The Kennedy boys take Irvine by storm in the varsity 1600m at the Irvine/ASICS Distance Carnival.
l-r - Mateo Cedillo, Josiah Castro, Felipe Perez
The Lost Weekend
Some truly amazing performances this past weekend, most of which I missed! Not for lack of effort. I tried to get to Tiger, Irvine Distance and Arcadia - biting off way too much for sure - and due to a whole bunch of unfortunate circumstances missed some of the key races I was targeting. That’s a long way to say that the photo coverage this week is lean. But here are some of the highlights
Tiger Invite - South Pasadena HS
Cleveland sophomore WILL ABIRAGI continues to scintillate with a City leading 1:57.88 to win heat 2 of the 800m. That’s a school grade-level record. Another sophomore, THEO MAYEDA (Palisades), placed 2nd in the Rising Stars 3200m with a huge PB of 9:43.67, #2 on the City leader board. ETHAN FUNK (Palisades) placed 5th in 9:53.80 and DAVID KANNER, in an impressive double, finished in 8th in 9:58.79. Earlier in the day he ran 4:39.32 in the Rising Star 1600m. In the 1600m ISAAC FABIAN (Jr-Eagle Rock) dropped 8 seconds off his PB, placing 2nd in heat 4 in a time of 4:33.06 and Marshall junior ANDREW GARDNER ran 4:34.86 in heat 3. In girls’ highlights, FIONA WALTS (so-Eagle Rock) placed 5th in heat 1 of the varsity 800m race in 2:21.48, just .29 seconds off the Eagle Rock school record.
Irvine/ASICS Distance Carnival - Irvine HS
WHITNEY DERBY continues to impress with another double/double, setting PB’s in both the 800m (2:19.85, a Venice grade-level record and her 1st time sub 2-minutes), and the 1600m (5:11.85, also a school grade-level record and 8 seconds off the Venice record). She’s now #2 in both events on the City leader board. The race of the weekend was the varsity girls 1600m that had 3 of City’s best competing in heat 1, all finishing under 5:20. Whitney was the top City finisher followed closely by Taft senior ISABELLA SAKALOWSKI who posted a massive 10-second PB of 5:15.39, 4 seconds off the Taft school record. Kennedy sophomore EMILY RODRGIGUEZ was the 3rd City finisher with a huge PB of 5:18.34. Great race that is likely a preview of the City Finals. In the 3200m Taft sophomore HUDSON SONG posted a 27-second PR in heat 2 in her first effort under 11:30. Her time of 11:28.75 is #2 on the City leader board and #2 Taft all-time. Oh, and that’s a Taft grade-level record for Hudson too.
Arcadia Invitational - Arcadia HS
Three phenomenal races on Saturday, only 1 of which I actually saw. ETHAN BAROK kicked things off with an epic win in the open mile in 4:17.06 (4:15.54 1600m), a school record in the 1600m and .5 seconds off the mile record that has been on the books since 1965. Later in the day, Palisades competed in the open DMR which culminated in an incredible 4:17 split by ZACH COHEN, a tennis player that runs 2x’s a week. Zach moved Palisades from 8th to 5th place on the final 2 laps finishing in 10:24.13, a Palisades school record. The team included JACKSON TAYLOR, MARLEY DUFF and MAKO HOLT.
Pics coming shortly!
Heard on the Track . . .
Carson sophomore MIGUEL MORA followed up his impressive double last week with 9:45.68 PB at the West Coast Classic Invite at Cerritos College. He’s now #5 on the City leader board in his first season of running. At the Carson-Rancho Dominguez-San Pedro Tri-meet 2 days earlier he won the double in the 1600m and 3200m races in 4:34.27 and 10:06.63.
Six City 10 graders have broken 10 minutes so far this year - Theo Mayeda (Palisades), Miguel Mora (Carson), Felipe Perez (Kennedy), Yael Zambrano Meza (Franklin), Ethan Funk (Palisades) and David Kanner (Eagle Rock). That’s the best showing by a sophomore class in over 20 years and the season’s not over! There are at least 2 additional sophomores that should break 10-minutes by May.
