Recently in Cross Country Category

It was a great scene Wednesday in the Saugus High gymnasium as cross country standouts Brandon Jauregui, Anne Randall and Courtney Wilson signed their national letters of intent to run in college.

Jauregui, the Foothill League boys' champion, is headed to San Francisco State. Jauregui helped the Centurions win their third consecutive league title and take eighth at the Southern Section Div. II final.

Randall, who took third at the Foothill League final and seventh at the Southern Section Div. II final, is taking her middle distance and cross country talents to Long Beach State. Randall also contributed to Saugus' third consecutive state title and a runner-up finish at Nike Cross Nationals.

Wilson, who completed a Saugus sweep of the top seven spots at the league final and took 22nd at the section championship meet, signed with UC Irvine. Wilson competed in the girls' open race at Nike Cross Nationals.

Senior captain Keri Molt is nearing a decision on where she'll run in college. Brianna Jauregui will join former Saugus standout Katie Dunn at Glendale Community College, with the intent to transfer to a four-year college.

In other Saugus running news, junior Amber Murakami recently visited Stanford. Murakami's older sister, Shannon, currently runs for UCLA.

Sophomore talent Kaylin Mahoney is continuing rehabilitation in the pool, on the bike and using the elliptical machine after a stress reaction kept her sidelined for several months. According to coach Rene Paragas, Mahoney is tentatively scheduled to make her track debut March 20 at the Camarillo Relays.

Before the Loyola and Thousand Oaks boys' cross country teams competed in the championship race Saturday at the fifth annual Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon, their eighth runners took to the 5-kilometer course at Portland Meadows for the open race.

Loyola senior Jeff Lords, competing for Los Angeles Cross Country Club, finished 54th in 17 minutes 38.4 seconds.

Thousand Oaks senior Kevin Sciarillo took 65th in 18:06.1.

For the second year in a row, the Kenyan contingent controlled the race, with Nickson Chepseba and Eric Kiprono both crossing the finish line in 15:50.9 en route to the team scoring a perfect 15.

Arcadia's Ammar Moussa was the top finisher from Southern California, taking ninth in 16:33.6.

The Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta girls' cross country team made another trip to Oregon to compete in the open race Saturday at the fifth annual Nike Cross Nationals and enjoyed another successful showing at Portland Meadows, competing as the Flying Chinchillas Cross Country Club and finishing fourth.

Michelle Callister capped an impressive career with a 10th-place finish, covering the 5-kilometer layout in 19 minutes, 27.5 seconds.

Carlotta Pham (19:45.8) was 20th for the Flying Chinchillas, who finished with 97 points. For the second year in a row, a Kenyan contingent came to the Pacific Northwest and dominated, taking the top five spots -- with Elizabeth Mueni (18:27.3) and Nelly Chebet (18:27.3) crossing the finish line simultaneously -- to finish with a perfect score of 15.

Little Branch Cross Country Club, representing Temecula, tied Beach Cities -- Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach -- for second with 82 points, with Little Branch prevailing on the faster sixth runner.

Claudia Pham (20:03.2) finished 25th and Megan Doeding (20:13.4) was 28th for the Flying Chinchillas, who were adorned in black singlets and leopard print running shorts.

Anneke Kakebeen (21:04.1) rounded out the scoring quintet by taking 51st for Crescenta Valley, which also had Eliza Collison (61st, 21:31.7) and Kaitlan Reininger (65th, 21:38.3) compete.

Saugus senior Courtney Wilson, competing in her final high school race representing Santa Clarita Cross Country Club, finished 54th (21:14.7).

Headlined by the Saugus girls' cross country team, ranked No. 1 nationally by Mile Split Network and No. 2 by Harrier Magazine, three local programs and Oak Park junior standout Melissa Skiba will compete Saturday in the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore.

Saugus is the only area girls' program competing in the 22-team championship race at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, when the Centurions will battle two-time national champion Fayetteville-Manlius of New York.

