Cabrillo's boys cross country team, atypically, did not run in a pack Friday.

They ran in two packs.

"Levi (Block) and Steven (Villanueva) led one group," said Cabrillo junior Joel Velazquez. "Daniel (Peña) and Lazaro (Nunez) led another." The strategy worked.

Velazquez didn't mention his own name, but he led Cabrillo to its eighth straight Santa Barbara County boys cross country championship. Velazquez finished sixth in 15:56 over the three-mile River Park course in Lompoc. Block finished seventh in 16:05, and Cabrillo won easily with 45 points to runner-up Dos Pueblos' 84.

Villanueva finished ninth. Peña ran 11th and Nunez finished 12th as all five Cabrillo scorers cracked the top 15.

Sergey Suglehikh of Dos Pueblos won the boys race in 15:35. St. Joseph junior Quetta Peinado won the girls race in 18:39. Lompoc senior Ashley Fabing ran second in 18:57.

Peinado won for the second time on the River Park course. She took the girls race at the Lompoc Invitational earlier this season.

Lompoc hosted the meet Friday, and the Braves will host the Los Padres League Finals at River Park next Wednesday. Racing starts with the junior varsity boys race at 2 p.m.

Peinado broke to the lead before the quarter mile mark with Fabing close behind. Peinado gradually pulled away, but Fabing hung tough for second place.

"(Fabing) did a really good job," said Peinado. "I was surprised," Fabing was that close for that long.

"Being pushed helps. I was feeling a little tired toward the end, but that was my PR."

Fabing ran her best time, too, and, "I'm definitely very happy with it," she said.

Fabing was all the more satisfied with her finish because River Park is not her kind of course. "I really like hills," she said.

Some teams don't take nearly as much stock in the county meet as they do in league finals. Velazquez said Cabrillo's boys program is not one of those teams.

"The county meet means as much to us as the league finals do," Velazquez said. Cabrillo is an annual LPL powerhouse.

Righetti and Pioneer Valley's boys each had 139 points, but Righetti finished fourth thanks to a better finish by its sixth runner. Pioneer Valley was fifth. Steven Youngblood led the Panthers to that fifth-place finish. He ran 10th.

Other area squads in the 14-team boys field included Santa Maria (sixth place), Lompoc (eighth), Santa Ynez (ninth), Midland (12th) and St. Joseph (13th). Santa Maria senior Israel Ruvalcaba had the best finish of any Santa Maria Valley boys runner. He came in eighth.

Dos Pueblos (61 points) and San Marcos (82) finished first and second respectively in the eight-team varsity girls division. Area squads included Lompoc (third place, 102 points), Cabrillo (fourth, 105), St. Joseph (fifth, 122) and Righetti (eighth, 186). Pioneer Valley, Santa Maria and Santa Ynez did not score.

A Santa Ynez runner however, Monica Illes, did finish fifth. Area runners Bridget Adam of St. Joseph (seventh place) and Denice Hernandez of Lompoc (ninth) cracked the top 10.

Some top area runners, including St. Joseph sophomore Hayes Dunn and Santa Maria senior Cynthia Orozco, did not run Friday.

Matt Johnson of Cabrillo won the boys race in 16:39. For a list of results for area teams and runners, see page D-4.