I’ve had several requests to provide LA City Section records for track. The table below lists each City school’s top performance in the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m at the LA City Section Finals (the official City records per the CIF LA City section) from 1980-2025. The times were compiled from athletic.net (2000-2025) and newspapers such as the LA Times and The News-Pilot (1980-1999). Note that performances outside of City Finals and before 1980 are not included. Notably missing are Ian Alsen’s (Granada Hills) incredible double of 4:09.67 and 8:59.54 at the 1988 Arcadia meet, Jose Amaya’s (Wilson) record-setting 8:54.4 in the 2-mile (8:51.3 3200m equivalent) at the 1971 State Finals, and Marrisa Williams 4:39.88 at the 2015 State Finals. Click here to see the data used to compile this list.
Updated - April 8th, 2026: Based on feedback, the table below has been updated.
LA CITY SECTION RECORDS - 800, 1600, 3200
Please notify me via the submittal form at the end of this page with any updates or corrections.
LA City Team Records - Boys
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LA City Team Records - Girls
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Venice sophomores Breanna Morales and Harina Girmay celebrate after the Frosh/Soph 800m
Hamilton freshman ALEC SHARPLEY finished strong in the Frosh/Soph 1600m to win in a PB of 4:44.11. That’s the top 9th-grade performance in City this year.
Venice freshman ARIO MEHR was close behind placing 3rd in a PB of 4:45.86; the #2 freshman time in City.
BREANNA MORALES takes the win in the frosh-soph 800m race at Beach Cities in a PB of 2:30.68. That’s her teammate HARINA GIRMAY who placed 2nd.
Venice senior NOGA AMIT cruises to a PB in the varsity 1600m at Beach Cities.
Arroyo High School - March 21st, 2026
Daila Harinck finishes the Invitational-2 1,600m race at the Meet of Champions in a PB and top City time, 5:00.93
Palisades sophomore THEO MATEO finishes heat 22 of the varsity 1,600m at MOC in 4:33.03, a time that ranks #10 on Palisades all-time sophomore performances.
This is the final 50 meters of the varsity Invitational-3 1,600m at Meet of Champions! That’s Palisades senior JACKSON TAYLOR leading the chase pack in lane 2. His time of 4:20.46 is #1 on the City leaderboard and is the #4 Palisades performance.
Palisades teammates Jackson Taylor and Daila Harinck celebrate with their hardware; both earned medals in Invitational races at Meet of Champions.
Oak Charter High School - March 21st, 2026
Start of the top-rated girls’ varsity 800m race at the Maurice Green Invitational with City runners Aleina Imai (11-Taft), Tiffany Zherdev (9-Taft), Isabella Sakalowsky (7-Taft) and Kiana Diamond (3-Granada Hills)
Taft senior ETHAN BAROK wins the final heat of the varsity 800m with a big surge down the final straightaway. His time of 1:58.34 is the top City time this season and puts him at #4 on Taft’s all-time performance list.
The Kennedy boys warm down after some nice performances in the varsity 1,600m at Mo Green. All 3 posted PB’s with Nour-Alali running 20-seconds faster than his previous best to lead Kennedy with an 4:35.48 effort.
(l-r) - Felipe Perez, Mateo Cedillo, Nour-Alali De Fazio
Granada senior TRISTAN BOOKMAN takes 4th in the 800m at Mo Green with a new PB of 2:01.34. Earlier Tristan placed 4th in the 1600m to lead all City runners in 4:32.44.
Mark Banuelos, Jonah Simkin and Hunter Bennett stride it out after finishing the varsity mile. Hunter led the Toreadors in 4:36.44 and Mark set a PB of 4:47.54.
Granada senior SOPHIA BATTLE surged on the final lap of the girls varsity 1,600m then held off strong competition in the last 100m to win her heat in a PB of 5:48.12.
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.
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!