Karlee Owens of Arroyo Grande and Brian Knight of San Luis Obispo took care of business individually Thursday. Atascadero's boys and girls each took care of business as a team.

Meanwhile, Pioneer Valley's boys shook up some traditional league powers, including crosstown rival Righetti, at the PAC-7 League Mid-Season Meet.

Owens (19:32.3) and Knight (16:43.8) won the girls and boys races respectively over the five kilometer course at Biddle Regional Park in Arroyo Grande. Pioneer Valley's boys finished a surprising second behind Atascadero. The Greyhounds edged the Panthers 66-69.

“We've finished pretty well all year, usually in the top five,” said Pioneer Valley coach Teresa Cavaletto. “But I was not expecting second place.

“This was a pleasant surprise. The team has been working very hard, and they were rewarded for it.”

Steven Youngblood led the Panthers to second place by finishing fourth. The first-place teams Thursday earned six points toward the final standings, the second-place team five, etc.

The league finals are Nov. 6 at the Fairbanks Course just outside San Luis Obispo. Point values double then. The top four boys and girls squads at the end of the season earn trips to the CIF Southern Section Preliminary Meet.

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Righetti's and San Luis Obispo's boys, two teams traditionally at or near the top of the league standings, were third and fourth respectively Thursday. The Warriors had 76 points. San Luis Obispo had 89.

Atascadero's girls out-scored runner-up Arroyo Grande 34-47. Owens helped the Eagles topple the traditional league front-running Greyhounds for the league title last year.

Righetti, led by Cynthia Vasquez's third-place finish (20:16.6) was third with 80 points Thursday. San Luis Obispo was fourth with 91.

Arroyo Grande's boys without top runner Hugo Gutierrez, were fifth with 111 points. Eagles coach Sean Ricketts said, “Hugo was out with a knee problem. It's a bummer.

“He'll be ready to go at the league finals.”

Nipomo junior Andrew Garcia was an impressive second behind Knight in 16:47.1. Servando Perez of Righetti (16:57.1), Youngblood (17:04.3) and Cullen Cali of Arroyo Grande (17:05.4) rounded out the top five.

Garcia said he was happy with his finish, but that he missed Gutierrez.

“I wish Hugo would have ran today,” Garcia said. “I like to compare myself to Servando, Brian, Hugo, Steven. They're some of the best runners.

“My finish could have been a little stronger, but I was happy with it.”

Garcia concurred with everyone else asked so far about the absence of the Brown Beast, a hill with a big uphill and big downhill that takes up slightly more than a mile behind the park. He misses it.

The Beast was an integral part of the course until road construction on it ended that this year.

“I wish they would have kept the hill,” said Garcia. “As bad as the hill could be, you could make up a lot of ground because of the big uphill and downhill. I miss it.”

Owens gapped the rest of a lead pack, that had consisted of seven runners, in the last mile. Mimi Peterson of Atascadero was a distant second in 20:01.8. Teammate Jen Delgadillo ran fourth in 20:20.7. Fast-closing Loryn Bedell of Paso Robles was fifth in 20:29.3.

Owens said, “I've ran 18-plus on this course before. My coach and I made a plan for me to stay with our pack for the first two miles, then go as hard as I could the last mile. I knew I wouldn't run my best time on this course today.”

Arroyo Grande's girls weren't grouped quite far enough in front to win. Atascadero's girls, usually the league masters of quality grouping, did the job again.

LPL Mid-Season Meet

The official results are in, and Cabrillo's boys went unbeaten at the Los Padres League Mid-Season Dual Meets session Wednesday at the Fairbanks Course after all.

It was reported in the Thursday edition of the Times that Cabrillo coach Peter Anderson thought his team tied Morro Bay 29-29 in the dual scoring format. That would have meant his team won because its sixth runner, Jeshua Hopson, finished ahead of Morro Bay's sixth runner.

Templeton officials had said that only the first five runners from each team figured in the scoring and that a sixth runner from one team could not displace the fifth runner from another squad. Based on that, Morro Bay would have won 26-29.

Girls tennis

Pioneer Valley 12, Righetti 6

By winning at home, the Panthers (2-6 PAC-7 League, 4-6 overall) evened their score with the Warriors (2-6 PAC-7).

The Panthers evened their two-match series with their crosstown rival. Caitlyn Brown swept three sets for the Panthers. Pioneer Valley earned six points in singles and six in doubles.

Aya Kasai and Lauren Nguyen earned two doubles points for Righetti.

Arroyo Grande 15, Nipomo 3

Sienna Robertson and Emily Carlson stayed unbeaten in PAC-7 League doubles matches by sweeping three sets as they helped the Eagles (7-1, 8-3)) beat the Titans (3-4 PAC-7).

Allie Martin and Mia McKinstry both swept three singles sets for the Eagles. McKinstry didn't lose a game. The Nipomo doubles teams of Katie Russ and Tessa Underwood, Danielle Kichler and Jenny Cardenas, and Hailey Jones and Ruby Navarro won a set each.

Santa Ynez 18, SMHS 0

The Pirates (6-0, 13-1) lost only seven games in this LPL match at the Minami Center.

Santa Ynez substituted freely. Lauren Gerlach did sweep her singles sets 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. Katie Manser and Brittany Feighner lost one game in three doubles sets.

Astrid Schifflers came the closest to winning a match for the Saints. She lost 6-4 to Sydney Tack.

Lompoc 10, Morro Bay 8

The Braves won all nine doubles sets, then Sameeha Husayn pulled out a 6-2 singles win in the last set of the day as Lompoc (2-6, 4-6) edged the Pirates in a LPL match at Morro Bay.

Tandems Dana Campitelli and Maria Morales, Elicity Fabing and Kaitlin Muñoz, and Nicole Nomany and Jessica Cosio all swept three doubles sets for Lompoc.

Oct. 17, 2008