Girls Win, Boys Second for Agoura

Three points. That’s how close Agoura High came to sweeping the team titles in the 2-A Division of the Southern Section cross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

The Chargers almost became the second school to win boys and girls team titles in the same year. Bishop Union won the first girls title and the 1-A Division boys title in 1976.

The Agoura girls, led by individual champion Deena Drossin, defeated Hesperia, 53-60, for the girls title, and the boys team placed second to defending champion Walnut, 74-76.

The boys team, behind Bryan Dameworth and Peter Oviatt, received personal bests from four of its top five runners on Mt. SAC’s three-mile course. Dameworth, a sophomore, placed fourth in 15 minutes, 25 seconds and Oviatt placed eighth in 15:52.

“When I doped out the meet, I was very optimistic,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said of the boys’ chances. “But I still had us 15 points behind Walnut.”

The girls team was favored but got a scare from defending champion Hesperia.

With Drossin running 17:46, the Chargers placed five runners in the top 19 finishers.

Freshman Stacy Kristen (16th) and senior Cheyenne Zontelli (17th) keyed the win, running 21 and 77 seconds faster than they did at last week’s preliminaries.

The victory was Agoura’s second in the 2-A Division--the first was in 1980--and qualified the Chargers for the state championships in the Large Schools Division on Nov. 28.

Dameworth qualified for the state championships as an individual, but the Agoura boys team did not.

Mike Glaze of Notre Dame also qualified for the state championships with a surprising second in the 3-A race. His time of 15:28 was a personal best on the Mt. SAC course by 16 seconds.

Camarillo used solid performances, not spectacular ones, to place third in the 4-A for the second straight year. The Scorpions, led by Abe Valdez’s 15th, scored 97 points and qualified for the state meet in the Large Schools Division. Dana Hills (63) and Palos Verdes (87) placed first and second in the 4-A.