Canyon Girls Pull Rank on Way to Foothill Title

The Canyon High girls’ cross-country team gave credence to its No. 1 ranking in the state Division I poll with a runaway victory Thursday in the Foothill League finals at Griffith Park.

The Cowboys supplanted Thousand Oaks in the rankings after finishing ahead of the Lancers on Oct. 21. in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational. On Thursday, Canyon took five of the top six places to total 20 points and claim its third league title in four years.

Saugus, led by individual winner Breanne Schweitzer, was second with 55 points, followed by Hart (67), Burbank (107) and Burroughs (141).

“I feel like we ran well,” Canyon Coach Dave DeLong said. “We came into the season in such good shape that you worry about whether you’ll be able to continue improving, but we seem to be. . . .

“I thought we ran better today than we did at Mt. SAC.”

The Cowboys turned in typical performances, running relaxed for the first half of the race then finishing strong.

Schweitzer, the daughter of former Burbank High standout Scott Schweitzer, pulled away from Canyon freshman Lauren Fleshman in the final quarter-mile to time 17 minutes 8 seconds over the 2.8-mile course.

Fleshman placed second in 17:13, followed by teammates Julie Harris (17:19), Kellie Stigile (18:11), Brandi Plasschaert (18:13) and Danielle Hadfield (18:33).

In the boys’ race, Hart won a share of its 13th consecutive league title by finishing second behind co-league champion Burbank, 34-35.

The Indians, who won the league’s other two meets this season, received a 1-2 finish from John Duarte (14:56) and Sandro Soler (15:00).

Burbank’s Kevin Harley (15:08), Tim Leahy (15:14) and Trevor Marca (15:27) finished third, fourth and sixth.