Dameworth, Drossin Put the Doubts to Rest

Between them, they had won five state Division I titles in cross-country, but Bryan Dameworth and Deena Drossin of Agoura High entered Saturday night’s state track and field championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk with something to prove.

Despite all the honors bestowed on them for running over hill and dale during the fall, neither had won a state title on the track.

Dameworth, the 1989 Kinney national cross-country champion, had come close last year, finishing second to David Welsh of Sacramento Jesuit in the 3,200 meters, yet he and Drossin entered this year’s state championship with a reputation for failing to win crucial track events.

As of 8 p.m. Saturday, that image had been washed away as Dameworth followed Drossin’s victory in the girls’ 3,200 with a win of his own in the boys’ race.

Ten minutes after Drossin had run a personal-best and state-leading time of 10 minutes 29.60 seconds, Dameworth toed the starting line and proceeded to reel off a personal-best and nation-leading time of 8:53.26.

“I kind of have mixed emotions right now,” said Dameworth, whose previous best was 8:53.85. “It means a lot to me that I finally won a state track title, but I’m kind of disturbed. I wanted to run a lot faster time. . . . I was hoping to run the first 800 in 2:11 and the first (1,600) in 4:21 or 4:22, but that was shot from the start when no one else wanted to lead for the first two laps.”

Dameworth in effect led from start to finish.

Hector Hernandez of Mar Vista briefly took the lead during the fifth lap, but Dameworth dictated the pace.

The Charger senior passed the first 800 meters in 2:15.2 and 1,600 meters in 4:27.8 with Eliazar Herrera of Hoover, Angel Martinez of San Gabriel, Abe Valdez of Camarillo, Obed Aguirre of San Fernando and Hernandez close behind.

A 2:14.9 for the third 800 brought Dameworth through 2,400 meters in 6:42.7 and opened a gap over everyone except Herrera.

“I didn’t know who it was, but I could feel someone close to me with two laps to go,” said Dameworth, winner of the past three state Division I cross-country titles. “I was pretty nervous.”

That anxiety ceased shortly afterward as Dameworth broke away from Herrera with 600 meters left while running his final 800 in 2:10.6.

Herrera (8:58.97), James Menon (8:59.05) of San Luis Obispo and Aguirre (9:01.11) all recorded personal bests.

Like Dameworth, Drossin is not known for a blistering last lap, and she had no intention of letting her race develop into a kicker’s affair.

“The plan was to go with three laps left and that’s what I did,” said Drossin, who won state Division I cross-country titles in 1987 and ’89 and placed third in ’88.

But even Drossin, a junior, was shocked at how well her plan worked.

After Martha Pinto of Anaheim Katella led through the 1,600 in 5:19.9, Drossin bolted into the lead with 1,000 meters remaining and was never challenged.

Running the last 1,600 in 5:09.7, Drossin defeated runner-up Pinto by nearly 13 seconds.