A young Thousand Oaks squad almost made the state meet last year, which would have put them at least one year ahead of schedule. The Lancers finished 10th in the CIFSS D2 finals with just one senior in their top 8 - and they are only projected to have two in this fall's top 7. That means they will have a core of 4-5 runners with two years of championship-level experience by the time the 2019 season comes around. This could be the year for the breakthrough, though, with senior Mitchell Burr leading the way along with co-#1 runner Josh Stern. The Lancers' track season also seems to indicate that this team is ready to compete at the state level: Burr clocked 4:22 to lead the 11th-best group of returning 1600 runners in California, but the true revelation came from Ethan Bersley, whose 9:28 helped Thousand Oaks rank 8th in the team 3200. This is a deep squad, which makes it easier to imagine 1 or 2 runners stepping up to fill the gap between their returning 4 and 5 runners, which is the team's greatest weakness on paper. Still, the Lancers rank 10th in the Southern Section (all divisions) in returning 3 Mile rankings, which means this is a bona fide contender.
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15:03.40 | 2019 | ||
| 2 | 15:09.00 | 2021 | ||
| 3 | 15:29.80 | 2020 | ||
| 4 | 15:38.40 | 2019 | ||
| 5 | 15:53.00 | 2020 | ||
| 6 | 16:03.80 | 2021 | ||
| 7 | 16:10.90 | 2021 | ||
| 8 | 16:16.10 | 2021 | ||
| 9 | 16:23.80 | 2019 |
Team Statistics:
- 3 Mile Returning Rankings: 13th
- 3200 Returning Rankings: 8th
- 1600 Returning Rankings: 11th