. I thought it was great they had that kind of goal. They proved themselves,'' said Dziuban, drenched from an ice water bucket dumping. ``When I got here, I had no history of this league. I was told Palmdale and Littlerock were the top teams and that we'd battle Highland and Quartz Hill for fourth. This team was fourth last year. But they've come together as a team.''

Palmdale coach Roy Johnston, like Dziuban a rookie coach, could see a potential title slipping away.

``When I saw (Lancaster runners Richard Butler and Weu) in front of Elmer (Ayala) and Devon (Zemp) I knew it was over,'' Johnston said. ``Lancaster showed how strong they are.''

Rebel yell: Quartz Hill girls coach Kellie Marsh has trained all over the Rancho Vista course throughout her running and coaching career.

Marsh, whose Rebels wrapped up the Golden League title Wednesday, has labeled several of the trails and hills. Some of her favorites include Sidewinder, Big Mama and the course's most infamous stretch, S.O.B.

Senior Danielle Day, the individual league champion, said she made her move on the dreaded S.O.B., the steep hill that welcomes a runner about halfway through the race.

``That hill winds around and when you think you're done there's some more of it around the corner,'' Marsh said.

With the team championship already won, the Rebels went through the motions and still occupied seven of the top 10 positions.

``We still have to run the races,'' Marsh said. ``I'm pretty pleased with the way we ran.''

As the Rebels prepare for the Southern Section prelims next week at Mt. SAC, they find themselves as California's, and the section's, third-ranked team.

``They don't have time to think about the rankings until the race is over,'' Just think about the job at hand,'' Marsh said.

Crash course: Several runners and coaches figure the brutal Rancho Vista course will have them sharp when they head to Mt. SAC next weekend.

``I think Mt. SAC will feel like a piece of cake to us after being out here,'' Marsh said.

Highland girls coach John Johnston quelled the rumors that Mt. SAC, considered one of the toughest high school venues around, takes its toll on Southern Section runners when they advance to the state meet in Fresno.

``In Division II, where we were last year, the top seven runners in the state were from the Southern Section,'' said Johnston, whose own Bulldogs runner, Andrea Neipp, was the 1996 state champion. ``That's not too bad. . . . Mt. SAC is a good course.''