Franklin sophomore Yael Zambrano-Meza placed 2nd in his 3,200m race and won his heat of the 800m earlier in the day, two of the top City performances at the Arcadia Distance Challenge. Yael’s 3,200m time of 9:53.73 set a grade-level Franklin school record.
Heard on the Track . . .
Marshall freshman Alexander Swartz is focusing on completing his indoor season where he’s already run a 4:39 mile. He’ll be running in the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York next weekend as will Taft’s Ethan Barok.
Garfield senior Daniel Mendoza took home 3 wins at the Eagle Rock/Garfield/North Hollywood tri-meet at Garfield High School on Friday. He ran the 2nd fastest 800m this season 2:01.02, a 4:37.77 in the 1,600m and helped his team win the 4x400m.
Granada Hills Senior Samanthe Pacheco posted the 2nd best 3,200m time of her career, a 11:20.59 at the Don Green Invitational.
Kennedy sophomore Emily Rodriguez posted a PB of 5:22.06 at the Don Green Invite to top the LA City leader board in the 1,600m.
Three sophomore boys posted times of 10-minutes or better in the 3,200m this weekend - Yael Zambrano-Meza (Franklin), Felipe Perez (Kennedy), and David Kanner (Eagle Rock).
Freshmen and Sophomore girls continue to look strong after an impressive XC season; they hold half of the top-10 City rankings in the 800m and 1,600m.
Venice has 3 girls ranked in the City 800m top-10 led by Annabelle Refnes’ 2:21.35, the top City posting this year and way ahead of where she was this time last year. Sub 2:10?
Arcadia Distance Challenge
Saturday March 7th, 2026
Sophomores David Kanner (Eagle Rock) and William Hipple (Taft) start heat 8 of the varsity 1,600m at the Arcadia Distance Challenge. Both set PB’s in the race, Mark finished in 4:38.16 and David in 4:41.44.
Canoga Park girls took the team title in the 4 x 800m race that came down to the last leg and final 200 meters.
(l-r) Gabriela Castellanos, Abrianna Robles, Abriele Arcilla, Ana Jasso
Marshall senior Fausto Noboa finishes the 3rd leg of the 4 x 800m relay and hands off to Angel Perez.
Alexis Huerta finishes strong in heat 9 of the 1,600m in 4:37.43. He ranked 15th out of 201 varsity runners and just missed a PB.
Belmont senior Ashley Perrusquia completes her 1st lap on the 3rd leg of the girl’s varsity 4 x 800m. Belmont finished in 2nd place with a school record of 10:33.59
Taft junior Mark Banuelos leads a chase pack in the varsity seeded 3,200m race. Mark posted a 30-second PR to place 8th in the race just missing a sub-10 mark in 10:04.63.
Belmont sophomore Karen Yes competes in the Frosh/Soph Invitational 800m race where she set a PB of 2:35.82.
— Varsity Invitational Races —
Eagle Rock sophomore Fiona Walts posted the 2nd best City time this season in the 800m with her 2:23.48 performance in the varsity invitational race at the Arcadia Distance Challenge.
Taft sophomore crushed her previous 3,200m PB in the varsity invitational race, breaking 12 minutes to finish 11th in 11:55.35. This is the #3 all-time Taft sophomore performance and the #5 best overall Taft performance.
Taft senior Isabella Sakalowski launches off at the start the varsity 1,600m invitational race. She placed 22nd in a time of 5:29.24.
Taft senior completes the 6th lap in the varsity invitational 3,200m. He finished in 9:48.02 in very windy conditions, just off his PB from last year of 9:41.82.
Taft senior Ethan Barok competes in the 800m varsity invitational race where he ran a 2:00.30 for 8th place in very windy conditions and coming off
Roosevelt 4-Way
Theodore Roosevelt High School
Saturday, February 28th, 2026
Adrian Aguirre hands off to Robert McCovery on the 1st exchange in the DMR
Damien M.endoza finishes the final leg in the DMR to get the win for Bravo Medical
Belmont’s 4x400 Boys Team
Davian Diaz, Ryan Masocha, Pablo Elias, Gilberto Campos
Santee junior Lucy Estrada leads off the 4x400m relay
Roosevelt junior Jeovanny Rodriguez runs the final leg in the DMR.
Bravo Medical sophomore Heily Rose competes in the DMR
Brothers in Arms
All in, there’s over 80 years of LA City experience among these 4 coaches - Julian Parada (Belmont), Robert Mata (Roosevelt), Tomas Aguirre (Santee) and Francisco Quijada (Bravo Medical). With ties going back to their days running at Roosevelt and Bravo Medical, they continue to imbue their passion for the sport into the teams they coach. Thanks for the opportunity to cover the Roosevelt 4-Way!
ETHAN BAROK on the final lap of the 1,500m at the Winter Championships. He closed the race with a 1:02.29 final 400m to place 6th in 3:58.74. That’s the 2nd best time in LA City history and converts to a 4:16.34 1,600m.
W ILL ABIRAGI - Cleveland (Sophomore)
Lots of great performances at the Winter Championships and Will Abiragi’s 1:23.20 in the 600m may have been the best. The performance ranks #2 all-time in the LA City section for 600m and the best sophomore time. The time converts to a 1:54.82 for the 800m which would be a City grade-level record and the 14th best time for any grade in the last 20 years.
ANNABELLE REFNES was in 5th place headed into the final event of the Pentathlon, the 800m. She ran a 2:21.49 to smoke the competition and take the gold in the competition.
JACKSON TAYLOR finishes the 1,200m 1st leg of the distance medley relay handing off to BRENDEN HARPER for the 400m leg. Palisades placed 5th in the race and set school a school record of 10:36.78.
YESENIA VALDEZ competes in the 3,000m at the Winter Championships under the lights. She ran 10:26.53 which is the 3rd best City performance all-time and converts to a 11:12.71 3,200m. Earlier in the day she competed in the 1,500m, running a 4:54.95 (5:16.69 1.600m), the 9th best time ever In City.
Palisades Charter School Record - 4K DMR 10:36.78
(l-r) Jackson Taylor, Ernesto Jalomo, Zach Cohen, Brenden Harpe
Canoga Park senior ABRIELE ARCILLA runs in the 1st heat of the 1,500m at the Winter Championships.
‘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!