HIGH SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Hart Boys and Agoura Girls Prove Too Much

Newhall Hart and Agoura, coming off contrasting performances last week, won their third consecutive Division I boys’ and girls’ titles, respectively, at the state cross-country championships at Woodward Park on Saturday.

Hart, which finished a distant second to Thousand Oaks in last week’s Southern Section championships at Mt. San Antonio College, totaled 53 points to turn back the Lancers (80) and Madera (117) for the title.

Agoura, led by sophomore individual runner-up Amy Skieresz, had a 75-point total to outdistance Irvine (109), San Diego Mt. Carmel (113) and Peninsula (117).

Seniors Margarito Casillas of Glendale Hoover and Milena Glusac of Fallbrook recorded the fastest times of the meet in winning the boys’ and girls’ individual Division I titles.

Huntington Beach Ocean View defeated Sunset League rival Edison for the first time this season to win the girls’ Division II title.

Ocean View, paced by third-place finisher Christie Engesser, totaled 52 points to turn back Escondido San Pasqual (100) and Edison (111), which had defeated Ocean View in all four of their previous meetings this season.

Hart’s victory in the boys’ Division I race was a nice going-away gift for retiring Coach Gene Blankenship, and it avenged two earlier losses to Thousand Oaks.

“This (state title) feels almost as good as the first one,” Blankenship said. “I haven’t known (Thousand Oaks Coach) Jack Farrell for that long, but I’ve always respected him, so beating his team is a lot of fun.”

The final mile of the 5,000-meter race was the key to the Indians’ victory as they made a collective move up in the pack, while Thousand Oaks struggled.

Sophomore Brett Strahan led Hart with a seventh-place finish in 15 minutes 37 seconds, while seniors Paul De La Cerda and Keith Grossman finished 12th (15:45) and 14th (15:47), respectively.

Casillas timed 15:03 to win the Division I title after finishing second last year.

Upland senior Jim Cera ran at Casillas’ heels until shortly after the two-mile mark, when Casillas broke away.

“I just decided to take off the last mile,” Casillas said. “If he was going to hang with me, there was nothing I could do about it.”

Cera finished second in 15:12.

Glusac overpowered sophomore Skieresz for the second time this season to win her second consecutive Division I title. Her winning time of 17:14 was 28 seconds ahead of Skieresz.

“I just wanted to come out here and have a strong race,” said Glusac, the defending Kinney West Regional champion. “I just wanted to try and run a good time comparable to what I’ve run in the past.”

Peninsula, which had defeated Agoura twice this season before losing a close race at the Southern Section championships, was expected to be the Chargers’ toughest competition, but Alisa Scudamore, the Panthers’ No. 5 runner, collapsed with 660 yards left in the race.