Weather | Beachcam
Login | Contact Us | Staff | Site Map | Archives | Alerts | Electronic Edition | Subscribe to the paper

HomeSports

Thousand Oaks, Oaks Christian overcame league challengers to win points titles again

Tough repeats


Download Podcast  Download this story as a podcast!
Oaks Christian School's Noe Salter, from left, Emily Blumenthal, and Caroline Cislo accept the championship patches and shirts after tying Valley Christian for the CIF-Southern Division V girls' soccer championship last March.

Photo by Jason Redmond

Oaks Christian School's Noe Salter, from left, Emily Blumenthal, and Caroline Cislo accept the championship patches and shirts after tying Valley Christian for the CIF-Southern Division V girls' soccer championship last March.

Two familiar names will be engraved on the 2007 Star Cup all-sports points championship trophies.

Although both had to withstand strong finishes from league rivals.

Repeating as the large schools champion, Thousand Oaks won the title for the third time in the last four years.

Thirteen of Thousand Oaks teams finished either first or second in the Marmonte League to set the pace for an athletic program that had the most league points (155) and best overall winning percentage (.681) in the large schools division.

It was enough to hold off Westlake, which used a sensational spring season to vault past two schools in the final standings, by a half-point.

For the fifth consecutive year, Oaks Christian is the small schools champion.

Oaks Christian won CIF titles in football, girls' soccer, boys' swimming and boys' volleyball. The Westlake Village school had the most league points (161) and CIF points (80) in the small schools division. Only La Reina and Oak Park had better winning percentages.

Nine Oaks Christian teams won Tri-Valley League titles, including six in a decisive spring season. Seven were runners-up.

Tri-Valley League rival Oak Park had a .758 winning percentage among its 12 fall and spring sports programs. Its seven spring sports teams finished no lower than second and had a .708 winning percentage.

To determine final overall standings, The Star compiled won-loss records, league finishes and CIF-SS postseason results from information provided by school athletic directors and coaches, league officials, Web sites and the section office.

Large and small schools were ranked in each category. How a school finished in each category determined its all-sports points standing.

Westlake closed out the 2006-07 sports year with a flourish.

Warriors spring sports teams had a .814 winning percentage, won outright or tied for five Marmonte League championships and, led by the Division II girls' championship team and strong performances by the boys' golf and track teams, more than doubled its CIF point total. Six of its spring programs combined for a 77-9 record.

For the year, Westlake ranked second in each category with .653 winning percentage, 142 1/2 league points and 45 CIF points.

Catalyst for the athletic program's success was the performance of the football team. Westlake won its first 12 games before losing in the Northern Division semifinals.

Royal edged Rio Mesa for third place on the points list.

With section championships in boys' cross country — for the third straight year — and boys' golf in the fall and spring, respectively, Royal has won at least one CIF title in eight of the last nine sports seasons.

The Simi Valley school was the clear leader in CIF points with 59. Besides its two section titles, Royal saw its boys' water polo team advance to the Division IV semifinals and the two-time CIF champion wrestling team place high in dual meet and individual finals.

Royal won outright or share five Marmonte League titles.

Finishing strong in the spring with Pacific View League titles in boys' and girls' track, boys' tennis, boys' and girls' swimming, Rio Mesa nudged past fifth-place Oxnard. Five of Rio Mesa's spring sports teams combined for a 46-2 record. The boys' and girls' track teams had Division III third-place finishes, while the baseball club was a Division II semifinalist.

Thousand Oaks' Rowan Hines gives Dan Nguyen of Westlake a ride during the Marmonte League individual wrestling finals in February. T.O. tied for the league title with Royal.

Photo by Jason Redmond

Thousand Oaks' Rowan Hines gives Dan Nguyen of Westlake a ride during the Marmonte League individual wrestling finals in February. T.O. tied for the league title with Royal.

Rio Mesa ranked third in winning percentage (.638), third in league points (139 1/2) and seventh in league points.

Oxnard ranked fourth in winning percentage (.6244), league points (132) and tied for fifth in CIF points (43).

Eight Oxnard teams won or shared Pacific View League teams. The league champion girls' volleyball team was 25-6, the boys' basketball program earned a share of its eighth league title in the last nine years and the baseball team reached the Division II semifinals.

Oak Park had the second-best overall winning percentage (.690) among small schools and ranked second in CIF points (41).

The Oak Park football and girls' cross country teams were CIF runners-up. The boys' basketball team reached the III-AA semifinals and all of its springs sports teams made the playoffs, including the softball program, which made the Division III quarterfinals.

Rounding out the top five small schools were La Reina, St. Bonaventure and Fillmore.

La Reina had a series of strong postseason performances. The girls' swimming team was the Division III runner-up. The La Reina girls' volleyball team made the Division III-AA semifinals, the cross country team placed third in Division IV and the golf team placed fourth. La Reina had the best overall winning percentage among small schools.

St. Bonaventure ranked third in league and CIF points. Seraphs programs won four league championships. The girls' tennis team was a CIF Division V finalist and the boys' basketball team reached the Division V-A semifinals.

Fillmore had the most dramatic improvement than any Ventura County school.

From a winning percentage of .355 in the 2005-06 school year, the athletic program saw its teams win 53.5 percent of its events. League points increased from 49 1/2 to 79 1/2 in one year.

The Fillmore football team won its first league title in 23 years and the soccer team captured the first championship in program history and made its first playoff appearance.

Discussions
Discuss this article
(Requires free registration.)

Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.

Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.

We do not allow the following:

  • Posts that degrade others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability.
  • Disparaging remarks, abusive language or obscene comments.
  • Threats, whether obvious or veiled.

We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.

Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.

Username:

Password:
(Forgotten your password?)

Your Turn:

Loading videos... If you don't see them shortly, you may need to download the Flash Player.