ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Birmingham senior YESENIA VALDEZ culminated an amazing month of performances with two wins this past week, first at the West Valley Cluster and then at Bell-Jeff in the large school varsity race. These performances followed her 18:06.8 run at the Woodbridge Classic a week earlier where she earned the #2 City ranking.
Heard on the Trails . . .
Eleven City teams are scheduled to run at the Central Park Invitational in Huntington Beach this weekend in a D1 showdown with Granada Hills, Palisades Charter and Taft. Both Palisades’ teams will be in the Sweepstakes race where they will be up against southern section powerhouses Beckman, El Toro, Huntington Beach, Redondo, San Clamente, Santa Margarita, Santiago and Trabuco Hills. This will be a state preview for both the boys and girls.
The Belmont girls won again, this week at the Grit n Grind XC Challenge at Cal State San Marcos. Their top-5 posted a team time of 1:41:44.5 which for comparison would have ranked the D4 Sentinels #4 among ALL city teams at Woodbridge. GABRIELA ZARAT took top honors in the Varsity Green race, her first invitational win, while 3 of her teammates ran personal bests including JESSICA TECUM, KAREN YES and VALERIE HERNANDEZ. This team is on a roll. All 7 boys PR’d as well led by EDWIN GOMEZ who placed 9th to help the team to a 6th place standing in the Varsity Green race.
UPDATE: We inadvertently left Belmont off of the Woodbridge Team Power Rankings. The rankings in the Woodbridge section below have been updated to include Belmont.
JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI posted a huge PR at Nike Portland XC breaking 16-minutes on the 5k course that runs 30-50 seconds slower than Woodbridge. Six of the 7 boys set 5k PR’s in the same race. TRINIDAD MONTENEGRO led the girl Highlanders shaving almost a minute off her ‘24 Portland performance.
Griffith Park - Park Central
September 27th, 2025
Here are the City Teams Power Rankings from the 2025 Bellarmine-Sacred Heart Invitational:
Note: Teams with less than 5 runners across all races at Bell-Jeff are not included in the Power Rankings.
Here are the top City performances across all races at the 2025 Bellarmine-Sacred Heart Invitational:
BELL-JEFF CHAMPS - KENNEDY
Giada Di Salvo, Cameron Rose A Ramos, Georgia Illingworth, Emily Rodriguez, Arianna Aguilar, Emma Quezada, Colleen Kidwell
On a damp, cloudy morning the Kennedy girls took Bell-Jeff by storm, winning the varsity large school team contest and placing runners in 2nd and 4th individually. Marshall also showed strongly placing 3rd, above Granada Hills who placed 5th. The Marshall boys varsity fared well too placing 4th in the large school race.
In only her 2nd XC race Kennedy sophomore EMILY RODRIGUEZ was the top placing varsity City runner, boy or girl, placing 2nd in 20:15.0 in the varsity large school race. Teammate GEORGIA ILLINGWORTH placed 5th, running over a minute faster than last year. For Marshall, ANNABEL ROBERTSON led the girls with a 11th place finish in 21:45.2 and Granada senior SAMMY PACHECO placed 4th in the race placing 4 City runners in the top 5!
Marshall senior RYE JUNKER was the top City finisher in the boys varsity large school race placing 12th in 16:47.3. Birmingham junior DANIEL SALAZAR finished just under 17 minutes to close as City’s #2. Daniel finished 3rd in the West Valley League Cluster on Thursday and ran well at Woodbridge so, like his teammate Yesenia, he is having a big month. City’s #3 finisher FAUSTO NOBOA (Jr-Bravo Medical) shaved over a minute off his time from last year to finish 19th in 17:16.8.
The Sophomores, both boys and girls, ran impressively at Bell-Jeff. North Hollywood’s KENSUKE OHSHIMA posted the #4 City time at Bell-Jeff and the top sophomore time to win the JV Large school race in 17:18.1. FELIPE FRANSUAT PEREZ, running well below his potential due to a lost shoe mid-race, was the #2 sophomore City finisher. Eagle Rock’s DAVID KANNER was seconds behind Felipe finishing 29th in 17:45.5 followed closely by newcomer ANGEL ROMAN of Fairfax who ran his 1st high school XC race on Saturday. Marshall freshman ALEXANDER SWARTZ was the top City freshman placing 37th in 17:57.6.
