Four teams of boys and three teams of girls from the Foothill League qualified for the CIF Southern Section cross country finals.
On the boys’ side, Saugus made it in Division 2, followed by Hart, Canyon and West Ranch in Division 3. For the girls, Saugus is competing in Division 2, and Hart and Canyon in Division 3.
It’s the second year in a row that the Hart boys are competing in the section finals. Head coach Darren James said his Hawks are healthy and flying at the right time of the year as they look to accomplish their goal of qualifying for the state meet.
“Knock on wood, we’re healthy, and we expect to do well,” James said of his boys in a phone interview. “We really should be able to podium, and we’re hoping that we can win … On the girls’ side, their goal, they kind of had a stretch goal all season to make to finals, and they’ve come on really strong in the past like five or six weeks, some new girls gained experience. They’ve just gotten better and better and better.”
The Hawks boys finished first in the first heat at the preliminaries held at Mt. San Antonio College, while Canyon finished fourth in that heat and West Ranch was fourth in the second heat. Saugus was third in the third heat in Division 2.
Hart saw senior Eli Ahten, sophomore Josiah Himsl, senior Josue Lopez and sophomore Samuel Aina finish from fifth to eighth, respectively.
Canyon’s girls took third in the third heat in Division 3 and Hart was second in the first heat. Saugus was third in the second heat in Division 2.
The top four teams in each heat qualified for the finals in Division 3, while the top five teams qualified from each heat in Division 2.
Saugus coach Kevin Berns said it’s been a couple of years since his boys made it to the state meet and that’s something they are all looking forward to getting back to.
The Centurions were led by senior Sebastian Peraza finishing third, followed by sophomore Adrian Cantu placing fifth and junior Caleb Fredericks in 20th.
“Being a highly ranked team as they are, you know, you can’t run next week, if you don’t run well this week,” Berns said in a phone interview. “And so that’s the mantra: You got to be able to move on.”
The Saugus girls were led by junior Lucia Pearson, who placed second individually with a time of 18:35, eight seconds off of first place. Junior Annika Mark came in ninth and junior Syndey Kasahara was 18th.
“Every week we seem to get stronger and stronger,” Berns said. “We’re in a really tough division, and so it’s going to be quite a challenge for us to make it to the state meet. But we’re definitely up for that challenge.”
Canyon saw a first-year runner in junior Owen Souther place third in the boys’ race. Coach George Velarde said Souther surprised the other Foothill League coaches at the first league meet of the season and has only gotten better since. He was joined in the top 10 by sophomore Robert Osorio.
“He’s very talented, but he’s a hard worker, has a great work ethic,” Velarde said of Souther in a phone interview.
The Canyon girls didn’t have anyone make the top 10, instead working together as a group to qualify. Four girls made the top 25 and three others were in the top 50.
“One of the things that I explained to the girls back in early June is that there’s more than one way to win,” Velarde said. “You know, of course, every coach would love to have that frontrunner … but there’s other ways to do this.”
The section finals are set to be held on Saturday at Mt. SAC. The girls’ Division 2 race is set for 8:05 a.m. followed by the boys’ race at 8:45 a.m. The girls’ Division 3 race is slated for 9:05 a.m. and the boys’ race at 10:10 a.m.
The top seven teams in each division will qualify for the state meet, scheduled to be held Saturday, Nov. 30, in Fresno.
