Copyright Santa Clarita Valley Signal
Hart boys and Saugus girls reclaimed their league crowns, Valencia runner Reese Ray dominated, and it was West Ranch’s Braulio Castillo who took home first in the boys’ race in the final stretch in the Foothill League Finals on Thursday at Central Park. Castillo, who placed first in the boys’ 3-mile race at 15:20.90, during the final stretch was tied neck and neck with Canyon’s Owen Souther, Hart’s Josiah Himsl, and previous race winner, Saugus’ Adrian Cantu. “I’m a very distance-oriented runner, so when it comes down to speed, I would think that those guys would really take it from me,” Castillo said. “But I just knew that I wanted it more and when it comes down to it, it’s all heart on that last 400. And I think that I was able to have a little more heart than they did.” Souther, Himsl and Cantu finished second, third and fourth, respectively. And although West Ranch had its lead runner in first, the result was not enough for the team’s win as Hart took home the honors with three runners in the top eight. “This was kind of a business trip,” Hart coach Darren James said. “Our goal is really state, but you know once we get a streak going it’s important to come back and defend that streak.” The Hawks secured their third straight Foothill League title and did so in what they were great at all season: running in a pack. “We haven’t really had a strong front runner all season long,” James said. “But we’ve got six strong guys who run very, very tight. So, that’s going to serve us well as we get into the big invitational-style postseason meets.” Himsl led all Hart runners with a 15:24.20 time, while Samuel Aina placed fifth and Miles Prante sixth. Nicolas Zamora and Jordan Ibarra rounded out the team as they finished 12th and 18th in the standings. As for the girls’ 3-mile race, Reese Ray led all runners again and completed back-to-back race wins at Central Park as she claimed first back in September. “It feels amazing, very tiring but it feels good to win,” she said. “I was able to improve on my form and my strength on the hills.” Ray crossed the finish line at 19:04.50, just two seconds slower than her original time in the first Foothill League meet. In the girls’ team total results, Saugus won its fourth straight Foothill League title, but the celebrations were tempered this time around as Annika Mark was unable to complete the race. “This one is bittersweet because we have an athlete that’s down, and her health and safety is more important than anything else,” Saugus coach Kevin Berns said. “That is the No. 1 priority. Winning league is secondary, quite frankly, I don’t care. I care about making sure that she is healthy.” Following the race, Berns couldn’t confirm the extent of Mark’s injury, and there was no additional information available at the time of this publication. Jersey Baker led all Centurions runners with a 19:24.80 in second place, and Amana Yanez placed fourth. Kai Ramsbottom, Sydney Kasahara, Alexandra Acevedo, and Madison Kasahara finished ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively. With the regular season coming to an end, Hart, West Ranch, Valencia and Saugus boys’ and girls’ teams will advance to the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section prelims as automatic qualifiers at Mt. San Antonio College, set to be held next weekend, Nov. 14-15. On Saturday, prelim heat sheet information for all divisions are to be released on the CIF-SS boys’ and cross-country website.
