This year, the balance was there.

The historic CIF championship followed.

Led by Jenna Vincej's individual title in the 400-meter run, the Centurions won the CIF-SS Div. II girls track and field championship Saturday at Cerritos College, the first girls team title in Santa Clarita Valley history.

Canyon's Kevin Enge also won the CIF-SS Div. II title in the boys high jump, and 11 total athletes qualified for next Friday's CIF-SS Masters Meet back at Cerritos College.

But the banner day begins with the Saugus girls, who accumulated 43 points to finish ahead of second-place Carter of Rialto, which finished with 38. Ten points are awarded for the first-place finisher, while eight go to the second-place finisher, then six to third, five to fourth, four to fifth, three to sixth, two to seventh and one to eighth.

The only other CIF-SS team champion in SCV history was Saugus' boys team in 1986, when the Centurions competed in Div. 3-A. The Saugus girls were runners-up in 1981 and last season, while the Hart boys were the Div. I runner-up in 1993.

"It's so hard to put a finger on it," said Saugus head coach Christian Standley. "The nature of the sport requires coaching in so many different areas."

Those areas came through for Saugus on Saturday, especially the sprinters.

Although Saugus is traditionally known as a distance school, the sprinters were the biggest contributors to the CIF championship, scoring 30 of the team's 43 points.

Vincej led the charge in the 400, completing a remarkable rise in the race this season by winning in 56.09 seconds.

"I was stoked when I crossed the line knowing I was first," she said. "It's all I've ever wanted."

Vincej was also part of the 4x400-meter relay team that finished second with a Foothill League record time of 3 minutes, 50.78 seconds. That team also included Amber Wright, Alex Hampton and Nicole Penick.

The 4x100 relay team of Wright, Vincej, Sarah Huitink and Jamie Molacek finished fourth with a time of 48.78 seconds, and Wright finished third in the 400 at 56.83 and eighth in the 200 at 25.42 seconds.

Even though the sprinters were dominant, the distance girls still pulled out big points for the Centurions. Karis Frankian finished fourth with a time of 10:52.59, while Stephanie Bulder toughed out a seventh-place finish at 10:57.17 despite battling illness.

Bulder also finished eighth in the 1,600 at 5:09.11, while Amber Murakami capped an outstanding career with a seventh-place finish of 5:03.72. Thrower Alex Ecsedy rounded out Saugus' scorers by finishing sixth in the discus at 114 feet, 4 inches.

Enge, meanwhile, was able to win his CIF title by calming himself and clearing his head before clearing 6-6, the only Div. II high jumper to do so.

It was a fulfilling moment for Enge, who lost his mother to cancer last year.

Afterwards, he had one thing to say.

"This is for you, mom," he said.

Enge will move on to next weekend's Masters Meet, as will Vincej in the 400, Frankian in the 3,200 and Saugus' 4x400 relay team.

The top 12 performances, regardless of division, qualify for the Masters Meet in the 800, 1,600, 3,200 and field events, while the top nine performances qualify in the rest of the events.

Enge tied for third overall in his event, while Vincej was eighth overall, Frankian was 12th and the relay team was sixth.

Golden Valley's Joey Darko became the first track and field athlete in program history to advance to the Masters Meet after finishing third in the Div. III 110 hurdles in 14.36 seconds. His time was fifth-fastest overall.

West Ranch's Jennifer Owen qualified for the Masters Meet in two events. She finished third in the Div. II 1,600 race at 4:53.05, the fifth-fastest time overall, and she was also third in the Div. II 800 race at 2:12.40, which was the seventh-best overall time.

Canyon's Tiffini Stone finished second in the Div. II long jump, where she recorded a leap of 17-11 and finished 11th overall.

"It was good to do that," said Stone, who finished third in Div. II last season as a freshman. "It was good to get back here. That was my main goal, especially after the slow start to the season."

Valencia's Jasmine Hall also qualified for the Masters Meet in the high jump. She cleared 5-6 to finish tied for fourth in Div. I and tied for fifth overall.

Hall, who went to the Masters Meet in the high jump last season, is finally comfortable again in the event after working through several injuries this season.

"I felt like I could have jumped 5-8," she said. "Every time I went to jump it would get real windy."

West Ranch's Ashley Welker is the second alternate in the girls 800 after finishing in 2:14.72.

Other Foothill League athletes competed but didn't qualify for the Masters Meet. Canyon's Taylor Thomas recorded a pair of fifth-place finishes in Div. II with a school-record time of 14.65 seconds in the 100 hurdles and 44.76 in the 300 hurdles.

Canyon's boys 4x100 relay team of Shane Habberstad, Cody Moore, Kenny Stone and Darius Rudolph finished sixth with a time of 42.92. The Cowboys had a pair of runners in the boys 1,600, with Chris Low finishing fifth at 4:21.50 and Michel Noris finishing ninth at 4:28.53.

Penick was ninth in the 400 at 59.62, and West Ranch's Kylie Long was sixth in the 800 at 2:15.87.

West Ranch's 4x400 relay team of Long, Owen, Welker and Lacey Surak finished fourth with a time of 3:59 flat, while the Wildcats' Breeann Braucher was seventh in the shot put at 37-3 1/4.

For Golden Valley, Lauren Hackney finished sixth in the Div. III 400 at 57.80, and Seth Totten was seventh in the Div. III 3,200 with a time of 9:29.05.

It's the final race in Totten's career, which has seen him help establish Golden Valley's cross country program and lay the foundation for the track program.

He leaves the school as arguably its most decorated athlete and will continue his career at the University of California, Riverside next fall.

But it was still hard for him to put his emotions into words.

"I don't know, man," he said. "I'm never going to put on a Golden Valley jersey again. I didn't want it to end like that."