Jenny Mallen Upon entering Newbury Park High three years ago, Jenny Mallen was faced with a dilemma.

Her older brothers, Alex and Blake, had played sports at NPHS, and she wanted to do the same.

The problem was, she couldn't decide on which sport to compete in. So instead of going over each and every one of the sports and writing the pros and cons, Mallen came up with a much easier method—a game of eenie meenie minie moe.

"I thought about cheerleading a little, but I just couldn't decide one way or the other what to do," Mallen said. "So I took my sports program I had received at Sycamore Canyon in eighth grade, and I began to take my finger and use eenie meenie minie moe to decide. On moe, my finger landed on cross country."

At that moment, Newbury Park landed one of its best cross country runners in the history of its program.

Although Mallen, now a senior, had never run more than a mile—in her eighthgrade physical education class—she became the Panthers' No. 1 runner by her sophomore year. In her junior season she helped her team become the first Newbury Park girls' squad in 21 years to make the CIF-Southern Section Finals.

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers OUT IN FRONT—Senior Jenny Mallen has been competing with the Newbury Park High girls' cross country team since she was a freshman. Last year, she helped NPHS reach the CIF-SS Finals. "It's kind of crazy when you think about it," Mallen said. "I've been thinking about it recently, how close I came to never competing in the sport."

Mallen's initial year at NPHS was also head coach Dominique Colell's first year guiding the Panthers. Colell, who graduated from Newbury Park in 1998, was immediately impressed with Mallen.

"It's always hard when a new coach comes in to get the program headed in the right direction because everyone is used to the old coach's methods," Colell said. "Right from the start, Mallen was a great person to coach. She always listened and did exactly what she was supposed to do."

The 17-year-old Mallen spent time between the varsity and frosh/soph squads during her freshman year but didn't have the confidence she has now.

"At the Marmonte League Cross Country finals my first year, I had a chance to run, but I was too scared," Mallen said. "I always wanted to run well, and I didn't think I would do well at that meet."

In the summer prior to Mallen's sophomore year, she began believing in her athletic ability.

"You could tell something clicked when she came to practice that summer," Colell said. "She was more gungho and serious about her running. Most people in practice like to take it easy on their runs. Not her. She always wanted to run fast."

Mallen said she fully embraced the sport later that summer after suffering a back injury that forced her to miss a couple days of training.

"After going a few days without running, I realized just how much I loved cross country," Mallen said.

"I just became really dedicated and determined to do well in it. I loved the feeling of accomplishment when you finished a long run. From that moment on, I wasn't just running for physical education credits anymore."

As a sophomore, Mallen finished first on the team during a race at Peppertree Park. Later that year, she made the CIFSS prelims as an individual.

"It was kind of surreal to realize I had gone from never running over a mile to becoming the team's top runner in about a year and a half," Mallen said. "It was definitely something I didn't expect."

Mallen dialed up her training another notch in the summer before her junior year when she began running 10 to 15 miles per day.

The end result was Mallen running a personal-best time of 18:02 at Mt. SAC and leading the Panthers to their first appearance at the CIF Finals since 1986. The team just missed making a trip to the state finals, however, when it placed 11th at CIF Finals.

"It was pretty disappointing not quite making it to state," Mallen said. "But it was the first time we made it to CIF in 21 years, and it's served as motivation for our team this season."

To prepare for her senior campaign, Mallen ran 650 miles during the summer. She also competed in the San Diego-based America's Finest City Half Marathon. She finished the race in one hour, 28 minutes.

"I don't know why, but 13 miles just seems like the perfect distance for me to run," Mallen said. "It was a fun race, and I definitely want to run it again."

Colell said one of the reasons Mallen has had success in cross country is her consistency.

"When Mallen runs, even in marathons, her times each mile are only about five seconds apart," Colell said. "She just takes off, gets her pace and never slows down."

Today, Mallen and the Panthers will compete in the Marmonte League Cross Country Finals at Agoura High.

Mallen isn't sure which college she'll attend next fall, although she said she'd like to run cross country at Cal State San Marcos, Pepperdine or UC Davis.

Because of her hard work and dedication over the years, Colell said Mallen will leave an indelible mark on the Newbury Park cross country program.

"All it takes for a program to turn around is just one girl that truly believes in you and the team," Colell said. "For our team, that girl was Jenny. She's kind of like the engine on this team. She was the driving force to get the program where it is today."