FRESNO - Seth Totten provided the inspiration. A drop in the Div. III state rankings created the motivation. And the record-breaking pace of the Arcadia boys' cross country team helped make Kristian Martinez's goal a realization at the 32nd annual Asics/Clovis Invitational.

With Ammar Moussa covering the 5-kilometer layout in 14 minutes, 51 seconds to help Arcadia produce the fastest team time in Woodward Park history at 77:09, Golden Valley's Martinez took advantage of the rapid pace to finish seventh in the boys' championship event in 15:21, lowering Totten's program record by three seconds to produce the fastest local mark Saturday on the state-meet course.

"Me and Seth are really good friends, so to be an equal with him feels pretty good," Martinez said. "My team helped me out a lot. They've really been pushing me in workouts and I couldn't have done it without them. Even after the race, I couldn't believe what I had just done. I still can't believe it."

Martinez's performance helped Golden Valley place seventh - highest among Div. III programs - in a loaded field with 264 points, highlighting an impressive showing by several Foothill League programs, including the Valencia girls, who won the extra-large schools race.

Led by senior Sarah Adams' fourth-place effort in 18:36, matching the third-place time of Royal's Sophie Mateu and just behind runner-up McKenzie Paul of Burbank (18:33), the Vikings recorded 110 points to win their second invitational title in three weeks, including the Sept. 25 Bell-Jeff/Griffith Park meet.

"(My teammates) were all telling me that this has given them so much confidence," Adams said. "Early in the season, they didn't believe they had the potential to make CIF, but after we won Bell-Jeff, I think that really kicked things off for us and we ran really fast again (Saturday), which shows we can do it."

Valencia received important contributions from the young supporting cast of Madeline Dignadice (18th, 19:35), Lindsey Garcia (30th, 19:50), Olivia Pear (33rd, 19:53) and Brooklyn Beeler (37th, 20:00).

Despite running without sophomore Chelsey Totten - winner of the Sept. 23 Foothill League meet - Golden Valley finished fifth with 220 points.

"We're winning these invitationals, but our league is so tough that we're battling for third," Adams said. "But we've learned just to run our own race and not worry about what everyone else is going to do and that's definitely helped."

That approach has also benefited Paul, who produced the fastest local girls' time Saturday despite not competing in the championship race, taking runner-up in the extra-large schools competition behind Bullard's Ali Teliha (18:22).

"This gives me a lot of confidence because my goal is to make it to state (Nov. 27) and this time shows me that I've put in the effort in order to get that done," Paul said. "It's my fourth year running here and knowing the course better and knowing that I don't need to use all my energy in the first mile has really helped. This really opens my eyes to what I can possibly do."

Jennifer Owen's eyes remained wide open following the girls' championship race, a good sign for West Ranch after she collapsed in the final 1,000 meters of the sweepstakes race Sept. 18 at the Woodbridge Classic. The senior returned to the Wildcats lineup for the first time since fainting because of a lack of electrolytes in her system and placed 23rd in 18:59, with Ashley Welker finishing 21st in 18:52 for West Ranch, which took 10th with 223 points.

"My goal was just to go out there and have fun. I just wanted to make sure that I finished," Owen said. "I feel like now we can start to move forward. The other girls were watching me closely, making sure that I was OK, so hopefully everything is back to normal now."

Although she competed in the girls' medium-schools race, Oak Park's Kaycee Holcomb clocked 18:54 to finish behind San Jose Valley Christian's Morgan Lira (18:45), helping the Eagles place second with 130 points.

Thousand Oaks' Melanie Joerger was 27th in the girls' championship race in 19:05, with Crescenta Valley finishing fifth with 165 points.

Claudia Pham was 24th in 19:02, Anneke Kakebeen placed 31st in 19:09, Cali King finished 35th in 19:15 and freshman Erika Johnson clocked 19:28 to secure 45th for the Falcons.

Birmingham's Mizrael Mendez placed second in the boys' extra-large schools race in 15:38 and Valencia's Falco DiGiallonardo was fifth in 15:42. Quartz Hill's Malik Hayes took 10th (16:04) and Crescenta Valley's Michael Duncan finished 12th (16:09), just ahead of Birmingham's Isaac Diosdado (16:10).

Thousand Oaks' Sam Worley clocked 16:01 to finish 37th in the boys' championship race, with Juan David Garcia supporting Martinez's effort for Golden Valley by finishing 42nd in 16:05 and Notre Dame's Richard Lucas placing 52nd in 16:10. Crespi's Shane MacMiller finished second in the boys' small-schools race in 16:25, leading the Celts to a runner-up showing with 133 points.