Dameworth Splits His Differences in Ventura : High school track: Agoura senior edges Camarillo’s Valdez in 3,200 after losing 800 in county meet.

After Ventura High’s Roman Morales slipped past him to win the 800 meters in the Ventura County championships Friday at Camarillo High, Bryan Dameworth of Agoura wasn’t about to let himself lose twice in the same meet.

Camarillo’s Abe Valdez had the credentials in the 3,200--he even led for 300 meters--but Dameworth had the edge, setting a meet record of 8 minutes 58.53 seconds en route to his third consecutive title.

Valdez, a senior, timed a personal-best 9:01.00 in finishing second.

Dameworth said that Valdez’s swift move to the front after 5 1/4 laps took him by surprise.

“I have never seen him lead before,” he said.

Dameworth led most of the way in the 800 before Morales edged him in the final steps to win in 1:56.10. Dameworth was second in 1:56.19.

In the 3,200, Dameworth, the state leader in the event at 8:53.85, took the lead immediately and surrendered it to Valdez for only a brief time.

“I just wanted to see what would happen if I took the lead,” said Valdez, who shadowed Dameworth through 1,600 in 4:26.3. “I didn’t pay any attention to the mile time. I was concentrating on him pulling me along.”

Meanwhile, Rio Mesa’s Alycia Burnham was concentrating on making up for two years of frustration. The Spartan junior and the sister of Angela Burnham missed competing in the county meet her freshman and sophomore years because of damaged tendons in her right knee.

Burnham won three individual events and ran the second leg on Rio Mesa’s victorious 400 relay team (49.14). She captured the 100 low hurdles (14.72), 300 low hurdles (47.42) and long jump (17 feet 9 inches).

“This year she came back with a vengeance,” co-Coach Brian FitzGerald said of Burnham’s return.

Rio Mesa freshman Marion Jones also notched victories in the 100 (11.82) and 200 (24.25). The latter gave Rio Mesa a sweep of all five individual sprint races.

Jones broke Angela Burnham’s meet record of 11.84 in the 100 set in 1988.

Jones also brought the Spartans’ 400 relay team back from a 10-meter deficit to win by 10 meters over runner-up Thousand Oaks (49.51).

Camarillo senior Derek Kite blocked out a nagging knee injury--sustained during a workout 2 1/2 weeks ago--and outkicked Jorge Barajas of Fillmore and Ventura’s Scott Fickerson to win the invitational 1,600 in 4:22.53.

“I felt it pull once on the second lap but I just tried to put it out of my mind,” Kite said.

Barajas finished second in 4:23.36 and Fickerson was third in 4:23.39.

Nikki Shaw of Fillmore renewed her rivalry with Agoura’s Deena Drossin in the 1,600 and later set a meet record in the 800.

Shaw outdistanced the Charger junior by 45 meters to win the 1,600 in 5:01.49 and came back two hours later to notch a win in the 800 over Westlake’s Jessica Graham.

Her 2:12.98 clocking in the 800 shattered the previous meet record of 2:14.54 set by Camarillo’s Jennifer Dunn in 1982.

Drossin, who defeated Shaw last year for the Southern Section 1-A Division title, finished second Friday in 5:08.88.

Shaw, a sophomore, currently leads Region 800 and 1,600 runners. She has run 4:59.07 in the 1,600.

Drossin and Shaw traded places, though, in the 3,200, with last fall’s state Division I cross-country champion winning in 10:50.84. Shaw was second in 11:06.70.