Newbury Park's boys cross country team is ranked No. 1 in the PrepCalTrack CIF-Southern Section Division 2 standings. The girls sit at No. 3 as the Panthers prepare for the Ventura County Championships on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Lake Casitas in Ojai.
The rankings cap an early-season surge for a program that has won seven CIF-SS championships since 2018 and four consecutive boys state titles from 2018 to 2022. Newbury Park head coach Kris Karsten told the Ventura County Star the 2026 roster has bought in fully.
"We have a team that is just completely on board with our philosophy, how we train, how we approach racing," Karsten said. "It has just been so wonderful to see."
The results back him up.
At the 45th annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic on Sept. 19 in Irvine, the Panthers placed sixth in the Doug Speck Sweepstakes race with 296 points, according to the Star's Woodbridge coverage. All five scoring runners broke 15 minutes.
Senior Eli Zasloff led the way, finishing 18th in 14:07.3. Sophomore Paul Goetze ran 14:28 for 52nd place. The Star reported that time was the second-fastest sophomore mark in program history, trailing Panthers great Colin Sahlman by just 1.1 seconds. Junior Jensen Clarke (83rd, 14:42.1), sophomore Dylan Warner (98th, 14:50.2) and senior Graham Reynolds (123rd, 14:57.4) rounded out the scoring five.
The Panthers' depth showed beyond the varsity squad, too. Senior Javan Pelascini won the Gold Senior boys race at Woodbridge in 15:47.3, with sophomore Eli Emery second in 15:48.8 and Kevin Cruz fourth in 16:01.1.
On the girls side, Newbury Park finished sixth in the Woodbridge Rated Varsity race and was the top CIF-SS team in the field. Senior Helena Rieckewald-Schmidt placed 29th in 17:20.7, and sophomore Zara Konkader was 36th in 17:27.3. Sophomore Victoria Barnes (64th, 17:55.8), junior Ella Muskat (94th, 18:12.3) and senior Isabella Steiner (128th, 18:32.9) completed the scoring group.
Newbury Park then swept the boys and girls team titles at the Marmonte League XC Preview on Sept. 29 at Peppertree Playfield.
The county championships at Lake Casitas are the next major test. The Marmonte League Finals follow on Thursday, Nov. 5, at Agoura High School in Agoura Hills.