In addition to Emily Rodriguez (see above), Verdugo Hills sophomore HANNAH GALLIDORO posted the #7 City time at Bell-Jeff and Kennedy’s GIADA DI SALVO took almost 7 minutes off her ‘24 time at Bell Jeff to place 22nd in the Varsity large school race. Granada Hill’s TONI CRUZ was the top City Freshman placing 32nd in the same race.
The future looks bright for City!
Kennedy sophomore EMILY RODRIGUEZ crosses the finish line in 20:15.0 (the timing was off) to place 2nd in the Varsity Large School race, the top City finisher at Bell-Jeff.
While most of her varsity team was up at Portland SAMMY PACHECO held the fort for Granada Hills placing 4th in a time of 20:29.0.
Cleveland junior KIWA MCKNELLY finishes in 10th place in 21:49.00 to lead the Cavalier’s varsity team. She also placed 10th in the West Valley Cluster #2 on Thursday.
Annabel Robertson, Nico Weinberg, Katherine Clowes, Niamh Dodd, Marlowe Henderson, Kayley Castillo, Isela Guizar, Izabel Nunez
MARSHALL VARSITY
Margot Cendreda, Summer Carluen, Katherine Lewis,
Alondra Gutierrez, Celia Rainman
EAGLE ROCK VARSITY
Marshall senior RYE JUNKER heads into the hills for the 2nd time at Bell-Jeff. Rye was the highest placing boy in the Varsity large school race placing 12th in 16:47.3
Senior JOSIA CASTRO led Kennedy with a 23rd place in 17:28.5 in the Varsity Large School race.
Sophomore DAVID KANNER continues his reign as Eagle Rock’s top runner placing 20th in 17:45.50; a performance that is over 3 minutes faster than his time at last year’s Bell-Jeff.
A diamond in the rough? In his first high school race ever, track or XC, Fairfax sophomore ANGEL ROMAN placed 31st in the Varsity Large School race with a commendable 17:46.4. Definitely a runner to watch.
Taft’s JULIAN SEGAL and Birmingham’s ALEXIS HEURTA sprint through the gauntlet to the finish on the new Pierce course at the West Valley Cluster on Thursday, September 25th, 2025.
West Valley League Cluster #2
GIRLS VARSITY
Three leagues converged on Pierce on Thursday to try their hand on the new 3-mile “flat” course that is in the running (pardon the pun) as the venue for City Finals. Despite early criticisms that this new course is boring, desolate, hot and flat - on balance it wasn’t bad. A wide 300-meter long team staging area sits directly adjacent to the start and finish which provides fantastic viewing and an athlete village vibe. The start and finish are long, wide stretches that should create plenty of excitement. As for the hills, nothing close to the traditional course for sure but every runner I spoke to commented on “The Hill”, a man-made hillock which is run 3 times during the race. Much of the course is behind a chain link fence that limits the inadvertent spectator incursions that are endemic on the hill course, but this does contribute to the sense of “desolation” on the back sections of the course.
Now to the running. In the 2nd West Valley Cluster of the 2025 season Taft dominated, winning all 6 team contests and five of the six individual races. To be fair, much of Granada Hills’ varsity teams were on their way to Nike Portland XC and other teams ran at less than 100% due to Bell-Jeff on Saturday. Nonetheless, as the sun set on Pierce there was a definite sense of a changing of the guard in the West Valley.
NEW COURSE RECORD
Taft seniors ETHAN BAROK and HUNTER BENNETT led from start to finish to help the Toreadors to an impressive team score of 19. Ethan set a course record of 16:02.2 while Hunter finished in 16:04.2.
Birmingham senior YESENIA VALDEZ leads the varsity race on the 2nd loop. Yesenia won her 2nd West Valley Cluster this year in 19:24.9; she set a course record on Sept 11th of 19:14.5.
We missed ANGEL SOLORIO’s record setting performance at Woodbridge so made a point to catch him in the Central Valley League Cluster. The Sun Valley senior set a D5 and school record of 15:42.7 on a slow Woodbridge course. Angel won Thursday’s race easily but well off his PR.
Birmingham junior DANIEL SALAZAR kept the varsity race honest pushing the leaders for half of the race and breaking up Taft’s top 4 to finish in 3rd place in 16:35.1.
UPDATED: Freshmen UNICA GUERRERO and MAILE BRADY placed 1st and 2nd in the JV race at the West Valley Cluster #2.
