Sarah Baxter and her Simi Valley teammates were overwhelming favorites entering the Marmonte League cross country finals Thursday, and they responded by delivering dominant performances on the 3-mile course at Agoura High.
The boys' championship race was projected to be a wide-open field with four programs challenging for the title.
But Westlake quickly ran away with individual and team glory, as sophomore Mikey Giguere's victory in 15 minutes, 28.72 seconds led the Warriors to a 47-point effort and a convincing win over Thousand Oaks (77).
The Warriors, who produced a five-point victory over Thousand Oaks at last year's league final, responded following a fourth-place finish Oct. 28 at the Ventura County Championships to support Giguere with four additional runners in the top 16.
Rocky Peterson (16:07.40), Nick Sommers (16:08.94) and Sean O'Bryan (16:11.71) placed ninth through 11th and Chris Costa (16:15.87) was 16th.
Thousand Oaks' Sam Worley (15:49.14) was runner-up, followed by Royal's Ryan Klachko (15:50.43), Simi Valley's Frankie Moncada (15:55.55), Calabasas' Devin Borjas (15:58.0), Moorpark's Teerth Patel (16:01.56), Newbury Park's Jonathan Byrne (16:05.66) and Moorpark's Tamas Gyalay (16:06.72).
Baxter repeated as champion in 17:03.05, improving on her time from last year's final by 53 seconds to lead five Simi Valley scoring runners among the first 11 and all seven in the top 16, as the Pioneers defeated Thousand Oaks 26-64.
Simi Valley's Erika Barr (17:44.08) held off Royal freshman Brianne Holland (17:47.67) for second, with Karla Vernola, another Pioneers' senior, placing fourth (17:50.26).
Westlake's Jenny Giguere (17:54.59), Moorpark's Monika Gyalay (17:55.19) Thousand Oaks' Melanie Joerger (18:06.66), Simi Valley's Desirae Jones (18:11.92), Westlake's Nicki Ghazarian (18:15.66) and Royal's Sophie Mateu (18:16.57) completed the top 10.
Rachel Vinas (18:18.54) was 11th for Simi Valley, which lowered its course record to 89:07, an improvement of nearly five minutes from last year.
