CROSS COUNTRY: ROYAL TEAMS CAPTURE VENTURA SWEEP.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

OJAI - With Thousand Oaks High cross country coach Robert Radnoti holding out the vast majority of his top boys' and girls' runners, the danger at Friday's Ventura County championships was of the spotlight shining most on who wasn't racing in the 26th annual event.

But thanks to the impressive victories turned in by Oak Park junior Lauren Morales, Rio Mesa of Oxnard senior Phillip Reid and Royal of Simi Valley's boys' and girls' teams, the attention remained properly focused on the runners who did compete at Lake Casitas.

And although Reid won his second consecutive county championship and Royal defended the team titles it won a year ago, no victory was sweeter than that by Morales. She covered the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 1 second to take first only a year after losing by a step at the finish line.

Last year, Morales was passed with less than a half-mile to go and settled for second behind Westlake's Ashley Jones. But this year, Morales took the lead for good at the 2-mile mark and came in eight seconds ahead of fellow junior - and longtime Marmonte league rival - Katie Gose of La Reina of Thousand Oaks.

Morales's time was the fourth-fastest recorded by a girl on the course.

Reid won in 15:11, seven seconds faster than his time a year ago and 26 seconds better than runner-up Tim Hearst of Royal. Reid crossed the finish line to a round of applause that marked more of a coronation than a championship.

Led by Hearst and sophomore Dylan Jaedtke - who nosed out Moorpark's Jack Chandler for fourth place - Royal easily won the boys' title 31-74 over Fillmore. Juniors Jesse Conway and Ken Reichl finished in the top 10 for the Highlanders.

Meanwhile, the Royal girls cruised to a 50-92 victory over Oak Park despite having raced as a complete team only once this season because of injuries and weekend commitments.

Instead of competing at Ventura, Radnoti opted to have five of his seven varsity girls and six of his boys use the day for a long training run. Radnoti said he was concerned about taxing his runners with another race a week after last Saturday's Mt. San Antonio College Invitational, with the Marmonte League meet and postseason soon to come.