Sophomore MILES GOHIL was the top finisher in the Valley League race
TAFT VARSITY
Indie Hyman, Julian Segal, Angel Rodriguez, Hunter Bennet
Ethan Barok, Jonah Simkin, Mark Banuelos
Palisades Charter sophomore ETHAN FUNK sprints to the finish in the Blue Varsity B race. He posted the top City time at Woodbridge, 14:54.1, setting LA City and school grade-level records.
Update: Sun Valley senior ANGEL SOLARIO placed 4th in the White Senior B race on Friday evening, setting new City D5 and school records of 15:42.7.
The Great Park - Irvine, CA
Sept. 19th - 20th, 2025
UPDATED: FINALLY, all performances have posted and here are YOUR LA CITY SECTION POWER RANKINGS for Woodbridge Classic 2025!
City teams are ranked based on each team’s top 5 performances at Woodbridge across all races on Friday and Saturday. Schools with less than 5 runner’s results are listed as ‘N/A”.
The top 3 City teams in both the boys and girls ranking - Palisades, Taft and Granada - look potent. Palisades and Taft boys both averaged less than 16 minutes across their top 5 while the Pali girls top-5 averaged less than 19 minutes. Kennedy surprised in D1 and Eagle Rock impressed in D2.
(l-r) Maya Bhasin, Maribel Henderson-Macle, Eleanor Mammen, Daila Harinck, Zoey Morris, Kendal Shaver, Luisa Mammen
Palisades Varsity Girls
Only one boys’ Woodbridge performance ranked in the athletic.net City Top-10 this year (Ethan Funk) and for the girls 5 made that same list. For comparison, in 2024 19 City performances made the combined boys and girls City Top-10 lists, and that’s reflective of the overall performances at Woodbridge this year. This trend holds true even at the Sweeps level; 13 boys broke 14 minutes last year, this year only 1. For the girls, 8 girls broke 16 minutes in ‘24, only 5 in ‘25.
Hear are the Top-10 City performances across all races, Friday and Saturday, at the 2025 Woodbridge Classic (UPDATED):
Saturday, Sept 20th - Day 2
The Palisades girls evinced their quality in the Rated race, with 6 of their 7 girls breaking 19 minutes and 5 of those girls ranking in the City Top-10 overall Woodbridge results. Except for Maya Hively and Gabriella Gilyard (both who did not run Woodbridge) this is the same top 7 as in 2024 and compared to ‘24 this year’s team was a bit slower in their top 3 and virtually the same in their 4-7. In simulated D1 scoring Palisades dominated with their top 5 placing in front of Granada and Taft’s #2. DAILIA HARINCK led the Dolphins for the second week in a row and ELEANOR MAMMEN and MAYA BHASIN both PR’d. Eleanor posted the top City sophomore time 18:42.1 and Maya slashed almost 3 minutes from her ‘24 Woodbridge time to rank as the 9th City performance at Woodbridge and the 11th in City overall - Really impressive!
Birmingham senior YESENIA VALDEZ in full flight half way through the Blue Varsity B race Saturday night at the Woodbridge Classic. Yesenia posted the 2nd fastest City girls time at the meet, 18:06.8.
Taft’s top 5 girls all finished within a minute of each other and 4 of these girls posted PR’s on Saturday evening; by far the best City D1 team performance of the meet in terms of PRs. Really good stuff that scores Taft ahead of league rival Granada Hills in a simulated meet. ISABELLA SAKALOWSKY led the Toreador charge with JENNY NAVA steps behind in a PR of 18:50.2. Sophomore HUDSON SONG just missed breaking 19-minutes as Taft’s #3 crossing the finish line in a PR of 19:03.3 and SHANNON FABRO posted a career best of 19:09.2.
Taft Varsity Girls
(l-r) Isabella Sakalowsky, Sadie Choi, Shannon Fabro, Hudson Song, Jenny Nava
By all accounts the Granada Hills girls struggled in this year’s Rated race. SAMANTHA PACHECO led a valiant effort but when the dust settled she was the only runner to earn a season best, never mind PR’s. But much like the Palisade’ boys, this is a short-term predicament that will most assuredly be resolved by City Finals.
North Hollywood senior ANANYA BALARAMAN set a scorching pace in the Bob Day Sweeps race, crossing 1-mile at 5:24.7 in her quest for a sub-17 minute 3-mile. The winner barely held this pace and neither did Ananya finishing well off her PR Cool Breeze pace of 5:41/mile to still finish with the top City time of 17:49.8.
