The back of Oak Park High's team T-shirt reads, "You are what you are willing to accept."

Friday at the Ventura County Cross Country Championships at Lake Casitas, Oak Park's James Goldstein was "willing to accept" nothing less than a win.

"My goal was first place," said the sophomore, who won the boys' varsity race by 13 seconds, covering the hilly three-mile course in 15 minutes, 33 seconds. "I didn't know the field and didn't really care how the race developed because I came here to win."

Goldstein essentially wired the field, sharing the lead with a teammate the first 800 meters and then running with Ventura's Michael Barnes, who finished second, through the mile, which the pair reached in a quick 4:48.

"Coach wants us to get out fast," explained Golstein, "but after that, I relaxed because I'm very confident in my kick."

Buena's Isidore Herrera (15:52) and Chris Frias (16:04) — who took third and fourth — took up the chase and shadowed Goldstein and Barnes through a slower (5:24) second mile, but the Oak Park youngster shot up the biggest hill on the course 300 yards later and turned a two-second lead into a 12-second cushion, allowing him to run the final kilometer alone.

Another sophomore, Simi Valley's Liberty Miller, earned the 2007 girls' varsity title, running 18:02, the seventh fastest time recorded on the storied Bill Wadlington course.

Oak Park senior Courtney Lightfoot (18:18) paced Miller through a fast (5:33) opening mile and still led at the base of the hill near the two-mile mark but was denied again — settling for second place, just as she had here her sophomore year.

"I go out fast because it helps me get into the race, and then I just see how things play out," said Lightfoot. "Today, it didn't (work out), but (Liberty) is definitely a very talented runner."

"She was fortunate enough to have a year to run with (Simi Valley 2007 graduate) Anna Sperry and saw what it takes not only to train at a championship level, but to elevate yourself into that championship mentality," Simi Valley coach Roger Evans said of Miller.

Once Miller decided to pass Lightfoot on the largest and last hill, she never looked back, steadily putting distance between herself and the top Eagle over the next 800 meters before striding comfortably to the line.

Asked if she was worried about the fast pace that Lightfoot was setting, Miller said, "Our team does this workout where we do eight hill repeats between sets of 400s on the track, so I knew I'd have something left for the hills."

Led by Lightfoot and Goldstein, Oak Park easily claimed both team titles.

The Oak Park boys, who led by just 10 points at the mile, ran a strong second half to upend the county's bigger schools, recording a team time of 80 minutes, 50 seconds and placing five runners in the top 21 to finish with 47 points. Ventura, who was in a dead heat with Buena at the mile, edged the Bulldogs for second, 98-101, followed by Camarillo (140) and Westlake (149). Oak Park's other scorers included Cooper Claus (5th in 16:06), Evan Hennessey (7th in 16:13), Aaron Kurland (13th in 16:25) and Jake Miller (21st in 16:35).

The Oak Park girls, whose scoring five was rounded out by Melissa Skiba (4th in 18:26), Marissa Diehl (5th in 18:40), Riley McCullough (13th in 19:33) and Meria Prescher (15th in 19:34), ran away from the rest of the county's teams, outdistancing second-place Agoura — who was led by sixth-place finisher Erin Baird (18:48) — by 69 points, third-place Westlake by 71 and fourth-place Simi Valley by 73.

Oak Park's team time of 94:33 approached the all-time course best mark of 93:41 set by Ventura in 2004.

"I couldn't be more pleased with the way we ran today," said Oak Park coach Kevin Smith. "I wanted us to go out and race, so we put some challenges out there for us as a team today, and the kids responded."