With the Foothill League cross-country season is in full swing, a few athletes have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
Saugus boys runner Nick Serrano has pulled away and established himself as one of the Centurions’ strongest runners after winning the first league meet and clocking a time of 15 minutes and 28.62 seconds, a full 14 seconds faster than the runner-up.
The Centurions boys runner began the season setting a new personal record at the 2-mile Palos Verdes Mini-Meet with a time of 10:14.4. In the most recent meet, The Master’s University XC Invitational, Serrano recorded another runner up finish and set another personal record in the 5,000 meter race in 15:33.4, according to athletic.net.
A pair of West Ranch boys runners, senior Hunter Romine and junior Dylan Gatua, who finished in second and third place behind Serrano at the first league meet, finished in the top five at the Fastback Invitational, The Master’s XC INvitational along with the league meet.
Romine finished fourth at Fastback and fifth at The Master’s, while Gatua pulled out two fourth places finishes at Fastback and The Master’s, respectively.
Hart boys runner Joseph Ahart leads a surprising group of Indians to begin the season recording a ninth place finish at the Great Cow Run, fourth at the Asics/Cool Breeze Invite and a sixth place finish at the league meet before setting a personal record at Woodbridge HS Cross Country Classic in 15:08.1.
Ahart’s teammate Jason Lucero finished inside the top-20 in three of the four meets he competed in, while sophomore Jaden Wiley has two top-20 finishes on the year.
Saugus’ girl runners have carved a name for themselves in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 standings, ranking No. 2 on the list.
Hannah Fredericks, who won the first league meet in 18:04.2, also finished in fifth place at the Palos Verde Mini-Meet with a two-mile personal record of 12:35.1. She also set a personal record at the 5,000-meter The Master’s University Invitational finishing in second place.
Cents Hailey Rutter finished as the runner-up in Foothill League meet No. 1 in 18:25.1 and Danielle Salcedo finished fourth place and set a personal record in 18:42.5.
Abigail Welch and Hayden Washington paced the West Ranch girls team with third and fifth place finishes at the league meet as both set season records in the three-mile race in 18:40.0 and 19:08.9, respectively.
The West Ranch girls team currently ranks eight in the CIF-SS Division 1 standings.
Canyon’s Angelee Berganio is a top runner for the girls team coming in the top seven in all, but one meet this season.
Berganio has three sixth-place finishes at the Fastback Invitational (12:02.7) and Asics/Cool Breeze Invite (18:09.3) setting personal records in both meets, and at Foothill League Meet No. 1.
Foothill League finals are on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7 a.m. at Central Park.