The Taft boys won City bragging rights with the highest team place in the Blue Varsity B race that also had Granada Hills and Palisades Charter. ETHAN BAROK and HUNTER BENNETT made the City Top-10 list while JONAH SIMKIN ranks #11. INDIE HYMAN set a PR in his 1st big race of the year.
JOAQUIN ORTEGA-TOMASELLI led Granada Hills with a competent 15:29.1 performance, 4th best in City, but one that he’ll be disappointed with. TRISTAN BOOKMAN was close behind in 15:39.5.
The Palisades boys’ varsity were essentially a no-show for Saturday’s Blue Varsity B race; two of their top 5 DNF’d and their #3 didn’t start the race. Forewarned, you will see a very different team at City Finals. In an earlier race, MAKO HOLT was just off his PR running 15:41.3 to place 2nd in the Blue Senior race. Look for Mako to be part of Palisades varsity in the future.
Other notable performances . . .Kennedy sophomore FELIPE FRANS PEREZ ran a huge PR of 15:45.5 , the #3 overall City soph performance in a very talented class of runners. Eagle Rock’s DAVID KANNER was the Eagles top finisher and the #5 sophomore in City overall, just missing a sub-16 in 16:00.4. Finally, North Hollywood sophomore KENSUKE OHSHIMA ran his best time of 16:12.6.
For the girls, Granada Hills sophomore TRINIDAD MONTENEGRO finished as the Highlander’s #2 with her 19:23.9 performance in the girls Rated race.
Note: We’re still waiting on six races to post to athletic.net that have Belmont, Eagle Rock, Monroe and Sun Valley performances.
Nour Insfran De Fazio and Felipe Frans Perez
Felipe beat his previous PR by almost 2 minutes at Woodbridge. His time of 15:45.5 is the 7th best City time at Woodbridge and #15 in City overall.
City OG’s
ANANYA BALARAMAN leads a chase pack in the Bob Day Sweeps at about 2.25 miles. Ananya posted the top City time of the meet and made her 2nd foray under 18 minutes to finish in 17:49.8.
The girl Sentinels put Belmont back on the map placing 1st in the White Junior-Senior race Friday evening at the Woodbridge Classic
(l-r) Jessica Tecum, Gabriela Zarat, Valeria Hernandez, Ashley Perrusquia, Karen Yes, Jennifer Ramos, Thelma Alvarez
Friday, Sept 19th - Day 1
Early results from Woodbridge are putting a reality check on some of the performances we’ve seen on the faster early-season courses such as Rosemead and Cool Breeze which both appear to be 10-30 seconds faster than Woodbridge. That didn’t get in the way of Belmont’s varsity girls who earned a convincing team win in the White Junior-Senior race on Friday evening. Led by senior GABRIELA ZARAT who posted another sub-19 performance the Sentinels’ scoring runners all finished within the top 40 in a very competitive race. Some big PR’s from KAREN YES, ASHLEY PERRUSQUIA and THELMA ALVAREZ helped the cause. And they did this without their #3, sophomore DAISY GUIX, who did not run Woodbridge. Coach Parada attributes their newfound success to consistent miles over the summer and “heart and passion”. Not a bad formula!
The San Pedro boys ran in the Red Varsity-B race that started just minutes after Belmont finished. No PR’s for the Pirate’s top 4 after a brilliant showing last weekend but their #5 sophomore MAXIMILLO VILLAGOMEZ did PR as well as LOGAN ABELLANEDA-ARTEAGA who ran in the Red Frosh race. On the girls side another sophomore, AVA GOMEZ, also dropped a big PR in the Red Frosh race.
Twenty City teams are scheduled to run in this weekend’s 44th Annual Woodbridge Classic that will include 39 of the top 40 ranked City runners.
On Friday evening, 2 City standouts will compete in the Varsity White A races. Sun Valley senior ANGEL SOLORIO (pictured in background) will compete in his 1st race this season with intentions of winning the Senior boys race and delivering a school and division record in the process. In the girls race Belmont senior GABRIELA ZARAT leads her talented Sentinels team and will surely be looking for a sub-18 performance and school and division records as well.
San Pedro competes in the Red A races on Friday evening and LACXC.com anxiously awaits what the trio of CAMILLO VISESSIRI-PETIT, ZACHARY MCGRATH and TRISTAN LOMEDICO can deliver in their 3rd race of the year. Can history repeat when EVAN HEDEISHI won this race in 2024?