Skiba, the Southern Section Div. III champion and state runner-up, was also invited to attend, as 90 individuals -- boys and girls -- from non-qualifying teams will run for the first time in the meet's five-year history.

In the boys' competition, Loyola of Los Angeles -- the Div. II state champion -- and Southern Section Div. II winner and state runner-up Thousand Oaks will battle again as part of the 22-team field, headlined by national No. 1 North Central High of Washington. The race is scheduled for noon.

At the Foot Locker West Regionals at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, a trio of local standouts will attempt to qualify for the Foot Locker National Championships, scheduled for Dec. 13 in San Diego.

Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta senior Zack Torres, Southern Section and state runner-up in Div. I, joins Golden Valley junior Seth Totten -- fifth in the state in Div. III -- and Camarillo sophomore Heyden Wooff, ninth in the state in Div. II, in the seeded boys' race at 10:50 a.m.

With Saugus and Skiba running in the championship race in Portland, Crescenta Valley competing in the girls' open race and Simi Valley junior Liberty Miller deciding not to run this weekend, none of the area's top nine female finishers from the state meet are competing at the West Regional event.

SOUTHERN SECTION
Div. I
Teams
Crescenta Valley (Michelle Callister, Carlotta Pham, Claudia Pham, Anneke Kakebeen, Megan Doeding, Eliza Collison, Yumeng Wei)

Div. II
Teams
Saugus (Kaylin Mahoney, Amber Murakami, Anne Randall, Stephanie Bulder, Brianna Jauregui, Keri Molt, Courtney Wilson, Karis Frankian)
Individuals
Liberty Miller, Simi Valley
Jenny Mallen, Newbury Park

Div. III
Teams
Oak Park (Melissa Skiba, Kaycee Holcomb, Jessica Reints, Brittany Stalzer, Candace Matsunaga, Sarah Kiner, Lindsay Courtney)
Agoura (Katie Klezek, Sara De Luca, Shelby Soledar, Kelley Klezek, Alexandra Smith, Natasha Blonsky, Logan Bedell)

Div. IV
Teams
La Reina (Sarah Pearson, Rachel Brajkovich, Mary Thompson, Tara Blanchard, Meghan Murphy, Katie Kavetsky, McKenzie O'Malley)
Oaks Christian(Emily Flud, Fallon Cislo, Tina Boskovich, Catherine Price, Brittani Gardella)
Flintridge Sacred Heart (Andrea Kropp, Erin Hartwig, Emily Brown, Stephanie Vargas, Katy Tyler, Paige Conti, Alissa Chan)
Individuals
Melissa Bauer, Paraclete
Camille Chapus, Harvard-Westlake

Div. V
Teams
Flintridge Prep (Elise Partos, Dot Silverman, Crystal Bong, Maya Castellanos, Ellen Kim, Alex Hubert, )
Individuals
Nicki Maslan, Viewpoint

CITY SECTION
Teams
Reseda (Araceli Zainos, Jetzabel Velazquez, Yanet Urciaga, Michelle Vasquez, Natalie Wollaston, Janelly De La Puente, Andrea Monzon)
Northridge Academy (Laura Arguello, Yuliana Miranda, Karly Haley, Denea Bartley, Karen Turcios, Samantha Pena, Fatima Cotto)
Individuals
Alexandria Fortuna, Monroe
Vainayaki Sivaji, North Hollywood

SOUTHERN SECTION
Div. I
Teams
Royal (Travis Edwards, Sean Davidson, Paul Jesson, Korey Yoakum, Robert Davis, Sean Upson, Scott Weir)
Individuals
Zack Torres, Crescenta Valley
Pedro Zaragoza, Lancaster
Western Nelson, Burroughs

Div. II
Teams
Thousand Oaks (Asher Lober, Sean Gildea, Kevin Joerger, Andrew Snyder, Donald Morrow, Hans Weidman, Spencer Woodworth)
Loyola (Elias Gedyon, J.P. Slater, Andres Diaz, Pablo Ruiz, Noel Mollinedo, Philip Kostelnik, John Eggers)
Westlake (Garret Drogosch, Sam DeMello, Scott McAfee, Jonathan Miller, Marcus Lam, Tim Witwer, Tim Snyder)
Individuals
Heyden Wooff, Camarillo

