ON THE FAST TRACK-Simi Valley's Christy Severance, left, and Anna Sperry go for a run Wednesday afternoon at SVHS. Thanks to a surprising effort from Simi Valley High's underclassmen, the Pioneer crosscountry teams are running on the right track again.

The girls' and boys' teams are 3-2 in the Marmonte League this year, sitting in third place but trying to move up in the standings. The teams will find out just how good they are when they both compete in one of the biggest meets of the year tomorrow at Mt. SAC.

Though the meet is important, Simi Valley girls' head coach Roger Evans has tried to not put any added pressure on his team for the race.

"It's a very fun race every year as the course basically has not changed in over 50 years," Evans said. "But I haven't really stressed how important the race is to the team. I don't even think the freshmen girls realize how important it is just yet."

According to Evans, the girls' team has had a lot of success because of a pair of freshmen, Liberty Miller and Nicole Rietbelt, who not only made the varsity team this year, but have made a significant impact as well.

"I knew from the first practice that they would be varsity material, but I wasn't sure they would be as good as they have been for us," Evans said.

"Liberty has become basically our No. 2 runner and is probably one of the top freshmen in the county. I've been amazed with how much she has progressed. She is not afraid to get in there and challenge other teams' No. 1 and No. 2 girls," he said.

The top runner for the Simi Valley girls is returning senior and team captain Anna Sperry, who finished fourth in last year's state championships.

"Anna is very easy to coach," Evan said. "She is very driven and competitive. She is very goal oriented and sometimes sets goals very high in order to drive herself. She is very much concerned more with the team rather than Anna Sperry. She is headstrong, but headstrong in the right way."

Sperry said she has enjoyed running this year and has loved the winning attitude the Pioneers are showing.

"There has been a real positive chemistry on this team," Sperry said. "Everyone is really trying hard in practice and character-wise it's the best team I've ever been a part of. Last year it seemed the team was in doubt in what they could accomplish. This year everyone believes a little more."

Sperry is one of the top runners in the country and has already received a scholarship offer from the University of Utah. Sperry said Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA and Duke have also shown interest, although she doesn't expect to make her college decision until later in the year. The rest of the girls' team is led

by sophomores Kimberly Rowland and Angie Hernandez. Junior Geri Koehler has decided to come back to the team after missing summer camps. The Pioneers have meshed well with seniors Sperry, Alexia Burton and fouryear varsity runner Christy Severance, Evans said.

While the girls' team is young, the boys' team is even younger. The Pioneers boys' varsity team has no seniors and is led mostly by sophomores. Even the head coach, Kurt Mjoen, is in his first year at the helm.

"It's nice to come back to Simi after all these years and be coaching the team," Mjoen said. "I graduated from the school in 1999 but never ran cross country-I only played basketball and volleyball.

"I started working out with the cross-country team to try and get in shape for those sports and they ended up asking me to be a coach. I served as an assistant the last few years and when the head coaching job became available I told the school I was interested," he said.

Although Mjoen has no experience running cross country, the team seems to like its new coach because he runs with them during practices.

"Last year our coach didn't ever run with us, and this year Coach Mjoen does, so I think that helps us do our workouts better," sophomore Steven Semler said.

Semler has a twin brother on the team, Michael. According to Mjoen, the two have been running very well and have earned the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the majority of the races.

"I think last year was good for us because now we are more experienced," Michael Semler said. "There is more motivation on this year's team to be trained, and our coach won't let us give anything but our best in practice."

The boys' team is led by the Semler twins and junior Kevin Lizardo. Also contributing to the

boys' team are juniors Byron Silverman and Andres Pongo. Sophomores Adam Zeller and John Erickson are running well, too, the coach said.

The team is getting ready for the big Mt. SAC race by running a lot of hills in practice so they are prepared for the treacherous climb they'll have to make up north on Saturday.

"We have been running hills so much it's like they have become our friends," Pongo said. "It's not like running them is easy, but I think it makes us ready for Saturday."

With so many young runners on Simi Valley's boys' team, the future, as well as the present, looks bright for the Pioneers.

"We have a very young top six runners that believe in themselves now," Mjoen said. "If they keep working hard, then we should be good for years to come."