On any day each of these runners has the potential to win the big race. In heat 2 of the Elite 1,600m at the Meet of Champions it was EVAN HADEISHI’s day posting the top City time of the evening 4:18.02 (#2 City). JACK BUTTERFIELD was close behind in 4:20.58 (#3 City) followed by CHRISTOPER FRELIX in 4:24.14. Look for more from these boys in the next 2 months.
RUNNERS SET . . . .
LA City Updates for Week Ending March 30th
North Hollywood junior ANANYA BALARAMAN moves to #6 City all-time and set another school record with her 4:57.10 1,600m performance at The TEN at JSerra on Saturday evening. In a very gutsy performance, she ran the first 800 meters in 2:25.92, a split that ranks #11 in the City’s current 800m performances! Ananya’s obviously tinkering with her pacing and with 2 months to go until State she has plenty of time to fine-tune splits and tactics.
Canoga Park senior ANGELINA LOPEZ set 2 PR’s at the Simi Invite posting a time of 5:14.10 in the varsity 1,600m followed by a 11:22.63 in the 3,200m; both rank as #2 in City.
Palisades junior ANNABELLE REFNES placed 2nd in the 800m at the Simi Valley Invite in a PR of 2:19.27, #2 in City. Currently 16 City girls have run under 2:30. 2018 was the top year for the 800m when 25 girls broke 2:30 by season end.
Cleveland senior MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ placed 7th in the Invitational 1,600m at the Simi Valley Invite in 5:17.17, less than 1 second off her season best #3 City time of 5:17.02 set earlier in the month.
Santee continues to show strong performances with senior ROLAND BALDEROS setting a 15-second PR of 9:27.33 (#3 City) to place 1st in the Invitational 3,200m at the Simi Valley. At the Pasadena Games last weekend he placed 4th in 4:28.47 in the varsity 1,600m, also a PR and # 7 in City. Teammate ANGELES FELICIANO has run some impressive races as well. At the Simi invite she won the Invitational 3,200m in 11:23.37 and at the Pasadena Games she won the varsity 1,600m in 5:17.61 (#4 City) and placed 4th in the 800m in 2:22.14 (#3 City). These are all top-5 City performances. Finally, ADRIAN AGUIRRE almost cracked the top-10 with a 9:54.51 PR in the Invitational 3,200m at Simi Valley. Really nice stuff from Santee.
Granada Hills senior SAMANTHA PACHECO set season bests of 5:25.87 (#7 City) and 11:37.71 (#4) in the 1,600m and 3,200m at the Simi Invitational. Teammates REECE TRICE and KIANA DIAMOND both set PR’s in the1,600m with times of 5:25.67 (#5 City) and 5:31.70 (#( City). Granada senior DANIEL RAMIREZ set a PR of 1:59.95 in the 800m at the Simi Invite and later just missed another PR in the Invitational 1,600m with a 4:34.41 performance.
The San Pedro boys dropped some perfunctory performances at a dual meet with Gardena this past week that were still good enough to rank in the City top 10. JACK BUTTERFIELD ran an 18-second PR in the 3,200 to win in 9:47.32 (#7 City). Teammate EVAN HADEISHI was a close 2nd in 9:47.63 (#8 City). So far this year 12 runners have times under 10 minutes, which is exceptional. The record is 18, set in 2013 at season-end, so its very possible 2025 may take top honors by end of May.
Eagle Rock freshman OLIVIA CORRIGAN has set a PR in every race this spring and she continued the streak at Arcadia Distance Challenge where she ran 11:26.35 (#3 City) for 5th place in the invitational 3,200m, just missing the school record by less than 2 seconds. Teammate OLIVER BAR has dipped below 2-minutes in his last 2 races at Pasadena and Arcadia. His season best of 1:59.33 at the Pasadena Games is #3 in City.
Taft had a slew of top performances at the Simi Valley Invitational. Senior SAGE KADOMA won the 800m seeded race in 2:25.13 (#8 in City) and sophomore SAGE COWLES placed 10th in the 800m Invitational race in 2:25.6 (#10 City). At the Arcaida Distance Challenge ETHAN BAROK broke 2-minutes in the 800m for the first time to place 10th in 1:59.85. HUNTER BENNETT posted a 1,600m PR of 4:33.02 in the 1,600m at Arcadia and followed that up with a 9:49.76 (#9 City) later in the day in the Invitational 3,200m, less than 2 seconds off his PR from last year’s City Finals.
