The Grizzlies cross country season has been full of firsts.

In November, the team won its first Foothill League championship, while Kristian Martinez won his first cross country title.

Two weeks later, they triumphed at the CIF Southern Section Championships, the first of any kind in school history.

Then in the biggest race of their careers, the Golden Valley boys won its first state crown over defending champion Loyola.

Later that night, co-coaches Chris and Rob Evans received a call, asking them to represent California at the eighth-annual Nike Cross Nationals.

Of course they couldn’t turn down such an opportunity.

And so here we are, just six short days later. Saturday morning, Golden Valley will be the first boys team in Santa Clarita Valley history to toe the line at the national event in Portland, Oregon and like all season, they expect big things against the 21 best teams in the United States.

The Saugus boys finished off last season ranked 21st, while Canyon 2001 was ranked second and Hart 1991 were crowned national champions.

Tomorrow, Golden Valley will be lead by a tremendous trio in Kristian Martinez, Juan David Garcia and Nolan Del Valle. Martinez won the school’s first individual Southern Section championship and broke Dave Hartman of Canyon’s 1990 Santa Clarita Valley record of 14:51 at Mt. San Antonio College. Meanwhile, Garcia and Del Valle both earned All-Southern Section and All-State first team honors in a dream season for the Grizzlies.

The teams depth has been the key to its success though. Filling spots four through seven are Carlos Lopez, Brendan Tinoco, Aaron Nguyen and Gabe Levy.

Those four, along with their front trio, have made history over this fall and will likely continue their historical season tomorrow morning.

The boys race at the Nike Cross Nationals will have a live webcast at 10:05 a.m. tomorrow morning.