Div. III
Teams
Oak Park (James Goldstein, Gareth Morl, Omar Levy, Blake Minasian, Matt Shiney, Aaron Kurland, Adam Kinberg)
Golden Valley (Seth Totten, Jonny Tapia, Danny Carrillo, Luc Schutz, Gabe Vasquez, Elie Boutros, Andrew Valenzuela)

Div. IV
Teams
L.A. Baptist (John Gilbertson, John Hudson, Joey Burke, John Herr, Matt Redondo, Christian Holmes, Cody Phillips)
Harvard-Westlake (David Abergel, Kevin On, Michael Richardson, Chris Cheng, Elijah Lowenstein, Hank Adelmann, Charles Stigler)
Individuals
Charlie Petrie, Oaks Christian
Hunter Hays, Oaks Christian

Div. V
Teams
Flintridge Prep (Conner Verreaux, Jason Bunn, Kevin Heintz, Paul Weitekamp, Jesse Redding, Taylor Beith, James Lyon)
Individuals
Eddie Mezian, Holy Martyrs

CITY SECTION
Teams
Monroe (Jorge Mendez, Esteban Olmos, Edgar Garcia, Jesus Garzon, Jesus Reyes, Jordon Cordon, Eduardo Gonzalez)
Granada Hills (Javert Solorzano, Joshua Solorzano, Derrick Isomake, Sumit Misra, Kevin Joyce, Chris Umoye, Nicholas Havai)
Northridge Academy (Angel Pena, Alan Castro, Mark Hernandez, Roman Gonzalez, Eduardo Molina, Angel Garcia, David Rodriquez)
Individuals
Brett Schmitt, El Camino Real
Rico Gutierrez, Birmingham

Former Saugus cross country standout Katie Dunn helped Glendale Community College move another step closer to defending its state title Friday, finishing fourth in 18 minutes, 3.99 seconds to lead the Vaqueros to a victory with 68 points at the Southern California regional final at Kern County Soccer Park in Bakersfield.

Thanks to information obtained from Saugus assistant Kathryn Nelson -- who was in attendance supporting Dunn -- it was learned that a wrong turn from defending state champion Crystal Reed of Orange Coast in the first mile led to a 27th-place finish on the 5-kilometer course in 19:01.32, resulting in a third-place finish for Orange Coast (79) behind Southwestern (77).

It appears the three teams will battle it out for state supremacy Nov. 22 at Woodward Park in Fresno, as Glendale ran three seconds faster as a team than Orange Coast and eight seconds ahead of Southwestern.

Orange Coast's Cassie Mitchell won the race in 17:48.99 and Andrea Guerra took eighth in 18:26.34. But Glendale placed three runners in front of Orange Coast's third and all five scoring runners in front of Orange Coast's fourth and Southwestern's fifth to repeat as Southern California champion.

Justina Sadauskaite took sixth (18:21.06), Brigette Fernandez was 15th (18:47.02), Rosa Del Toro placed 20th (18:51.87) and Angie Gonzalez finished 26th (19:00.76) for the Vaqueros, who had a 56-second margin between their Nos. 1 and 5 runners, compared to 1:15 for Orange Coast and 1:23 for Southwestern.

Moorpark's Madelyn Stoltz (18:48) placed 18th, helping the Raiders finish 12th. COC took 16th.

In the men's race, Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta graduate Nathan Sellers took second in the 4-mile competition in 20:06.43, trailing El Camino's Steven Calise (20:04.47).

College of the Canyons' Stephen Kent was 14th (20:31.13) and Valley College's Andrew Salg (20:39.95), who won the Southern California preview meet Oct. 3 in 20:21.80, finished 19th.

Glendale finished 10th in the team competition, enough to advance to the state meet. COC took 15th, Valley was 18th and Antelope Valley finished 28th.

