It seems Sarah Baxter has picked up right where Liberty Miller left off for the Simi Valley girls' cross country team.
In just the third race of her career, the freshman broke one of Miller's most impressive course records, the latest coming Thursday in the opening Marmonte League meet at Corriganville Park in Simi Valley.
Simi Valley, the defending league champion, placed four runners in the top six to record a 17-42 victory over Thousand Oaks and a 23-38 win over rival Royal.
Baxter led the way, finishing the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 38 seconds, breaking Miller's old mark of 17:51, set last year.
"I knew the course record was in jeopardy," Simi Valley coach Roger Evans said. "We have had two elite runners in Liberty and Anna Sperry. Sarah is running at the same level as a freshman as Liberty and Anna were running as seniors."
Erika Barr finished in fourth place (19:11), Karla Vernola came in fifth (19:12) and Madelyn Vorgitch was sixth (19:12) for Simi Valley, which also got a ninth-place finish from Megan McNally (19:43).
Kelly Upson was the top finisher for Royal, coming in second with a time of 18:57 with teammate Sophie Mateu in third (19:07).
Melanie Joerger finished in seventh place (19:33) for Thousand Oaks, followed by teammates Caitlin Turner in eighth (19:41) and Kalin Padberg in 10th (19:51).
Thousand Oaks swept the boys' races, scoring a 24-32 victory over Simi Valley and defeating Royal 23-32.
Sam Worley finished in second place with a time of 16:17 to lead the Lancers.
Matt Garvin (16:44), Michael Spencer (16:55), Tommy Lopez (16:57) and Zach Morgan (17:02) finished in the six through nine spots respectively for Thousand Oaks, which captured the 2008 league championship.
"We looked phenomenal. We ran really well," Thousand Oaks coach Shawn Morris. "It's early and it's a long season, so we will take it for what it is. There are some good teams in the Marmonte League, so we have to keep working hard."
Simi Valley's Michael Vorgitch was the individual winner with a time of 16:00. Nico Gervasoni was the top finisher for Royal in third place (16:25).