Venice senior JADE FLORES posted a huge 8-second PR at Thursday’s tri-meet with Palisades and Hamilton to win the 800m in 2:22.42, #5 in City. She followed that up with a win at the Santa Monica Invitational on Saturday in 2:30.42. Venice’s freshman girls had big performances this week as well. HARINA GIRMAY won the 3,200m race at the Santa Monica Invite in 12:22.31 (#15 in City and 3rd best freshman) and placed 2nd in the 1,600m in 5:32.08 (#10 City, 2nd best City freshman). She also ran 2:28.36 in the 800m 3 days earlier in the tri-meet. Her freshman teammate WHITNEY DERBY placed 2nd and 3rd in the same races at Santa Monica in times of 5:32.75 and 12:24.69. She also placed 2nd in the 800m in the tri-meet on Thursday in 2:28.36.
Kennedy freshman EMILY RODRIGUEZ won the frosh/soph invitational 1,600m at the Arcadia Distance Challenge in a time of 5:34.10; #15 in City and the 4th best City freshman time so far this year.
Hi-Racer Meet of Champions
Arroyo High School - El Monte
Saturday, March 22nd, 2025
EPIC PERFORMANCES
Venice senior PAUL TRANQUILLA dropped a devastating 56.74- second on the final lap in the Elite 3,200m to take the win. His time of 9:00.44 just missed the school record of 8:59.57 and is the 6th fastest City 3,200m time ever (see table below). Paul is now ranked #7 in State in the 800m and #6 in the 3,200m.
North Hollywood junior ANANYA BALARAMAN heads for the finish line in the Elite 1-Mile varsity race, placing 6th in 4:59.97. Ananya ran negative splits on laps 2-4 finishing the final 400m in 1:10.00. Her time for both the 1-mile and 1,600m (4:58.38 captured in the same race) set new school records. Only 8 City girls have ever broken 5 minutes since the inception of the 1,600m in 1980 (see chart below).
Top City Freshman*
ETHAN FUNK just added the 3,200m freshman Palisades Charter school record to his list of accomplishments in his first year of high school competition. For those new to City distance running, Palisades is an honor roll of City freshman greats so this is not a frivolous record (see table below). In the modern history of City distance running only 3 other freshmen have bettered Ethan’s time of 9:52.62, one of those being the greatest runner in City history Belmont’s Roman Gomez. With Arcadia and City Finals in the future who knows . . .
* And 5th fastest in City overall this year!
The table below lists the 8 City girl runners that have broken 5-minutes in the 1,600m since its inception in 1980:
And here are the top City boys performances in the 3,200m since its inception 1980:
Mid-Season Parallax
This is the tough part of every track season. That period of time after the early season PR’s and before the post-season glory when lackluster performances defy the effort and commitment of athletes and coaches. For those of you currently suffering this fate (you know who your are) be mindful of this . . . adaption is not linear, it occurs in quantum leaps over time across a variety of biological systems. That’s a complicated way of saying improvements happens in fits and starts, not in a smooth progression. The good news: my VERY unscientific observations over the last 20 years suggest that these mid-season lulls presage big performances in post season. So, stay true to the process, listen to your body, and let the PR’s rain down!
Irvine ASICS Invitational
Irvine High School - March 8th, 2025
Venice senior CARYS WILSON posted a 5:54.79 PR in the heat 2 of the 1,600m at Irvine ASICS.
DAVID GARCIA set a PR of 5:09.66 in heat 2 of the 1.600m.
Venice senior ELLA SENELICK rounds a turn on the 4th lap of heat 2 in the 1,600m at Irvine ASICS.
Venice senior ERIC SMITH won heat 6 of the 400m in 52.78; #3 in City.
DEMITRI HERNANDEZ (Sr-Mendez) rounds the penultimate turn in the varsity 1,600m on his was to a 4:45.86 14th place finish.
