Students take on new opponents in revamped league
Athletes in the newly organized Marmonte League face fewer schools this fall, including Agoura, Calabasas, Oaks Christian, Thousand Oaks and Westlake, but should expect tougher matches since the league is redesigned every four years to encourage better competition.
“The reason for the releaguing was to create more equal playing among the schools, so that schools were playing other schools of equal ability and ranking,” said Kelly Welch, assistant principal of athletics. “It was to make things a little bit more fair so that more teams had the opportunity to make [CIF] playoffs, not just the same teams every year.”
“The basic gist of the whole releaguing is that you want to be put into a league with relatively similar schools so that you have competitive games,” agreed director of athletics Jason Klein.
Since there are only six competing teams this year, due to the loss of Royal, Moorpark and Simi Valley, and the addition of Oaks Christian, overall there will be fewer official league games. Unlike its multiple dual meets last year, cross country only has two all-school league meets at Agoura High School in October, but Rachel Brown, sophomore, believes that the changes were made for the better.
“It’s actually nicer only having two meets this year because we don’t miss as much school time, and the invitationals are on the weekends,” Brown said. “The competition is higher at the meets this year because there’s more people to compete against, which is a pro because it’s motivation to do better.”
Coaches will also be forced to arrange more non-league games with surrounding schools to fill their schedules. However,this does not pose any problems.
“Scheduling is a little bit tougher, but it actually gives our coaches some leeway to go out and schedule with whoever they want to,” Klein said. “You actually get to know your team a little bit better rather than just jumping straight into league. That’s the cool thing about this, that you get a little more time to know what you’ve got on your team in a pressure situation before you have to play in league.”
Welch agreed, saying “it’s been mostly the same teams” that are in the league now than as before, so transportation should not be difficult.
Football has also changed its league into the Camino League, a separate football division, along with Thousand Oaks, Royal and Camarillo. They have scheduled seven non-league games before their three league games near the end of October, giving plenty of time for the team to develop their bonds and practice for their new opponents.
“We definitely have a harder schedule than last year opponent-wise, but we’re really coming together to have a big year,” said varsity quarterback Daniel Prieto, senior.
“We’ve just been watching a lot of film about teams that we don’t really know that much about, because usually we play teams that we really know and play year-in and year-out.”
According to Brown, cross country has also prepped for new competitors, especially private school Oaks Christian, by “focusing more on our speed a lot so we can finish strong.”
Both Brown and Prieto agree that students should not expect big changes this year.
“The new league is not really that much of a difference,” Prieto said.
