High School Roundup : Dameworth Grabs Second Win, Second Record

Bryan Dameworth of Agoura High, the two-time defending state Division I champion, stormed to victory in the Woodbridge cross-country invitational at Woodbridge High in Irvine on Saturday, clocking 14 minutes, 21 seconds over the three-mile course to level the year-old course record by 19 seconds.

“It felt like I wasn’t going as fast as I was,” Dameworth said. “I was trying to cruise and not take it out too fast like I did last week.”

The course record was Dameworth’s second in as many races. At the Kiwanis Seaside Invitational last week in Ventura, Dameworth used similar front-running tactics to win in 14:24.

Dameworth took the lead from Glendora’s Bill Branigan at 600 meters and pushed to a 10-meter advantage after one mile (4:38) of the medium-schools senior boys’ race. He passed two miles in 9:27 with a comfortable 100-meter gap between himself and Branigan, who finished second in 15:02.

San Clemente placed four runners in the top 15 to turn back Corona del Mar, 77-119, for the team championship.

In the large-schools senior boys’ race, Hoover’s Eliazar Herrera ran 14:44 to win by 35 seconds over Rene Rigal of Loyola. Herrera and Creighton Harris (10th in 15:54) helped the Tornadoes place sixth in the team standings.

In the girls’ races, Deena Drossin of Agoura, in her first race of the season after recovering from shin splints, ran 17:55 to edge San Clemente’s Terri Smythers by a second for the individual title.

Drossin’s victory, coupled with a third-place effort from junior Tiffany York (18:01), helped pace the Chargers (82 points) to the team title over host Woodbridge (96) and San Clemente (114).

Drossin pushed the pace early and enjoyed a 12-meter lead at one mile (5:43). By the halfway mark, she had steamed to a 40-meter advantage.

Agoura Coach Bill Duley noted that Drossin’s shin splints acted up after the race and attributed her forceful early tactics to prerace nervousness.

“She hadn’t run for two weeks,’ he said. “She’s been doing some trampoline work and some swimming, but not that much.”