STATE PREP CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Dameworth, Drossin Win Titles

Bryan Dameworth and Deena Drossin of Agoura High School won boys’ and girls’ Division I individual championships, and a veteran Camarillo boys’ squad won the Division I team title in the state cross-country championships Saturday.

The title was the third in a row for Dameworth, who used strong finishes in the past two years to ward off Goshu Tadese (1987) of San Diego Crawford and Thousand Oaks’ Mike Williamson (1988). This year, though, the Charger senior was alone at the finish.

Dameworth was timed in 14 minutes 45 seconds over the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course to set a Division I record and finish 14 seconds ahead of runner-up junior Louie Quintana (14:59) of Arroyo Grande.

Drossin trailed Livermore junior Becky Spies through much of their race. Drossin overtook Spies with 250 meters remaining and won in 17:27.

Drossin, a junior, won the state Division I title her freshman year, but an injury-marred sophomore season caused her to fade to third last year.

Despite Drossin’s victory, the top-ranked Chargers fell to Palos Verdes, 68-75, winner of the past two Division I championships. Agoura finished second for the third consecutive year.

Escondido San Pasqual (119) and No. 3 San Diego Mt. Carmel (121) were third and fourth.

Camarillo, fourth in the state Division I race in 1987 and ‘88, ended three years of frustration by placing all five of its scorers among the top 24 finishers and winning the team title with 39 points.

Abe Valdez finished fourth in a personal-best of 15:22 to lead the top-ranked Scorpions past No. 2 Concord De La Salle (97) and third-ranked Agoura (107).

In other boys competition, Sacramento Jesuit, runner-up last year, won the Division II team title with 61 points and Kevin Berkowitz of Hayward was the individual champion with a time of 15:19. Laguna Beach took the Division III team title with 65 points and Ocsar Perez of Pater Noster won the individual title in 15:52.

In girls’ Division II, La Jolla was the team titlist with 88 points and Sarah Riley of Moraga Campolindo was the individual winner in 18:01. Altaville Bret Harte won its second consecutive Division III title and freshman Laura Hamady of the San Francisco Urban School was the individual winner in 18:47.