On Saturday evening the big matchup will be in the boys Blue-B race which includes Birmingham, Granada Hills, North Hollywood, Palisades Charter and Taft (a late add to this race). Some of City’s best D1 teams for sure, this will be a preview of team and individual D1 prospects for City Finals in November. ZACH COHEN (Palisades), ETHAN BAROK (Taft) and JOAQUIN ORTEGA-TOMASELLI (Granada Hills) will be looking at sub-15 performances and JACKSON TAYLOR (Palisades) and HUNTER BENNETT (Taft) should be in the mix as well. Pali runners ETHAN FUNK and ANDREW RAZO will be running at less than 100% but may surprise in their first competitions of the season. THEO MAYEDA (Palisades), TRISTAN BOOKMAN (Granada) and JONAH SIMKIN (Taft) may be the most interesting runners to watch as their performances will greatly influence their teams position in City standings; all 3 should be looking to clear 15:30. Keep an eye on North Hollywood sophomore KENSUKE OHSHIMA from North Hollywood who should beat 16 minutes. In the Gold A race Santee sophomore ADRIAN AGUIRE is expected to run but may be recovering from a nagging leg issue that flared up at Rosemead.
Birmingham and Taft compete in the girls Blue-B race which will highlight City’s #2 runner Birmingham senior YESENIA VALDEZ and one of the top D1 girls teams in Taft who have 5 runners already under 20-minutes this year. We were really hoping to see Granada Hills in this race but they’ll be running with Palisades Charter in the Rated Girls which should be a battle royale for City top honors. The City talent in this race is incredible. City stalwarts ZOEY MORRIS and SAMMY PACHECO will go toe-to-toe but frankly any one of 7 girls could take City honors including Palisades runners DAILA HARINCK, LOUISA MAMMEN and KENDAL SHAVER and Granada’s SOPHIA BATTLE. We are expecting some ‘shock and awe’ in this race as new Palisades coach Brian Bennett unveils his enormously talented girls team. Palisades’ top runner from ‘24 MAYA HIVELY will not be running Woodbridge.
In the penultimate event of the evening North Hollywood senior ANANYA BALARAMA competes in the Bob Day’s Girls Sweepstakes at 9:34pm. This race has phenomenal talent as usual and will be an early test of Ananya’s prospects at State.
The schedule below lists all the Woodbridge ‘25 races City varsity teams are entered in this year:
Rosemead High School
September 13th, 2025
What used to be a small-school XC meet transformed this year into a time trial for some of southern section’s best programs including Trabucco Hills and Mira Costa. Nonetheless, City athletes rose to the occasion with 17 teams and 203 athletes competing from the LA section. Here are the Power Rankings based on Rosemead results:
Rankings are based on the top 7 runners for each team across all races based on a simulated race. The top 5 runners’ performances are used to determine team times and scoring. Teams with less than 5 runners competing at Rosemead have not been included.
As expected, Granada Hills dominated in both the boys and girls rankings and senior Joaquin Ortega-Tomaselli led the charge with the top City time at Rosemead and the 2nd best City time this year. San Pedro surprised with some big performances, particularly on the boys side. D4 Belmont girls also impressed, bettering a slew of D1 and D2 teams to rank #3 in City.
Belmont senior GABRIELA ZARAT was the breakout star of the night posting the top City time for the girls in 18:18.9. That performance was a 1 minute 15 second PR that earned her 8th place in the Senior race, the highest place of any City runner. The Belmont girls team placed 6th in team scoring, a remarkable result for a D4 team competing against some of the best D1 teams in southern California.
Younger runners ruled the night led by sophomores OLIVIA CORRIGAN (Eagle Rock) and WHITNEY DERBY (Venice). Whitney placed 8th in the Sophomore race with a massive 1-minute 31-second PR and the 4th best City Time on the night. Olivia placed 13th in the senior race (she IS a sophomore) in 18:50.4, ranking her #10 in City overall.
Granada Hills showed well with the girls seniors placing 2nd and the boys 3rd in team scoring. Senior SAMMY PACHECO led the Highlander girls placing 9th in 18:27.4. Some outstanding performances from their younger runners, particularly sophomores TRINIDAD MONTENEGRO and MIA ABREGO, who both had big PR’s. For the boys, senior TRISTAN BOOKMAN was Granada’s #2 and one of 7 City athletes to break 16 minutes on Saturday.
