Eight teams chasing a championship
Marmonte League preview: Girls' cross country
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com
      Slowly but surely, the gap is closing. Although many coaches pick Royal High to be the top girls' cross country team in the Marmonte League once again, even Royal's head coach, Jay Sramek, believes it will be tough to repeat as champs in 2008.
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Fall sports preview schedule
      During the next few weeks, the Acorn will feature Marmonte League previews for all high school fall season sports. Here's the schedule: • Aug. 21 — Girls' cross country • Aug.
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Westlake Track Club seeks top local talent
      Former Italian National track and field champion Antonio Colella, a Thousand Oaks resident, has announced the opening of the Westlake Track Club. Colella reached heights of 18 feet in the pole vault and performed at three Olympic trials and two world championships during his 18-year professional career.
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Players outraged by decision not to retain Drootin
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com
      Scott Drootin will not return as head varsity baseball coach at Newbury Park High, athletic director Richard Urias has confirmed. "We're just going to move in a different direction," Urias said. Drootin, who worked as an off-campus coach, spent five years with the Panthers and led the team to a Marmonte League title in 2006.
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Simpson helps U.S. earn show jumping gold
      Will Simpson, who trains at the Thousand Oaks-based El Campeon Farms, helped lead the U.S. equestrian team to a gold medal in show jumping at the Beijing Olympics. Tied with Canada in the fi nale, the Americans won the first-ever Olympic jump-off Monday in Hong Kong to finish first.
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USA swimmer Lezak proves dreams can come true
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com
      Twice in the last four years, Conejo Simi Aquatics (CSA) had U.S. Olympic swimmer Jason Lezak come to its end-of-the-year banquet as a guest speaker. If Lezak is invited as a special guest again, he's going to have a lot more to talk about.
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