HIGH SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Thousand Oaks Looks Like Thousand Bucks : Southern Section: Del Campo wins individual title as Lancers run away with the team competition.

Individually, members of the Thousand Oaks High boys’ cross-country team regard themselves as just average, ordinary guys.

Collectively, the Lancers accomplished something extraordinary Saturday by winning the Division I title in the Southern Section championships at Mt. San Antonio College with the fastest high school team time ever run on the three-mile course.

Led by individual champion Brandon Del Campo, Thousand Oaks placed three runners among the top six finishers and five among the first 18 to win its second consecutive title.

The Lancers’ 32-point total gave them a 50-point victory over runner-up Santa Ana and was the lowest score in the meet’s major division since Lompoc had 26 in 1972.

But it was their team time--the cumulative time of their top five finishers--of 77 minutes 56 seconds that stamped them as one of the state’s best-ever teams.

The time shaved two seconds off the course record set by Sacramento Jesuit in 1985 and it blew away the section record of 78:27 established by Camarillo in 1989.

“(Breaking the team time record) is what’s most satisfying,” Del Campo said. “It’s still kind of hard to put into words. It’s just that me, Jeff (Fischer), Kevin (Marsden) and the other guys, we don’t think of each other as being anything special. Yet here we are, breaking this incredible record.”

Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell was equally shocked. “I thought that record was untouchable since the day it was set, until today,” he said.

Del Campo, who ran 15:09 and beat his previous personal-best on the Mt. SAC course by 18 seconds, broke open the race shortly after the mile mark, then withstood the closing rush of Hart junior Brett Strahan (15:10).

“Before the race, my goal was to win,” Del Campo said. “It wasn’t like, if I’m not going to win, I’m going to give up. But I definitely thought I had a chance. I felt great warming up before the race and I usually can’t say that.”

Antonio Arce of Palmdale finished third in 15:15 to lead the Falcons to a third-place finish in the team standings and pre-race co-favorite Jaime Martinez of Orange placed fourth in 15:17.

Thousand Oaks juniors Fischer (15:31) and Marsden (15:32) followed in fifth and sixth, with senior Chadd Aldrich (11th in 15:47) and junior Keith O’Doherty (18th in 15:56) rounding out the Lancers’ top five.

Despite Strahan’s effort, Hart placed a disappointing sixth with 142 points and failed to qualify for the state championships in Fresno on Nov. 27. The Indians were three-time defending state champions.

The top four teams in each race and the top five individuals not on a qualifying team advanced to the state meet.

Although the Agoura girls were overshadowed by the Thousand Oaks boys, the Chargers won their fourth consecutive Division I title, and their seventh in a row overall.

Junior Amy Skieresz won her second title in a row to pace Agoura while the Chargers’ John Greene (Division II) and Nordhoff’s Javier Ramirez (Division III) won boys’ titles.

Skieresz trailed Eliaser Estrada of Santa Ana Valley at the mile mark, but surged into the lead ascending the second of three major hills on the course to win in 17:51.

Senior Kay Nekota finished second in 18:10 to help the Chargers to a 78-83 victory over Peninsula. Thousand Oaks finished third with 101 points, paced by the third-place effort of sophomore Kim Mortensen (18:21).

Greene trailed Mike Moreno of Katella by 40 yards midway through the Division II race, but came back to surge into the lead with 350 meters left to win in 15:23. Moreno timed 15:24.

“I didn’t know how much (Moreno) had left,” Greene said of the homestretch duel. “He looked comfortable for most of the race, but I just figured that this is the (Southern Section) championships and you can’t hold anything back. You have to go all-out.”

Ramirez ran 15:36 to win the Division III title after finishing third last year in Division IV.