Hart Claims Division I Title in a Runaway : Cross-country: Fillmore gives area another boys’ state high school championship and Agoura and Nordhoff prevail in girls’ division races.

Four regional teams and three individuals won titles in the state high school cross-country championships in Woodward Park on Saturday.

Hart became the second team in a row from the region to win the Division I boys’ title and Agoura ended three years of frustration by winning the girls’ championship.

Hart upset Madera, the state’s top-ranked team, 58-113, to keep the Division I title in the area after Camarillo won it last year. The Indians lost twice this season to Madera, the Central Section champion, in the Stanford and Mt. San Antonio College invitationals.

“I figured we would have to have a great team race and (Madera) would have to have some problems, and it happened,” Hart Coach Gene Blankenship said.

Billy Dixon surged from 12th to third during the second mile of the 5,000-meter race and held on to lead Hart with an eighth-place finish in 15 minutes 48 seconds. Sophomore Keith Grossman was 13th in 15:55 and Hector Chavez placed 20th in 16:06 for Hart.

Agoura’s girls avenged second-place finishes the past three years to claim their first state championship, beating San Diego Mt. Carmel, 41-68.

Deena Drossin paced the Chargers by winning her third Division I individual title in the past four years. She timed 17:29. Teammate Tiffany York finished a surprising fourth in 18:14 and sophomore Kristie Camp placed 15th in 19:10.

Palos Verdes, which won the girls’ Division I title three times from 1987-89, placed a distant fifth with 124 points.

“It was a long time coming,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “(We) felt pretty confident (we) were going to win it last year but PV ran a great state meet (in a 65-75 win).”

The Fillmore boys’ team defeated top-ranked Maranatha for the Division IV championship, 90-98, and Nordhoff edged Morro Bay, 77-79, for the girls’ Division IV title.

Fillmore’s Jorge Barajas sprinted by Richie Boulet of Drake (North Coast Section) to finish second in 15:43 behind Brian Singleton (15:41) of Altaville Bret Harte. Joel Lopez (16:23) and Victor Hernandez (16:35) placed 13th and 17th for Fillmore.

In winning their first state title, the third-ranked Flashes avenged their loss to Maranatha in last week’s Southern Section championships.

Dascha Spellman led Nordhoff with an eighth-place finish in 19:00 and was followed by freshman teammate Maria Garcia (14th in 19:34) and senior Jennifer Kimpton (20th, 19:57).

Jeannie Rothman of Westlake posted the fastest girls’ time of the day in winning the Division II title in 17:28, one second off Drossin’s state-meet record set last year.

Newbury Park’s Jeff Wilson surged away from San Luis Obispo’s James Menon with 400 yards to go to win the Division III championship in 15:15.

Drossin and Veronica Barajas of Channel Islands finished first and second in the Division I race.