DIVISION 1
The Granada Hills girls continue to be the prohibitive favorite in division 1. As an illustration of the strength of this team, if their top 2 runners didn’t finish the City Final race, LACXC.com projects that they would still win the team championship by over 15 points. So, no surprises anticipated for the division 1 girls team champion – Granada Hills!

The team competition for 2nd place in the girls' division 1, on the other hand, is far from certain. Palisades has led this rivalry for most of the year, but Hamilton took top City honors at Mt. Sac with a better team time and virtual score than Palisades. Palisades won back City bragging rights at league finals last week taking an 8-point victory over Hamilton in the 2 teams only varsity head-to-head competition this year, on the Pierce course. For that reason, we have Palisades ranked 2nd and Hamilton 3rd. These 2 teams are fierce competitors with a lot on the line. This will be the best girls team competition at City Finals.

The division 1 girls' individual competition will be WAY more competitive than last year. Six girls have already broken 19 minutes on Pierce (for comparison, last year only 1 runner broke 19-minutes, at City Finals) including Granada’s JOJO PACHECO, who has dominated the girls City competitions this year, going undefeated against all City competition. Close behind is her sister SAMMY PACHECO (who has moved into Granada’s #2 position as a freshman), Palisades’ AVA BAAK, Granada’s NAIMA SALAZAR, Hamilton’s LUCIANA VALENCIA, and Taft’s LIZ SANCHEZ. Add into the mix MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ (Granada Hills) and KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION (Garfield) and we’re predicting 8 runners in division 1 that should go under 19 minutes on November 19th. The individual title is JoJo’s for the taking but the race for 2nd place should be a good one.

DIVISION 2
The upstarts from division 3, Canoga Park, look to have firm grasp on the team championship in division 2. But Bravo Medical has made some impressive moves in the rankings, jumping from 7th to 2nd in little over a month. Beware, Bravo’s league final times, and therfore their rankings, are based on converted Elysian times and these conversions are hardly a science. So, depending on the accuracy of these conversions this race may be much closer than 43 point difference we’re showing. Third place will be a shootout between Venice, Eagle Rock and Monroe; the 3 teams are within 6 points of each other in our virtual scoring.

As exciting as the division 2 team competion might be, the race of the day is the division 2 individual champsionship. Marshall sophomore GABBIE CANNESSON posted the top division 2 time at Pierce, 19:16.5, to win the Northern League finals last week. Canoga park’s ANGELINA VALLADARES will be looking for redemption after taking 2nd place in that same race, though she won the Valley Mission league title. Bravo Medical sophomore BRYNN BOGUE won her Southern League final race last week and also posted the top division 2 time at Mt. Sac 2 weeks ago.. Venice’s LIDIA PROKOPOVYCH-SCCHEPETKIN finds herself in the same place she was last year - very few races under her belt - before she won the City Championship in 19:07.3. These 4 girls should all go under 19 minutes at the City Championship which would be a 1st in division 2. This will be the race to watch on November 19th!

DIVISION 3
Three teams showed very well at League Finals and are within 15 points of each other: Reseda, SOCES, and Helen Bernstien. Reseda has the edge and should win led by MOLLY SANDRIDGE who had the top division 3 time at Pierce of 20:31.8. That time is over a minute better than her league finals last year and sets her up as the front-runner for the individual City title as well.. SOCES freshman ALEXANDRA VILLANUEVA is ranked 2nd in division 3 and has the 4th fastest time at Pierce for a 9th grader across all divisions. Her teamate LILY TETELL is close behind and ranks 3rd in division 3. Helen Bernstein’s XENIA VILLAREAL could challenge for the City title if she is in top form but she hasn’t been running up to last year’s level so far this year.. We were expecting more from the Helen Bernstein team as well. With Canoga Park moving out of division 3 to division 2 and Reseda without their top runner from last year, YANILETTE MONTANO, Berstein looked to have a legitimate chance of winning the team title. If they can get back to last year’s form they still may have a chance.

DIVISION 4
Like the boys’ team, the East Valley girls impressed in their League Finals, jumping up in the rankings from 10th to 1st. Big shout out to coaches Jose Rivera and David Sanchez who have taken a program that literally didn’t exist 2 year ago to the #1 spot in division 4. They should take the girls division 4 City title on November 19th but neither Mendez LC nor Orthopedic (who also had a very impressive league finals) will make it easy.; both teams are within 20 points of East Valley.

Freshman KELLIE MENA (Maywood Center for Enriched Studies) is the top ranked division 4 going into the City Championships. A vastly improved JAQUELINE JUAREZ (East Valley) is ranked 2nd, she posted a time that is over 3 minutes faster than her league final time from last year. Last year’s champion HANNAH CARLSON is ranked 3rd but her league final time this year is better than last year and she broke 21 minutes in the City Final last year to win that race. Do not count Hannah out!

DIVISION 5
Sun Valley Magnet ranks #1 headed into City Finals with a fairly comfortable 21 point advantage over 2nd ranked Stern. Sun Valley Coach Pablo Carlos consistantly has top-rated teams and a win at City this year would be his 2nd in four years for the girls. Sophomore GABRIELA NASCIMENTO (New West Charter) is the class of the division and, like her teammate on the boys side, will be running for division, league and school records at City Finals. But this will not be as easy as last year. Freshman VALERIE PALMA (Stern) had an impessive run last week at Elysian Park to win the Galaxy League Finals and her converted time matches up closely with Gabriele’s time on the Peck course. She is the 3rd ranked freshman across all divisions. Freshman GRISELDA ROCA (Sun Valley Magnet) isn’t far behind ranking 3rd in division 5.