Hart’s Boys, Agoura’s Girls Claim State Titles : Prep cross-country: Wilson gives Chargers individual title; Hoover’s Casillas, Nordhoff’s Bockel also prevail.

Hart High’s boys entered the state high school cross-country championships Saturday having struggled over the second half of the season while Agoura’s girls appeared to be peaking.

In the end, both won their third consecutive Division I titles.

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).

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

Seniors Margarito Casillas of Hoover (Division I) and Ryan Wilson of Agoura (Division II) remained undefeated, and Nordhoff senior Karen Bockel was a surprise winner in the girls’ Division IV race.

Hart’s victory was a going-away gift for Coach Gene Blankenship and it avenged two losses to Thousand Oaks.

“This (state title) feels almost as good as the first one (in 1990),” said Blankenship, who is moving to Spokane, Wash.

The final mile of the 5,000-meter race at Woodward Park was the key to the Indians’ win. Hart’s runners moved up in the pack while Thousand Oaks’ struggled.

“They had us beat at the two-mile mark,” Blankenship said. “But we really moved in the last mile. . . . This is the kind of race that this team has been capable of running all year.”

Sophomore Brett Strahan led Hart with a seventh-place finish in 15 minutes 37 seconds; seniors Paul De La Cerda and Keith Grossman finished 12th (15:45) and 14th (15:47), respectively. Senior Tommy Givens placed 32nd (16:09) and junior Gavin Klinger finished 36th (16:11) to round out the Indians’ scoring runners.

“This course is just tailor-made for our team,” Strahan said. “It’s fairly flat and we’ve got a lot of good track runners.”

Sophomore Jeff Fischer placed eighth (15:41) for Thousand Oaks, but the Lancers did not have the tight grouping that had been their strength.

Casillas timed 15:03--the fastest time of the meet--to win the Division I title after finishing second last year.

Junior Mebrahton Keflezhighi of San Diego led at the mile (4:38), but Casillas surged into the lead a half-mile later. Upland senior Jim Cera ran doggedly at Casillas’ heels until shortly after the two-mile mark (9:41) 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.”

Although Skieresz (17:42) was unable to keep Fallbrook senior Milena Glusac (17:14) from winning her second consecutive girls’ Division I title, she led the Chargers to a runaway win.

Peninsula, which had defeated Agoura twice this season, was expected to be the Chargers’ top challenger, but Alisa Scudamore, the Panthers’ No. 5 runner, collapsed with 660 yards left.

Junior Kay Nekota finished fifth in 18:36 for the Chargers, who had defeated Peninsula last week for the Southern Section title. Nekota was followed by seniors Tiffany Burt (17th in 19:06) and Kristie Camp (23rd in 19:17), and junior Limor Berci (55th in 20:22).

The Agoura boys, led by Wilson (15:13), nearly upset San Diego Mission Bay, in the Division II race before falling, 93-100.

One of the biggest surprises occurred when Bockel won the Division IV race in 18:12. Defending champion Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore faded to third in 18:48 after leading at the two-mile mark (11:42).