DIVISION 1

Granada Hills holds the narrowest of margins over Palisades based on league final performances. In our virtual scoring Granada edged out Palisades by one point. And, if this were to finish in a dead-heat at the Championships the teams’ #6, the decicing factoring in a tie score, were 1 second apart with Palisades getting the nod. So, this one is very close.
Palisades has moved up in the rankings throughout the year and their performance at Mt. Sac, where they soundly defeated all the other City teams including Granada, lent credence to their elevated ranking. But Granada ran without their top runner at Mt. Sac. So, last week’s League Finals is a better measure of Granada’s capabilities and a fairer comparison of how they’ll compete against Palisades.
To win, Granada will need big performances from their top three - sub 15:50 for sure - and their 4th and 5th will need to be close to 16. Granada has the talent to accomplish this. Likewise, Palisades will need 5 runners at or under 16 minutes to take down Granada. The good news is that their top 5 have all shown the ability to do just that during the season. The difference, and its important, is that they’ll need these types of performances on a specific day and in a single race – The City Championships! Final note: If either one of these teams can put their 5 scoring runners across the line under 16 minutes they’ll be in rarified air – the only team to have accomplished that is the 1987 Belmont team.

The boys division 1 individual competition should be exciting on two fronts. First, Palisades’ MAX FIELDS will be attempting a sub-15 minute performance on Pierce, and a school record. If he’s successful, this would rank in the top 25 all time performances on Pierce. Second, the race for runner-up is wide open. Cleveland’s JOSPEH VARGAS heads into Prelims with the 2nd best Pierce performance this year after a huge race at League Finals last Thursday where he came from behind to win in 15:40.0, an almost 20 second PR on Pierce. ECR’s JOSE TORRES has quietly moved into #3 with his 16:02.5 in the same race. But, Granada’s top 3 of ALEX MENDOZA, SEAN TAYLOR and REECE ROBLES will be the ones to watch. They all under-performed at League Finals last week so expect much bigger races from these three on Championship day.

Side note: Palisade’s freshman ZACHARY COHEN will not only be looking to break 16-minutes at the City Champsionships but he’s also eyeing the Palisades’ freshman record currently held by Brent Smith. If he breaks 16 minutes on Pierce, he’ll be only the 4th freshman to do it.

Do not count out San Pedro lest you forget the lessons of 2019. This team has been without their top 2 runners for almost the entire season. And neither DANIEL RUIZ nor ADRIAN SVERLOW-MENDOZA ran League Finals. But if San Pedro can get their A-team on the line AND healthy, look for them to disrupt the norm. This team has historically surprised and impressed at city finals.

Division 2
The Division 2 boys contest is definitely getting hot! Eagle Rock has the the edge going into Finals but their advantage over Venice is smaller than last week’s results would lead you to believe. ADAM LEWIS and EVANGEL HIGHTOWER-ROJAS. lead a seasoned Eagles team that will need to drop 20 seconds across the board at finals to ensure a win on November 19th. Venice’s PAUL TRANQUILLA will be looking to tap into earlier season successes to win the individual and team City titles. He’ll get help from a rapidly improving freshman LONDON WEBSTER who currently has the 4th best division 2 time at Pierce. But Venice will need a much better performance from LEO MENDEZ to have any chance at Eagle Rock.

Marshall’s JUAN ZAMORA enters the City Championships as the top division 2 runner, having posted the best division 2 time and the 3rd fatest time across all League Finals at Pierce, 15:45.7. That performance followed a very strong performance at Bell-Jeff where his time ranked as the #1 City time.

Division 3
Verdugo Hills fared well at Mt. Sac with nice performances by DUSTIN HARZMAN and WILLIAM LOW and without their top runner EVAN HELLERSIECK. All 3 ran at their East Valley League Finals last week but Evan has missed several races and under-performed at League running 17:14.1 (he ran a 16:44.6 as a sophomore last year). If the Dons can get a complete team out at City Finals they should have no problem winning the team title. The better race at City Finals will be the individual competition where Franklin’s FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ will be looking to set school, league and division records in a performance that should close in on 15-minutes. His teammate, junior MATHEW LAMBAN, in his first year of running, will be looking to take the runner-up spot. If he does, that will be the 2nd year in a row that Franklin goes 1-2 at finals. BUT, he’ll be chased by Reseda’s very talented JUDE SANDRIDGE who at his best can easily break 16 minutes.

Division 4
East Valley is a huge surprise in Division 4. They were not even on our radar for the boys but currently have their top 5 runners ranked in the top 10 for division 4 so they should win the team title going away. Not far behind is Mendez LC which should take the runner-up spot. These 2 teams are far ahead of the other division 4 teams that will be competing at City Finals.

MIGUEL MOREALES-LOPEZ of Mendez LC should win the division 4 individual title. He posted the top ranked performances based on his converted time of 18:12.0 on the Elysisn 5k course. The runnerup spot will go to ABEL SERRANO (East Valley), JACOB RUEDA (Valley Academy of Arts & Sciences), or freshman MARVIN JOHNSON (East valley) who are all within seconds of each other.

Division 5
Sun Valley Magnet moved to the top in division 5 after some very impressive performances at league finals.. No super stars on this team just a solid core of 5 runners led by MICHAEL PINEDA that are all within 1 min 15 seconds of each other. Alliance Marine is the only other team close and should place 2nd.

In the individual competition New West Charter’s WILLIAM BUJAKE is projected to win big. He’s had some huge performances this year, rivaling top division 1 athletes, and he’ll be looking to set school, league and division records at the Championship. He ran the 2-mile race at Mt. Sac (so no basis for ranking) but his PR of 15:32.1, which he posted at Woodbridge, should set him up for a mid-15 minute performance at City Finals.