Mahoney gets by with a little help from her friends

Kaylin Mahoney continued to find comfort Thursday in knowing her teammates were right on her heels.

It didn't sound like the ideal approach to winning a Foothill League title, but the Saugus sophomore enjoyed the challenge presented by teammates Brianna Jauregui and Anne Randall, who both finished within six seconds of the top-ranked runner in the state in Div. II, but couldn't prevent Mahoney from capturing the league title in 17 minutes, 36 seconds.

"I tried. I really tried my best. I was right there, but I just couldn't catch her," said Jauregui, who covered the 3-mile layout in 17:39, a 40-second improvement from her last race Sept. 25 at Castaic Lake. "I got it in my head when my brother (Brandon) won (the boys' varsity race) that I could do it. But I'll have to try again next time."

Mahoney, Jauregui and Randall ran together in the lead pack for most of the race, before Mahoney created the necessary separation in the final half-mile.

"I was running right with her, but she just pulled away on that final hill," said Randall, who clocked 17:42. "But I just have to remind myself that didn't even break 19 minutes last time I raced here, so I can't be too unhappy."

Mahoney, who dropped 30 seconds from her mark at the first league meet, won her seventh race this year, despite another strong challenge from her teammates.

"We train like that together all the time, so I feel like I'm in a good place when I'm running with them," Mahoney said. "It's important that I defend my spot as No. 1 runner on the team, but I like it better when I'm running with them because it's really all about the team and what we want to accomplish as a group."