The other boys to break 16 minutes were Marshall senior RYE JUNKER (15:46.7) and Santee junior ADRIAN AGUIRRE, running at less than 100%.
San Pedro made their debut at Rosemead and did not disappoint. Three Pirate boys broke 16 minutes including senior CAMILLO VISESSIRI-PETIT (15:37.8), junior ZACHARY MCGRATH (15:41.1) and sophomore TRISTAN LOMEDICO 15:54.6. Senior FAYE GURROLA was the top girls finisher for San Pedro followed by sophomore NAOMI JOHNSON who ran 2-plus minutes under her previous best.
Sophomore TRISTAN LOMEDICO dropped a huge PR last week at Dana Hills and then improved on that mark at Rosemead, placing 8th in 15:54.6.
Venice sophomore WHITNEY DERBY takes it to a new level crashing through the 19-minute milestone to earn a massive PR of 18:52.7.
Granada sophomore TRINIDAD MONTENEGRO continues to impress with the 6th fastest City performance at Rosemead and a 15-second PR.
ZACHARY MCGRATH closes down on the last 300m in the Junior race at Reseda finishing in 15:41.1. He’s one of 3 San Pedro runners who broke 16-minutes on Saturday.
OLIVIA CORRIGAN posted the top City sophomore time at Rosemead, 18:50.4, to place 13th in the Senior race.
Marshall RYE JUNKER looks in top form posting the 5th best City time of 15:46.7 in the Senior race.
CAMILLO VISESSIRI-PETIT leads a San Pedro boys team with an impressive 15:37.8 to place 26th in the Senior race.
Here are the Top-10 individual City performances at Rosemead ‘25 across all races:
(l-r) Julian Segal, Jonah Simkin, Ethan Barok, Hunter Bennett, Angel Rodriguez, Mark Banuelos, Nour Insfran De Fazio
The Taft boys varsity team had reason to celebrate Saturday night placing 15th in the marque event of the night against some of the states best teams. When the dust settled, 6 of the 7 runners had set PR’s led by ETHAN BAROK’s 15:13.4 and three Toreadors had broke 16 minutes; all 7 finished under 16:15.8.
PR City Invitational
Silverlake Sports Complex
Norco, CA - September 6th, 2025
Taft was the lone City team to run at the PR City Invitational. Both the girls and boys varsity teams ran in the Elite events at the PR Invite and both teams showed impressively.
All seven Taft girls PR’d on Saturday evening led by ISABELL SAKALOWSKY (18:45.3) and JENNY NAVA (18:56.7) who ran 40-seconds under her previous best. The big surprise was HUDSON SONG, running in her first XC race as a sophomore, she posted a 19:12.1 to earn the #3 spot for Taft. Juniors TIFFANY ZHERDEV and MIKAELA TULIUS also had monster 3-minute plus PRs. Really impressive performance that had the top 5 runners all within 46 seconds of each other.
ISABELLA SAKALOWSKY heads for the finish with 800m to go. She placed 52nd in the girls Elite race in 18:456.2 to lead Taft to a 9th place finish.
Junior JENNY NAVA finishes strong as Taft’s #2 posting a PR of 18:56.7, an almost 2-minute improvement compared to same time last year, earning her 61st place.
Senior SADIE CHOI heads into the 2nd mile at the PR Invite. She moved up 27 positions in the final 1.5 miles to place 85th in 19:31.2; a 2-minute PR.
The big surprise on the boys side was junior JONAH SIMKIN who set a 1-minute 8-second PR to finish as Taft’s #3 in 15:42.2. A testament to hard work and consistency this performance ranks him as Taft’s #4 all time in athletic.net, 4 seconds ahead of coach Mario Castillo’s PR from 2010!
Senior ETHAN BAROK smoked the 1st mile in the Elite race at the PR City Invite in 4:45 and held position to the finish in 40th in a PR of 15:13.4.
HUNTER BENNETT chased down 43 places to move from 103rd at mile 1 to 60th at the finish, posting a time of 15:30.6, #6 in City.
Where’s the cape? Junior JONAH SIMKIN takes his glasses off and transitions into a virtual superman! One of the few runners to have the fastest 3rd-mile split Jonah moved up 63 positions in the 2nd half of the race to place 76th in 15:42.2.
Junior JACOB SOMERS sprints to the finish with 110 meters to go in the boys JV D1 race. He finished in 107th place in 17:53.2.
