Saugus hasn’t lost its cross-country swagger

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Well, based on its performance at Saturday night’s Woodbridge Cross-Country Invitational, it looks as though the 2007 season will hold few surprises for the defending Division I state champion Saugus girls’ cross-country team.

Behind a third-place finish by senior Katie Dunn (16 minutes, 48 seconds), the Centurions posted a combined time of 1:26:21 to win the Invitational race. But Dunn wasn’t the only Saugus standout as junior Brianna Jauregui (17:11) finished seventh and freshman – yes freshman – Kaylin Mahoney (17:11) was eighth. Teammate Nina Moore finished 23rd.

With results like these, Saugus doesn’t seem to be reeling from the loss of standout Shannon Murakami to graduation and has to once again be considered a favorite for a third consecutive Southern Section Division I title.

Liberty Miller of Simi Valley finished 18th (17:30), and Oaks Christian’s Roseanne Fleming posted a 17:32 on the ol’ stopwatch – good enough for 21st overall. Simi Valley was the only regional squad to crack the top 30 besides Saugus.

On the boys’ side, Royal finished 12th overall (1:16:44) thanks, in part, to Alex Routh’s 19th-place time of 14:47. Thousand Oaks standout Sean Gildea finished in 22nd place (14:49) and Travis Edwards of Royal tied for 30th (14:56).

For complete invitational results, go here.

- Austin Knoblauch