The Golden Valley boys and Saugus girls continue to pull farther away from all Foothill League challengers. On the boys side, Golden Valley had a stellar run at a quad meet at Central Park on Thursday. Three made it under the 15:40 barrier, while all seven varsity members finished faster than 16:08.

At the Seaside Invitational, it was Hart prevailing over five-time defending league champions Saugus. The Indians looked incredible through all five scorers; however, Saugus didn’t field their full squad so it has yet to be seen who is the better team this year. Not surprisingly, Canyon reloaded and could be in the mix by seasons end as they were the third fastest time at Seaside, well ahead of young teams Valencia and West Ranch.

On the girls side, Saugus completely dominated the Seaside Invite. If the four races were combined and scored as an invitational, Saugus would of beat Trabuco Hills, ranked No. 9 in California Division 1, 29-112. In Foothill League competion only, Saugus wins 19-51, a near-perfect score. The Lady Cents No. 15 runner could of been Valencia’s seventh varsity runner and if you took out all seniors and only scored the underclassman, Saugus would of still won by nearly a minute.

As for Valencia, they remain at the No. 2 spot, having finished fourth at Seaside, less than 10 seconds off of second place finishers Trabuco Hills. Golden Valley ran solid at their quad meet, but it’s difficult to tell how they performed on a 2.3-mile course due to the heat. West Ranch had a strong duo up front, but it wasn’t both Welker sisters, instead the older sister, Ashley, and veteran Samantha Phillips. After that, though, they have some work to do. Canyon and Hart are pretty evenly matched, with the Cowboys with the edge.

In the individual rankings, Golden Valley had three under 15:40, Kristian Martinez leading the way in 15:26, No. 5 in course history. After him, GV put their six other varsity members in the top 10, three of those staying in the rankings, while one other joining. Sam Peckham of Hart and AJ Yarnell were strong at the Seaside Invite, Peckham winning the first cross-town battle 15:10 to Yarnell’s 15:18. Three others’ performances at Seaside were worth a top 10 ranking. Austin O’Neil of Hart stayed at the sixth spot, while teammate Gerardo Granados finished just a few ticks back in the senior race.

Canyon’s Zach Wims knocked Hart’s Josh Sherfey out of the rankings, while Saugus’ Daniel Tuit didn’t compete this week. On the girls individual competion, the Saugus duo of Frankian and Jauregui remained the one’s to beat, although one other turned some heads. Totten won the quad meet at Central Park on Thursday by a landslide and is still the fastest returner from last year’s finals so she moves up to No. 3. But Valencia’s Maddie Dignadice had a stunning performance at Seaside yesterday, actually running two seconds faster than Jauregui did in the senior race on her way to a huge victory in the junior race. However, Jauregui, Totten and Dignadice all ran in different races, plus Jauregui was an all-state runner last cross country season, so until Dignadice beats Jauregui and Totten head-to-head, she can’t move up farther than fourth in these rankings that have Frankian the queen of the Foothill League this fall after her legendary run yesterday.

After those four standouts, the Saugus train begins. Five Lady Cents ran between 18:11 and 18:28. McCarty has been off a little, although she continues to improve as each week passes so she moves back to No. 6 for now, just behind teammate Katie Huntington, who led the junior slaughter. Heidi Hoslet, last year’s frosh/soph league runner-up, had a brilliant run that puts her seventh among Foothill League competion, while another Frankian in Abigail gets spot eight, although she may be better, for shear guts and determination. The sophomore took a horrifying fall that left her with deep bruises, blood and tired legs, but still won her race in 18:28. Last week, Abigail won her race with a time that would of slotted her No. 4 on the team, behind teammate Tiffany West, who doesn’t even appear on this week’s rankings due to a somewhat off day at Seaside Friday.

A McCall is the seventh Saugus lady in the top 10 rankings, although it isn’t 5:07/10:56 Jessica, who sat out of the meet this week. It’s twin sister Jordan. The senior showed yesterday distance running indeed runs in the family with a blistering 18:18 clocking to completely shatter her former 3-mile best of 19:00, set earlier this summer at COC. Rounding out the rankings is junior Abby Buckoff, who took second behind teammate Totten at their quad meet, in a solid 10th position.

1. Golden Valley

2. Hart

3. Saugus

4. Valencia

5. Canyon

6. West Ranch

1. Kristian Martinez – Golden Valley – Senior

2. Sam Peckham – Hart – Senior

3. Juan David Garcia – Golden Valley – Senior

4. AJ Yarnell – Saugus – Junior

5. Nolan Del Valle – Golden Valley – Junior

6. Austin O’Neil – Hart – Senior

7. Brendan Tinoco – Golden Valley – Junior

8. Carlos Lopez – Golden Valley – Senior

9. Gerardo Granados – Hart – Senior

10. Zach Wims – Canyon – Junior

1. Saugus

2. Valencia

3. Golden Valley

4. West Ranch

5. Canyon

6. Hart

1. Karis Frankian – Saugus – Senior

2. Jenay Jauregui – Saugus – Senior

3. Chelsey Totten – Golden Valley – Junior

4. Maddie Dignadice – Valencia – Junior

5. Katie Huntington – Saugus – Junior

6. Emily McCarty – Saugus – Senior

7. Heidi Hoslet – Saugus – Junior

8. Abigail Frankian – Saugus – Sophomore

9. Jordan McCall – Saugus – Senior

10. Abby Buckoff – Golden Valley  Junior