Dana Hills High School
September 6th, 2025
San Padre travelled to southern Orange County, 38 strong, to compete in the re-imagined Dana Hills Invitational. The meet started out on an ominous note with all runners in the ‘Tim Butler Elite Race’ missing a turn and running 2.1 miles versus the full course 3 miles. All the other races ran the full 3 miles. CAMILLO VISESSIRI-PETIT and ZACHARY MCGRATH ran in the boys elite race while FAYE GURROLA and MOLLY FISHER ran in the girls Elite race. Sophomore TRISTAN LOMEDICO was the top placing Pirate, running an almost 2-minute PR to take 7th in 16:22.5 in the D1 sophomore race. Definitely a runner to watch over the next 2 years. Freshman LOGAN ABELLANEDA-ARTEGA also shows promise placing 31st in 17:43.9 in the D1 frosh race.
Senior CAMILLO VISESSIRI-PETIT competed in the truncated ‘Tim Butler Elite Boys’ race, finishing the 2.1 mile course in 10:58.3 for 60th place.
Seniors FAYE GUROLLA and MOLLY FISHER recover at the Finish line; both competed in the Elite race.
Senior FAYE GUROLLA CHOI sprints to the finish in the girls Elite race, placing 73rd in a near-PR of 19:39.9.
San Pedro representing just before the start of the JV D1 boys race.
Junior RAMI ESAHANI was San Pedro’s top finisher in the JV D1 boys race, finishing in 117th place in 18:06.9.
Junior REBEKAH LOPEZ ran over 3 minutes faster than her previous best to place 51st in the girls JV D1 race. Her time of 21:54.2 was the fastest Pirate in the race.
San Pedro Pirates Girls Cross Country
(l-r) Sydney Gales, Kyoko Fujii, Rebekah Lopez, Devine Segovia, Marissa Chavez Lyla Maya
Pomona Fairplex
August 30th 2025
Seven City teams participated at Cool Breeze this year including Belmont, Birmingham, Hamilton, Marshall, Middle College, North Hollywood and Santee.
Sophomore KENSUKE OHSHIMA continued North Hollywood’s eminence with the top City boys performance at Cool Breeze. In his first race of the season Kensuke shaved a minute and 30 seconds off his time from last year on the Pomona Fairplex course to post a 37-second PR of 16:17.4. Kensuke also ran near-even splits which allowed him to move up 13 places in the final 1.5 miles. Well done!
Here are some other notable performances at Cool Breeze.
North Hollywood senior ANANYA BALARAMAN starts the ‘25 Cross-Country campaign in impressive form posting the best City time on a 3-mile course in 7 years and the 3rd best time in 12 years in the Sundown Showdown race at the Cool Breeze Invitational Saturday night. Running almost even splits on a hot (85 degrees at the 9:30pm race start) and windy evening Ananya just missed breaking 17 minutes with a 17:03.6 effort that earned her 2nd place.
Birmingham Looking Strong
Senior YESENIA VALDEZ enters the ‘25 season in top form posting a 40-second PR in the Varsity Large School race at Cool Breeze to place 3rd in 18:18.5.
ALEXIS HUERTA is just 3-weeks back after an IT band flair-up but he still finished the Varsity large school race in a commendable 16:37.1 His splits showed the impact of the lay off but rest assured Alexis will be in the mix come City Finals!
Santee junior ADRIAN AGUIRE posted a 16:46.1 in the large school race, 40 seconds ahead of his mark in last year’s race. Belmont senior EDWIN GOMEZ ran 16:47.3 in the same race which puts him 50 seconds ahead of last year same time. Edwin placed 2nd at City Finals last year so he clearly has his eyes on a City championship this year. On the girls side, Belmont senior GABRIELA ZARAT posted a 19:43.1 for 19th place in the Varsity small school race, 75 seconds ahead of last year’s race.
Here are the top 10 City performances at this year’s Cool Breeze Invitational:
John Glenn High School
Cerritos, CA
August 30th, 2025
Palisades has made the notoriously fast Great Cow Run their season opener for the last 7 years and as usual the Dolphins had some outstanding performances. ZACH COHEN set the City standard with an impressive 14:46.8 to place 2nd in the varsity race. Senior JACKSON TAYLOR, who’s miles ahead of where he was last year, placed 11th in 15:13.8, a 1 minute PR. And sophomore THEO MAYEDA also showed big improvements finishing 54 seconds ahead of his time last year to post a PR of 15:26.4 in the varsity race. Some big question marks around ANDREW RAZO, ETHAN FUNK, MAKO HOLT and newcomer ERNESTO JALAMO, none of whom ran this weekend. Hopefully we’ll see a full team at Woodbridge.
