CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK: T.O. HAS ITS `PRIORITIES'.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

While Thousand Oaks High cross country coach Robert Radnoti's decision to hold his varsity runners out of the Ventura County championships Friday can be much debated, the fact that race's scheduling causes problems for coaches of even non-championship-caliber teams cannot.

With the race held six days after the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational and five days before start of league finals, the Ventura championships come at a time when most coaches would prefer to focus on postseason training, not gear their team for another showcase meet.

That was the decision Radnoti made Friday, when he sent his top boys and girls on an hour-long training run at Lake Casitas instead of competing in Ventura's varsity races. Thousand Oaks filled the spots with runners from the junior varsity team and finished fifth on the girls' side and 12th on the boys' side.

Radnoti said that with five meets left this season, plus potential Foot Locker all-star races for senior Whitney McDonald, he did not want to subject his runners to an additional race. With Halloween and the school's homecoming dance coming in the same week, Radnoti thought his decision was logical.

``It's just about setting priorities and giving some younger (kids) the chance to run,'' Radnoti said. ``We set a goal at the beginning of the year of winning the CIF Division I (girls') championship and we think we're possibly going to be able to do that.''

The fact the race was held Friday afternoon, requiring some students to be released from classes before 10 a.m., only added to the problems facing coaches. But none of the 17 other schools entered took the extreme step of holding out large groups of their top runners that Radnoti did.

``At the end of the season, Thousand Oaks will be judged based on how they did at the CIF championships,'' Oak Park coach Kevin Smith said. ``If they win, people will say, maybe (Radnoti) knew what he was doing. If not, they'll say, `Well, maybe they should have run.' ''

Smith was one of the coaches who sympathized most with Radnoti. The Oak Park girls, who won the Division IV state championship last year, had run in only one meet together before Friday, as Smith wanted to avoid racing them too much before November.

Still, some coaches thought their teams were better served by having run at Ventura. One of those was Royal of Simi Valley coach Ryan Luce, whose boys won their second consecutive county team championship Friday.

``It would be nice if everyone brought their top teams,'' Luce said. ``For my guys at least, having a win pumps them up more than not having a win. They leave here feeling pretty good about themselves.''

Radnoti advocated holding the race in the middle of the season, similar to the Orange County championships Oct. 19. Even he admitted, though, such a move would likely interfere with league-meet scheduling and bring more complaints.

--Golden finish: The Golden League boys' cross-country final Wednesday will feature a number of interesting subplots. The first will come with Littlerock senior Paul Sparks trying to defend his league title against Antelope Valley sophomore Jose Melena. Melena beat Sparks by 15 seconds in the Mt. SAC individual sweepstakes race.

The second will come with the performance of Quartz Hill, which was rocked by a midseason scandal. Five of the Rebels' seven varsity runners were kicked off the team and coach Robert Martin resigned in connection with an alleged alcohol-related incident before the Clovis Invitational on Oct. 12.

``All I'm going to say is that we're going to (Southern Section) preliminaries,'' Quartz Hill senior Joel Hood said at Mt. SAC. The Rebels promoted several junior varsity runners and would need a top-three finish at the league meet to reach the postseason.

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