Williamson and Lewis Win Titles : Thousand Oaks, Burbank Runners Advance to State

Mike Williamson of Thousand Oaks High and Todd Lewis of Burbank won different races at the Southern Section cross-country finals at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday, yet the victories were almost identical.

Sticking to pre-race strategies that required patience and a strong finishing kick, Williamson and Lewis cruised to victories in the 4-A and 3-A divisions, respectively.

Williamson ran 15 minutes, 2 seconds over the 3-mile course, the fastest time of the meet. Lewis won his race in 15:13.

The Agoura girls also captured a title, riding the 2-3 finish of Deena Drossin and Tiffany York to their second consecutive team crown. The Chargers scored 58 points to runner-up Yucaipa’s 115.

In the boys’ 2-A race, Scott Hempel of Walnut, the defending state Division II champion, defeated Bryan Dameworth of Agoura, the defending state Division I champion, 15:06 to 15:09.

Camarillo, the No. 1-ranked team in the state Division I, was edged by defending-champion Dana Hills, 86-90, in the boys’ 4-A race. Corona del Mar placed third with 106 points and Canyon was fourth with 125.

“I can’t complain about the way we ran,” Camarillo Coach Mike Smith said. “Four of our top five kids ran personal bests on this course. . . . Today was just a case of three great teams all running well, but Dana Hills ran better than we did.”

Many of Williamson’s rivals could sympathize with Smith’s comments. Robert Nelson of Muir (15:09), Eddie Lavelle of Corona del Mar (15:11), Jimmy Rodriguez of Santa Ana Valley (15:14) and Dave Hartman of Canyon (15:18) all ran personal bests but wound up behind Williamson, who won his third race of the season on the Mt. SAC course.

“I felt plenty of pressure to win,” said Williamson, winner of the team sweepstakes race at the Mt. SAC Invitational in October and a heat winner in last week’s Southern Section preliminaries.

Williamson led the field through the first mile in 4:46, but trailed Nelson and Rodriguez until just before the 2-mile mark. He then surged to the front on the second of the course’s 3 hills to open a 10-yard lead that grew to 50 by the finish.

“That’s where we wanted him to go,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell said. “That’s the strongest part of Mike’s race.”

Behind Williamson, Hartman was lowering his sophomore course record by 4 seconds and helping Canyon gain a berth in next week’s state Division I championships.

Camarillo, paced by Shawn Goetzinger’s eighth (15:26) and Abe Valdez’s 11th (15:40), qualified for state as the section’s second-fastest Division I team.

The top 5 teams and the top 5 individuals not on a qualifying team advanced to the state meet Saturday in Fresno.

Although there are 4 divisions in the Southern Section, the state meet is divided into 3 classes based on school enrollment.

At the state level, Division I includes schools of 1,600 or more students; Division II is for schools with 700-1,599 students; and Division III schools have 699 students or less.

Lewis’ 16-second victory was doubly impressive because the Bulldog senior had been battling a chest cold since Monday.

In other races, Hart placed third in the boys’ 3-A meet, Agoura placed third in the boys’ 2-A and Chaminade placed second in the girls’ 1-A race.