Senior DAILA HARINCK led the Palisades girls with a 5th place in the varsity race, a performance that was over a minute faster than last year, earning her a PR of 18:23.2. ZOEY MORRIS, LULU MAMMEN and KENDAL SHAVER were close behind all finishing within 2 seconds of Daila in 6th, 7th and 8th place respectively. Kendal set a 2-minute PR in the race of 18:25.6 - amazing progress for the junior! Palisades’ #5 MAYA BHASIN also had an impressive run taking over a 1-minute 30 seconds off her PR to place 16th in 19:04.1 and MARIBEL HENDERSON-MACLENNAN also PR’d in 19:04.9 to place 17th in the race. MAYA HIVELY did not run due to conflicts with soccer but hope to see her at Woodbridge.
Pierce Course - 2025
For only the 3rd time in 67 years the City Prelims and Finals will NOT be held on the vaunted Pierce “hill” course that’s hosted some of the City’s greatest runners, a virtually uninterrupted legacy of running unrivaled anywhere in California. Due to construction at Pierce, this year’s post-season competitions will be held on a flat 2-loop course on the north-west side of the Pierce campus (see diagram below). This major course change will have a notable impact on the City Champions, especially affecting individual titles more than team titles. More on this in our upcoming ‘Power Rankings’ issue coming out later this week.
Before 1959, LA City ran their championship races on a 2.0-mile course at “the trails” at UCLA. The record on that course was set by KIRBY TRUE of Marshall in 1958 (9:55.0). The record on the 2-mile Pierce course, the course where City Finals were run from 1959 through 1974, is held by Wilson’s JOSE AMAYA who ran 8:35.0 at City Finals in 1970. Considered by many to be the finest performance at Pierce.
Since the move to Pierce, there have only been 2 deviations to the current Pierce ‘Hill” course and 2 times when the varsity boys did not run the standard Pierce ”Hill” course. The first deviation occurred in 1975, a transition year for City runners in anticipation of the state-wide CIF implementation of a 3-mile/5k standard in 1976, where the course was advertised as 2.85 miles (the record on that course is University’s DAVID PASCAL in 13:54.8). In 1976 the City Section transitioned to the 3-mile course we know today (2.87 miles, actually). The records for the 3-mile Pierce “Hill” course are 14:31.3 by PABLO ROSALES (San Pedro ‘09) and 16:33.2 by MARISSA WILLIAMS (Palisades Charter ‘14).
Note - girls started running City Finals in 1984 so the 3-mile record is all there is.
For reasons unknown, Pierce was not the venue for the 1963 Prelims or Finals; instead both races were run at Peck Park in San Pedro. And in 2010 and 2012 rain caused the races to be moved off of the standard Pierce “Hill” course. In 2010 all races were held on a 5k Pierce rain course, which consisted of two laps around Shepard Stadium and featured relatively flat terrain. In 2012 the boys Varsity Finals race was run on the Pierce hill course (see video – it was a mess) but all the other races that day were moved to Birmingham.
Below is an image of the Pierce Course for the 2025 XC season. The course is 2 loops with each loop 1.5 miles (photo and graphics courtesy of Taft coach Mario Castillo of Taft).
City Division Assignments - 2025
For the 2025 season, there are 10 fewer City team registered for Cross-Country, all from divisions 4 and 5. Last year was a high-water mark by a long shot so hard to say that interest in cross-country is waning but the trend is concerning. Likely though that some notable teams such as Academia Avance and Westchester will ultimately run so the final numbers may be better.
Here are the City XC teams that moved divisions in 2025:
The most surprising change is Monroe’s move from D2 to D1. It’s only the 3rd time in the last 5 years that a team has moved up to D1, the other 2 being Robert F. Kennedy and Venice back in 2023. This move may be a year late for Monroe as last year’s boys varsity team likely would have been chomping on the bit to compete in D1; this year not so much.
A shame to see Mendez back in Division 4 this year. They moved up to D3 in ‘23 and in 2 years usurped the perennial city champs Verdugo Hills last year to win the individual and team boys City titles. This is a program that has shown consistent improvement, both boys and girls, and really should be competing in D2.
‘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!