Spiker Leaves Them Talking at Mt. SAC

WALNUT —  That record could be broken.

Those words seldom have been spoken since Jeff Nelson of Burbank High ran a 14:32 over the hilly 2.95-mile cross-country course at Mt. San Antonio College in 1978.

But several spectators were making such bold statements after watching Josh Spiker of Ventura blow away the field in the boys’ individual sweepstakes race of the Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday.

Spiker, a senior, clocked 14:42 to defeat second-place Ozzie Pina of Lakewood by 35 seconds, move to sixth on the all-time course performer list and to fourth on the all-time region list.

Nelson, Bryan Dameworth of Agoura (14:36 in 1989) and Eric Reynolds of Camarillo (14:39 in 1982) are the only runners from the region to have run faster than Spiker, winner of the 3,200 meters in the state track and field championships in June.

Nelson set the high school national record of 8:36.3 in the two-mile in 1979 and Dameworth and Reynolds won national cross-country titles as seniors, so Spiker is in some fast company.

“I can’t believe I ran that fast,” said Spiker, beaming. “I ran 15:27 [in this meet] last year, so I thought something in the 15:10 range would be pretty good for this time of year.”

Spiker’s performance was doubly impressive because he ran in temperatures approaching 90 degrees.

“You give him a day when it’s 15-20 degrees cooler, like in an early morning race of the Southern Section championships, and he could take a shot at that record,” said Coach Dave DeLong of Canyon, who ran for Burroughs in Nelson’s course-record setting race.

Spiker, who ran 15:01 in winning the section Division I title at Mt. SAC last year, didn’t waste any time in the race on Saturday.

He was among the leaders after the first half-mile and he led the field through the mile in 4:34.

Pina, a junior, ran with him up the switchback portion of the course, but Spiker broke away from Pina on the long, gradual descent.

“He was with me at the top,” Spiker said. “But I took 10 quick steps when we started down.”

After that, it was a race between Spiker and the clock.

He had a 12-second lead at the base of aptly named “Poop-out Hill” just before two miles and his lead nearly tripled by the finish.

“It’s exciting,” Spiker said of his time. “But it’s a little [nerve-racking] too because now there are going to be high expectations.”

Canyon defeated Sultana, 179-220, for the individual sweepstakes team title.

Sophomore Luke Llamas of Canyon placed 14th in 15:50, two seconds behind 12th-place Seth Neumuller of Thousand Oaks and 13th-place Jason Lanning of Buena.

Junior Anita Siraki of Hoover suffered her first loss of the season in the girls’ individual sweepstakes race, but she smiled broadly when seeing the digital clock reading 17:23 as she crossed the finish line.

“I was so happy,” said Siraki, who had a previous best of 18:18 at Mt. SAC. “I was hoping to run about 17:40, so I was just overcome with joy when I saw the time.”

Siraki’s time moved her to 11th on the all-time course performer list and to fourth on the all-time region list behind Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks (17:14 in 1995), Deena Drossin of Agoura (17:16 in 1990) and Lauren Fleshman of Canyon (17:19 last year).

Junior Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery won her second consecutive individual sweepstakes title with a 17:05 clocking that was 10 seconds off the course record of 16:55 set by Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa in 1995.

Junior Laura Jakosky of Agoura placed sixth in a career-best 18:11, with junior Kelley Hess of Thousand Oaks eighth in a career-best 18:29 and junior Natalie Stein of North Hollywood ninth in 18:33.

Westlake, the No. 2-ranked girls’ team in the region, placed ninth in the team sweepstakes and No. 7-ranked Canyon won its Division I girls’ heat.

Sophomore Jazmin Treadway paced Canyon with a winning time of 19:09.