GIRLS - Division 1
Granada Hills should claim their 5th consecutive City Team championship and Palisades will be bridesmaid for a second year in a row. Taft will need their best to win over Cleveland and Hamilton.
1. GRANADA HILLS
Granada lost their superstar SOFIA ABREGO and City Champ ISABEL CASTGNOLA from last year’s championship team but that seems to have done little to stop this juggernaut! They return this fall with a powerful varsity team that includes top-ranked sophomore MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ and seniors JOCELYN PACHECO and NAIMA SALAZAR; anyone of these girls could win the individual title. Filling out the varsity squad will be FIONA LEE, ZAIDA VEAZQUEZ and sophomore REECE TRICE. Expect some promising incoming freshman as well. This team has talent, experience and depth . . . a FORMIDABLE team to say the least.
2. PALISADES CHARTER
The dolphins lost only one runner from their ‘21 varsity squad that placed 2nd at the LA City Championships. Returning this year to lead the Dolphins are Senior AVA BAAK and junior KYRA MORRIS who both had outstanding track seasons this past spring. MOLLIE WITTENBERG, Palisades top runner for most of last year, continues to struggle with injuries from this past spring and her fate for the ‘22 XC season is in question. Attempting to fill this void will be Senior LAYLA ADELI and sophomores GIADA RICE and LEENA ADELI. Look for some promising new freshman as well. At their best, with everyone healthy, this team has the capability to compete with Granada.
Th Toreadors are led by relative newcomer LIZETH SANCHEZ. A senior this year, Lizeth competed with SRLA last fall so this is her first season competing for Taft XC. Last spring Lizeth ran a 12:17.68 3,200m at City Finals, the 4th fastest time for a returning D1 athlete. Junior TAALY SCHRIER has 3 seasons of running under her belt coming into this season and we’re predicting significant improvements following a solid summer program. Sophomore KAYLA TJENALOOI had an impressive ‘21 XC season placing 11th at City Finals and continued this success in track where she placed 2nd in the 3,200m West Valley league finals. She’s had some issues with injuries at the end of track but we are expecting continued improvement this fall. ASHLEY WILLIAMS is the X Factor. She’s the 28th ranked returning Division 1 girl but focused on sprinting this past spring. Taft will need her focused on distance running and with a good summer program to continue to improve. Finally, the SAKATA twins, KEILA and LILY, could be a pleasant surprise. They ranked as Taft’s #1 and #2 in the 800m this spring. There’s lot of potential here but both Cleveland and Hamilton will be nipping at their heels. All 3 schools have shown marked improvement in their girls team and the projected scoring spread between the 3 teams is 24 points.
3. TAFT
4. CLEVELAND
The Cavaliers have 4 of their 7 varsity runners back this fall including SOPHIA RICHARDSON, LAYLA ELMEKJI, ANISAH KHAN and ELEANOR CULLITON. Junior KAYLA LOPEZ and sophomore CHARLIZE BOLTON will round out the varsity squad. Cleveland’s prospects will be greatly improved if their top runner from last year’s final, SKYLAR LAMB, makes it back on the team; she is currently playing softball.
Senior LUCIANA VALENCIA returns to once again lead the Yankees following an impressive junior year in XC and track. With Luciana, Hamilton has 5 girls returning from a team that took 5th place at City Finals last year. Look for seniors ADRIANA PLATAS and ELIZABETH SERVIN, junior SHERYLYNN CHENSAM and sophomore MARIA CRUZ SANTIAGO to makeup the balance of the varsity squad. These 4 girls all have similar PR’s in XC and track so their goal should be to work together to take this group to the next level; in the range of 20:30 - 21:00 on Pierce. If they can do this the team has a legitimate shot at 3rd place in November.