Although he starred for Golden Valley during cross country season, Seth Totten had yet to prove his prowess in track and field.

After a strong showing at Thursday’s Foothill League Track and Field finals, nobody will be calling him just a cross country runner anymore.

Totten turned in a beastly closing kick to win the boys 3,200-meter run by almost 11 seconds, while Canyon athletes won 14 events and Saugus sprinters Jenna Vincej and Amber Wright had big nights at Cougar Stadium on the campus of College of the Canyons.

Totten stayed with the pack for the first six laps before turning on the jets and motoring away from the rest of the runners, winning the race in 9 minutes, 20.96 seconds, well ahead of second-place Robert Pion of Saugus who clocked a 9:31.17.

During the race, Totten had the word “patience” written on his hand — for good reason.

“In cross country, I want to lead the whole race,” Totten said. “I had to be patient and when I made my move, I wanted to make sure everyone knew I was making my move.”

It was quite an accomplishment for Totten, who hadn’t ran more than four laps on the track in three weeks and lost the 3,200 in dual meets this season against both Saugus and Canyon.

For the Centurions, Vincej and Wright joined Nicole Penick and Alex Hampton on the girls 4x400-meter relay team and set the meet record in 3:55.36, breaking Valencia’s year-old mark of 3:56.29.

Vincej and Wright were also part of the girls 4x100 team that included Sarah Huitink and Jamie Molacek and won the race with a time of 49.02 seconds.

Vincej also smashed her own school record in the girls 400 with a time of 55.80 seconds to win the league title.

“I learned a lot from last year’s experience and I just took it into this year,” Vincej said.

Wright held off Valencia’s Jasmine Hall to win the girls 200-meter dash in 24.87 seconds, although Hall won the league title in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 2 inches.

For Canyon, Tiffini Stone repeated as league champion in both the girls long jump at 17-4 1/4 and girls triple jump at 35-0 3/4.

Teammate Taylor Thomas successfully defended her league titles in the girls 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.56 seconds and the girls 300 hurdles at 46.52 seconds.

“I pushed myself because I knew I had competition from older and younger girls,” Thomas said.

Canyon’s sprinters dominated the short races like they had all season, as Darius Rudolph won the boys 100 in 11.10 seconds and Kenny Stone won the boys 200 in 22.52 seconds.

Both Stone and Rudolph teamed with Shane Habberstad and Cody Moore to win the boys 4x100 relay in 42.87 seconds.

Habberstad won the boys long jump by leaping 21-1 and Moore sailed 43-3 1/2 to win the boys triple jump title.

Canyon’s Kevin Enge won the boys high jump by clearing 6-4, while Keeli Howard won the girls 100 in 12.63 seconds, .03 seconds ahead of Valencia’s Faith Anumba.

The Cowboys dominated the boys 1,600, with Chris Low winning in 4:25.62 and Sam Willis and Michel Noris finishing second and third. Ricky Bergeron recorded a victory for Canyon in the boys discus with a toss of 152-10, and teammate Gillian Lopez earned a league title in the girls pole vault by clearing 11-0.

West Ranch had an impressive day in the girls distance races, with Jennifer Owen avenging a narrow loss in the girls 1,600 last season by outkicking Saugus’ Amber Murakami and Stephanie Bulder to finish in 5:00.75.

Owen was also the runner-up in the girls 800 and third in the girls 3,200 to cap an impressive day.

But the 1,600 was most important.

“That was the one I wanted the most,” she said. “Anything else, I was like, ‘Great!’”

West Ranch’s Ashley Welker won the girls 800 in 2:13.45, just .21 seconds shy of the meet record held by Saugus’ Shannon Murakami.

In the girls 3,200, Saugus’ Stephanie Bulder edged teammate Karis Frankian by finishing in 10:52.33, .05 seconds ahead of Frankian.

Saugus also scored a pair of victories in the throws. Daniel Whitham won the boys shot put with a toss of 53-7 1/2, while Alex Ecsedy won the girls shot put with a throw of 39-1 1/2.

Saugus’ Landon Shaw won the boys pole vault title by clearing 13-6. It was a satisfying victory for Shaw, who got injured shortly before last season’s league finals and didn’t perform to his potential.

“It feels good,” Shaw said. “Pole vaulting has been a real passion for the past four years. To finally take it is something I’ll remember.”

Hart’s Trevor Lien will surely remember his league championship in the boys 300 hurdles. After struggling at times during dual meets, Lien won the race in 40.26 seconds, a big improvement over his old personal record of 41.5 seconds.

“I definitely had motivation from a couple of meets,” he said. “I just did it for myself.”

For West Ranch, Nick Brooks won the boys 800 with a strong kick to finish in 1:56.68, while teammate Kayley Braucher won the girls discus with a toss of 131-5 1/2.

Valencia’s Malcolm Flowers repeated as league champion in the boys 400 with a time of 49.08.

“When I crossed the line I looked over at the timer,” Flowers said. “I’m just glad it was under 50. The whole year I seemed to be getting close but not breaking it.”

Golden Valley’s Joey Darko blazed his way to an impressive time of 14.77 seconds to win the boys 110 high hurdles, while the Grizzlies’ 4x400 relay team of Corey Chaison, Patrick Giles, Kristian Martinez and Isiah Bernard closed the meet with a league-championship time of 3:27.64.