I don’t think it was the cruise control. If the vehicle has a mechanical throttle cable something may have jammed at wide open throttle (WOT). If the vehicle is drive-by-wire (electronically controlled throttle) the computer, for some reason, decided to keep the throttle open even after you reduced pressure on the accelerator.
Either way, I agree with VDCdriver in that you should report this to the NHTSA. You should also take it to the Saturn dealer ASAP. Luckily, it’s still under warranty.
Just in case this should happen again, shift the transmission immediately into neutral to remove the acceleration force, and use the brakes to slow the vehicle. There’s no sense fighting against the engine. The engine may race in neutral, but that won’t hurt it. Once you stop the vehicle you can shut off the engine.