Before the Saugus High football team defeated Valencia 31-24 Friday night to secure at least a share of the Foothill League title, the Centurions girls' cross country team achieved another impressive feat by ascending to the No. 1 ranking according to Harrier Magazine, marking the first time in program history Saugus has occupied the top spot in Marc Bloom's Super 25 national poll.

Saugus was enjoying its fourth week -- second in its current stint -- as the nation's top-ranked team according to Mile Split Network, but Harrier Magazine is considered the primary source when it comes to recognizing the top runners and programs throughout the country.

Saugus and Fayetteville-Manlius of New York had traded off occupying the top spot in the Mile Split Network top 15, but two-time Nike national champion had been ahead of the Centurions since season's outset in the Harrier poll.

Saugus actually started at No. 3 in the Harrier Magazine rankings, also trailing New York's Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, which is now ranked No. 11.

But in Bloom's fourth installment of the Harrier poll, he couldn't ignore Saugus' record-setting performance Oct. 25 at the Mt. SAC Invitational, where the Centurions lowered their course record to 88 minutes, 18 seconds on the 2.95-mile layout.

The last area girls' cross country team to finish the season ranked No. 1 nationally by Harrier Magazine was Agoura in 1991. The same year, the Hart of Newhall boys' cross country team also finished as the top-ranked team in the nation.

Both Saugus cross country teams won varsity titles at Thursday's Foothill championship meet. A victory Nov. 14 by the Centurions football team over Canyon would secure the league title outright.

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."

Aside from intense training, good coaching and effective recovery methods, another main reason for Saugus' success is the Centurions' ability to derive motivation from any situation.

That drive was on display again Thursday at the Foothill League championship meet on the 3-mile course at Castaic Lake when the Centurions accomplished something they had never before achieved in program history by sweeping the top seven spots -- hence, the entire all-league roster -- in the girls' varsity race, led by Kaylin Mahoney's victory in 17 minutes, 36 seconds.

"That was our goal coming in. We had to prove to everyone that we have improved," Mahoney said. "With the postseason and nationals coming up, we had to let everybody around the nation know that we've stepped up and we're ready to run against the best teams in the country. The coaches and us had a long pep talk (Wednesday) to get us pumped up about (the postseason), so finishing 1 through 7 was something we had to do (Thursday)."

In doing so, they lowered an already impressive mark of 92:36 from the first league meet Sept. 25 to an incredible 89:01, setting the stage for a memorable next month at Mt. SAC, Woodward Park and the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon.

"It was a good day," said a modest Saugus coach Rene Paragas. "The thing is we ran hard at the first league meet, so to drop that much time is very encouraging."

Words like "amazing", "incredible" and "scary" were the ones being used by the Saugus runners to describe their performance, which featured Anne Randall dropping 1:27 from the first league meet, Stephanie Bulder 1:16, Keri Molt 53 seconds, Brianna Jauregui 40 seconds, Courtney Wilson 25 seconds, Amber Murakami 23 seconds and Mahoney 30.

After no Saugus runners broke 18 minutes Sept. 25, Jauregui (17:39) and Randall (17:42) both joined Mahoney in eclipsing the barrier Thursday, with Bulder (18:01) and Molt (18:03) right on the cusp, giving Saugus an astounding 27-second gap between its scoring runners. And Murakami's sixth-place effort of 18:05 might have been the most impressive of them all, considering she lost her footing in the first mile and was tripped up by another runner, causing her to be knocked down for the second time in a race this season.

Murakami completed the run with bruised and bloody knees, which were attended to by her father Stan following the race.

"I'll probably be hobbling around for a couple of days, but I'll be OK," Murakami said. "I guess I'm getting pretty good at how fast I get up after being knocked down."

Courtney Wilson (18:22), who surged to a fourth-place effort at the second league meet Oct. 6 at Central Park, gradually pulled away from West Ranch's Bailey Miller to create an 18-second gap over the talented junior by the time she crossed the finish line, securing Saugus' sweep of the top seven spots.