Hart boys and Saugus girls reclaimed their league crowns in Thursday’s Foothill League Finals at Central Park, with Saugus’ Olivia Corrigan winning the girls’ individual championship, and Saugus’ Adrian Cantu taking home first in the boys’ race in the final stretch.
Cantu, who arrived second in last year’s finals race, took the individual crown in the Foothill League on Thursday with a total time of 15:36.00.
Although Cantu secured the top step of the podium, winning wasn’t guaranteed in the final stretch of the 3-mile race as West Ranch’s Victor Esquivel held the lead.
But in the meet’s final stretch, Cantu ran ahead and ended the race with a 13-second advantage.
“I came in here thinking of getting to the top three because in the week leading up, I was getting a little ill,” Cantu said afterward. “But I pulled through with strong workouts with my coach, and it got me the strength to finish strong in this race and get on to CIF.”
Hart’s Josiah Himsl and Samuel Aina finished third and fourth in the boys’ race, respectively, with an identical time of 15:45.80 with Valencia’s Cash Klinger rounding out the top five with a total time of 15:47.60.
For Hart, the team saw three runners in the top 10, and the strong results ended up being key for coach Darren James as the Hawks won the team championship by one point over the second-place West Ranch Wildcats.
For James, the final stretch of the race was nerve-wracking, but he put all his trust in Josh Aguirre, an up-and-coming junior varsity runner, to help lead Hart to the Foothill League championship with a 13th place finish and 16:51.10 time.
Aguirre’s time ended up being pivotal for Hart as the league-clinching point.
“He stepped up … and he kept it close enough to win by a point,” James said. “But this was very close to a strong West Ranch team.”
With the Foothill League title, James said that this meet was “business trip” for his team as he eyes a deep run in the California Interscholastic Federation playoffs with the Hawks in line for a Division 3 placement in the Southern Section’s recent rankings.
As for the girls’ 3-mile race, the Foothill League saw a new champion declare herself as Corrigan, a junior, dominated in Thursday’s meet with a total time of 18:06.40
Corrigan finished ahead of Hart’s Kaitlan Cottrill by 46 seconds, who ended the day in second place with a total time of 18:50.40.
After the race, Corrigan said she was glad her training was paying off and is happy to see the results.
“I’m progressing and it means I have consistent mileage and training,” she said. “It’s always about just taking one step at a time and one race at a time.”
As for the team, the Saugus Centurions claimed the Foothill League championship with all five qualifying runners in the top 11 finishers.
Saugus coach Kevin Berns credited this year’s team championship to the resiliency of his girls and Corrigan’s “blue-collar strength” she brought the team throughout practice to push them over the edge.
“This one is really meaningful,” Berns said. “Some of our girls in the top five didn’t have their best race but they picked off girls in the end, and they scored key points for us.”
For the boys, the Hart Hawks, West Ranch Wildcats, Saugus Centurions and Valencia Vikings are set to compete with automatic qualifiers in next week’s CIF Southern Section prelims at Walnut Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
As for the girls, Saugus, Hart and Valencia qualified with automatic berths and will compete in next week’s prelims.
The CIF Southern Section prelims are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13, through Saturday, Nov. 14, at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut with the finals set to be held on the following Saturday, Nov. 21.
