During Thursday's Marmonte League double-dual meet, a few members of the Simi Valley girls' cross country team were stung by bees that were nesting at the halfway point of the 3-mile course at Corriganville Park.
But it was Thousand Oaks and Moorpark that were left feeling the sting as the Pioneers boys' and girls' teams swept their league rivals.
The Simi Valley girls placed five runners in the top six for a 15-48 win over Thousand Oaks and a 16-47 victory over Moorpark.
The Pioneers' victories marked the season debut of sophomore Sarah Baxter, who missed the first half of the season recovering from injury.
The reigning Div. I state champion was the individual winner, clocking 17 minutes, 45 seconds.
"I was really happy to be back with my team," Baxter said. "I wanted to win, but I didn't think I was going to. I wanted to see what I can do coming back. I was excited to see the team do so well while I was sitting on the sideline. "
Karla Vernola (18:32) finished second, followed by Erika Barr (18:33) in third and Sarah Riggs (19:07) in fourth for Simi Valley, which received a sixth-place effort from Rachel Vinas (19:13).
Baxter's return was a welcome sight by her teammates.
"I love seeing her back. I missed the swing of her ponytail," Barr said. "I think with every race we gain more confidence. We continue to surprise ourselves because we want it so bad."
Melanie Joerger finished seventh for Thousand Oaks, which scored a 20-43 win over Moorpark. Monika Gyalay came in fourth place as she clocked 19:10 for Moorpark's top finisher.
Simi Valley's Frankie Moncada clocked 16:01 to win the boys'race as the Pioneers edged Moorpark 27-28 and held on to beat Thousand Oaks 25-30.
Moncada got plenty of support as Jackson Chirigotis (16:43) finished sixth, Niko Utash (16:49) took ninth, Bryan Quintero (19:49) placed 10th and Bryan Bendik (16:52) finished 11th.
"Our team feels good about winning the meet. We weren't expecting it," said Moncada, who would have set a new Corriganville Park record had the course not been altered due to the bee hive.
"The alteration of the course didn't bother us because everyone had to run it. Our team is better at running hills, so it was actually an advantage."
Sam Worley came in second in 16:18 for Thousand Oaks, which also got seventh- and eighth-place finishes from Tommy Lopez (16:43) and Sho Kodera (16:44).
Moorpark swept the next three spots as Michael Picchini (16:20), Tamas Gyalay (16:25) and Teerth Patel (16:30) came in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