NATHAN SANTA CRUZ (Sr-Venice) had the top 400m time at Irvine ASICS, wining the final heat in 49:09; #1 in City and #18 in State.
The Mammen sisters, Lulu and Louisa, are running for D3 Southern Section Corona del Mar this season due to the Palisades fires. Eleanor ran a 5:52.80 in the F/S 1,600m and Lulu ran 5:34.62 in the varsity race.
Culver City Invitational
Culver City High School - March 1st, 2025
Palisades junior ANDREW RAZZO leads the pack into the 4th lap of the 1,600M. Andrew won the race in 4:35.89; #5 in the City rankings.
ISABELLA SAKALOWSY and KENNEDY BRANNON lineup for the 3,200m at Culver City. Both ran PR’s with Kennedy winning the race in 12:34.70 and Isabella coming in 2nd in 12:38.22.
ETHAN BAROK starts the final 400m leg of the Sprint Medley Relay on the way to posting a Taft school record of 1:42.78.
Palisades top freshman THEO MAYEDA placed 5th in the 1,600m in a PR of 4:43.28, #7 overall in LA City.
ANTRELL HARRIS leads off Birmingham in the 800m Sprint Medley Relay.
GABRIELLA GILYARD (Soph-Palisades) was the top City finisher in the 1,600m. She finished 4th overall in 5:38.68, currently #10 in City rankings.
TIFFANY ZHERDEV, MIKAELA TULLIUS, LEAH DANIELS and HUDSON SONG were part of the Taft 4000m Distance Relay Medley at Culver City that placed 3rd in 14:16.09.
KEIRA OWEN brings it on home in the varsity DMR at Culver City. The Hamilton team that also included GEMMA ALFARA, ISIS GONZALES and SAMANTHA UGOLNIK set a PR of 18:01.67.
Birmingham Freshman JUSTIN MAZARIEGO competes in the varsty 1,600m at the Culver City Invite, He finished 18th overall in 5:27.05.
Crescenta Valley Distance Invitational
La Canada High School February 22nd, 2025
BLAKE SIGWORTH takes the win in Heat 1 of the 3,200m in 9:28.06 to post the #2 time in California.
CHARLES SIMON competes in heat 1 of the 1,600m. Charles doubled in the 3,200m (9:44.84) and 1,600m (4:44.88).
ANGELINA LOPEZ posted a PR of 11:44.92 to place 5th in heat 1 of the 3,200m. Her time is #2 in LA City.
OLIVER BARR just missed breaking 2-minutes in the 800m posting 2:00.42, ranking him 4th in LA City. This image is from the heat 1 of the 1,600m, his 2nd race, where he placed 16th in 4:54.50.
OLIVIA CORRIGAN ran the 12th fastest 3,200m on Saturday to record the 2nd best all-time Eagle Rock time of 12:06.65. This picture is from her 2nd race in heat 2 of the 1,600m where she placed 5th in 5:46.23 (#5 LA City).
JORGE MONTENEGRO leads heat 1 of the 3,200m at the CV Distance Invite. Jorge placed 8th in the race and his time of 9:59.42 ranks 3rd in LA City.
Eagle Rock freshman FIONA WALTS placed 3rd in heat 2 of the 800m with the top City time of 2:41.05, the 11th fastest on the day.
ELLA SENELICK leads on lap 2 in heat 6 of the 1,600m. Ella finished the race in 2nd place in 6:17.07.
SUSANA MIER takes 1st place in heat 6 of the 1,600m with a time of 6:13.97
Eagle Rock’s 4 x 100 Relay Team Places 2nd
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
BENJAMIN HARO finishes the final leg of the 4 x 400m to help San Fernando to a 4th place finish.
‘The Drive’
Is dedicated to LA City’s high school distance running community
The goal is to evangelize exceptional teams and athletes with high quality, curated content and editorial perspectives in an online periodic publication.
Each volume will include a ‘Special’ section, as well as Athletes of the Week/Month, ‘The Week in Pictures’ including a ‘Picture of the Week’, ‘The Numbers’, and ‘Heard on the Trail’.
ENJOY!