Oak Park boys’ cross country team finishes No. 2 in the state

Oak Park boys’ cross country team finishes No. 2 in the state

FINISHED IN SECOND-The Oak Park boys' cross country team includes, back row, left to right: Coach J.J. Castner, Daniel Jacob, Todd Bettisworth, Anthony Pondella, Kyle Martindale, Matt Weiss, Oren Gabriel and Daren Stockard. Front row: Tyler Fox, Ken Brook, Sean McCann, Jordan Page and Robbie Cochran. The team almost won another state championship, but finished second.The Eagles boys' cross country team won its first state championship the previous year, 2002, when both the Oak Park boys' and girls' teams won titles. The team is coached Kevin Smith and J.J.Castner.

By Wayne Harrison

Acorn Sports Writer

The Oak Park boys’ cross country team finished second in the state championships this year after having won the state title last year. The Eagles boys’ team under head coach J.J. Castner did, however, take home a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship again this year.

At the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno, Carmel edged Oak Park by 13 points. Shortly after that race, the girls’ team from Oak Park did, if fact, take home their third straight state championship under head coach Kevin Smith.

Castner’s boys’ team was disappointed after finishing second. The goal all season had been to win the state championship.

"We tried to talk afterwards and put it in perspective," Castner said. "A lot of teams would like to finish second and we should be proud of the fact that we were able to do that."

Castner said the boys couldn’t take hold of the race early on, which had been the goal at Woodward Park.

"The boys weren’t able to take control of the race early," said Castner, who added that he was concerned the girls would be affected by the boys’ second-place finish, as they prepared shortly after the boys. Last year both the Oak Park boys’ and girls’ teams won state titles and that was the goal again.

"I was definitely a little worried that maybe a little bit of that disappointment would rub off on them," Castner said regarding the Oak Park girls and their race at Woodward Park. "But the bottom line is these girls were so focused all year that they were going to take care of business."

Oak Park will lose about 30 seniors from this year’s cross country team due to graduation. Included are Daren Stockard, Daniel Jacob, Sean McCann, Matt Weiss, Kyle Martindale, Oren Gabriel and Todd Bettisworth.

"For four years they’ve had a great spirit about them," Castner said about this year’s OPHS seniors. "They’ve really embraced the idea of working hard, being competitive, but also having a lot of fun. Our seniors have always done a real good job of making sure everyone feels included."

The Oak Park boys won’t have to rebuild, though, as three of the top four runners will return next year. They are Ken Brook, a junior this year, Jordan Page, a junior, and freshman Anthony Pondella.

"We’ll be pretty young and will have a whole new group of people being contributors," said Castner. "New names and new faces that have to step up and step into the mix."

Castner was a fifth-year coach this fall. He ran for Smith at Oak Park in the late 80s and early 90s before a college career that included four years of running cross country at UC San Diego and one year at the University of Arkansas.

Taking over as head coach of the boys’ team at Oak Park—while Smith headed the girls’ team—has worked out nicely.

"As both programs evolved, Kevin and I decided he’d like to focus on girls to bring them to a new level and I would try to continue the success of the boys’ program," said Castner.

Both head coaches attribute much of the program’s success to the six assistant coaches. They are Jodi Fabrizio, Donna Connor, Gloria Rios, Ken Brook Sr., Rick Goldman and Al Calce. Castner said that Calce does an invaluable job of turning kids onto running while they’re in middle school.

"I think it all starts at the middle school, to be quite honest with you," Castner said. "Coach Calce makes it fun for the kids and that carries over to the high school. Plus, the athletes we get are self-motivated, hard-working, high achievers."

One of the Eagle seniors, Todd Bettisworth, said the winning tradition was already in place when he was freshman.

"I think we came at the right time," Bettisworth said. "Mark Nevers and Ben Saxey had kind of laid the foundation for us. We reaped the benefit of being in the program when it was at its peak. The program was supposed to succeed and it did."

Bettisworth said cross country is the ultimate team sport.

"Cross country is something only very few people could do on their own," he said. "It’s really a team thing. You can’t be on top of your game every day—you always need someone there to pick you up, someone to push you. Everyone is there for the team."