Taft Beats El Camino Real Without Breaking Ranks : Cross-country: Toreadors sweep top five places in preparation for Mt. SAC invitational.

The Taft High boys’ cross-country team has learned to differentiate between low-key running and high-intensity racing.

Take, for instance, the Toreadors’ 15-44 dual-meet win over West Valley League rival El Camino Real on Thursday. Brian Godsey, Mike Krentzin, Kipp Ortenburger and Torino Carr ran in a tight pack at Pierce College, then fell into their “honor system” at the finish.

The system, implemented by Coach Mel Hein, arranges the runners at the finish line according to their rank on the team.

“The No. 3 and No. 4 runners are not going to jump ahead of Godsey just because they tied,” Hein said.

Godsey and Krentzin finished the three-mile race in 16 minutes 34 seconds and Ortenburger and Carr were each credited with 16:35. Freshman Cesar Rodriguez placed fifth in 16:45 to complete Taft’s second consecutive 15-point league win.

“That’s all we wanted to do . . . nice and easy,” Hein said of the win.

“We ran them just as a workout,” Godsey said.

Danny Hurley finished sixth in 16:53 to lead El Camino Real (1-1 in league meets).

The ease of the pace, though, came as a surprise to Krentzin, who has apparently recovered fully from a fracture in his foot that caused the junior to miss the state meet in 1989.

“I thought we were running 18 minutes,” Krentzin said. “But that’s what you got to do or else you’ll get mentally burned out.”

However Taft (3-0 overall in dual meets, 2-0 in league competition), the defending City Section champion, is not likely to finish in a tight group nor maintain an easy pace Saturday when it toes the starting line with nine of California’s top 10 teams at the Mt. San Antonio College invitational in Walnut.

City rival Belmont, which Taft regards as Public Enemy No. 1 after being upstaged twice by the Sentinels in invitationals this season, will try for a third win over its newest rival.

Belmont won seven consecutive City titles before losing to Taft last year. Following Mt. SAC, Taft begins serious preparation for its title defense.

“Next week, after Mt. SAC, (training) is going to be tough,” Krentzin said.

“Yep, 80-mile weeks,” quipped Godsey.

In other City dual meets at Pierce:

San Fernando claimed its third North Valley League boys’ title in a row with a 22-35 thrashing of Kennedy. Kennedy’s Jon Cohen won in 16:55, but the Tigers grabbed the next three places.

The Taft girls’ team defeated El Camino Real, 26-35, even though the Conquistadores took the first two places.

Samantha Reed won in 20:25 and teammate Gina Zeno timed 21:26 in second. But Taft’s superior depth prevailed as Estela Sanchez finished third (22:14) to pace the Toreadors (3-0, 2-0).

The San Fernando girls stunned Kennedy, 25-30, to win their second consecutive North Valley League title.