Drossin Runs Down Another Record to Lead Agoura to Title : Cross-country: Chargers edge Palos Verdes in Woodbridge Invitational girls’ race.

Agoura High’s Deena Drossin set a course record at the Woodbridge Invitational on Saturday in Irvine, her second record in two weeks, and the Charger girls’ cross-country team ended a three-year drought against three-time defending state Division I champion Palos Verdes.

Drossin, a senior, timed 17 minutes 4 seconds on the three-mile course at Woodbridge High, eclipsing the old mark of 17:05 set in 1987 by Melissa Sutton of Newbury Park. One week earlier, Drossin shattered Fillmore standout Nikki Shaw’s record in the Seaside Invitational in Ventura.

“The last half-mile I was relaxing until my coach told me I could get the record,” said Drossin, who was named girls’ athlete of the meet. “I was really pushing it the last 250 yards.”

Agoura Coach Bill Duley prefers Drossin avoid aiming for records.

“We’re not trying to go after the records,” Duley said. “If they fall, they fall. This is not something we want to get caught up in from week to week.”

Behind Drossin’s win and a sixth-place finish by Tiffany York (17:51), Agoura edged Palos Verdes, 61-62. Tustin (147) and Corona del Mar (162) placed third and fourth.

“I know it counts more at the end of the season,” Duley said. “But this is something we’ve been trying to do for three years.”

In 1987, ’88 and ‘89, the Chargers finished second to Palos Verdes in the state Division I meet. Duley and Palos Verdes Coach Joe Kelly hope to continue their rivalry at the state level.

Under the new alignment for the Southern Section and state championships, Agoura and Palos Verdes have been placed in Divisions II and III, respectively, based on smaller enrollment. But both schools petitioned the California Interscholastic Federation state office before Friday’s deadline for placement in Division I, for schools with more than 2,021 students.

The Agoura girls’ team currently is ranked second in the nation and Palos Verdes is sixth, according to The Harrier magazine, a cross-country publication. “The good teams should compete with the big schools,” Duley said. Agoura currently has 1,900 students and Palos Verdes 1,333.

Westlake senior Jeannie Rothman timed 17:23 to finish second in the medium-schools race.

Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park clocked 15:28 in winning the small-schools junior race and Agoura’s Ryan Wilson won the medium-schools sophomore race in 15:36.