The Hamilton Girls Varsity XC Team
Sets Their Sights on City Finals with a Goal of Earning Their 1st State Bid
L-R: Deborah Kabongo (8113), Maria Cruz Santiago (8110), Adriana Platas (8117), Sherilynne Chensam (8108),
Jasmin Campos (8106), Elizabeth Servin (8119),
Klaudia Czako (8111), Luciana Valencia (8122)
All Time Top 100 - BOYS
‘22 City Invite Schedule
21/22 XC & Track - ‘The Drive
GIANT SLAYERS?
Follow us on the ‘Gram at LACXCNEWS
PIERCE ALL TIME TOP 100
The Pierce Top 100 rankings identify the top performances at the City Section Prelims and Finals from 1977 (boys) and 1984 (girls), on the current Pierce course. Performances listed in RED are course records at the time of the performance and performances in BOLD RED are current course records. Two girls, Granada Hills’ JOCELYN PACHECO (#27) and MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ (#91), both made the list based on their Prelims performances last week.
CITY FINAL TIME REQUIREMENT TO MAKE LIST
BOYS 15:24.3
GIRLS 18:38.0
PIERCE TOP 100 - GIRLS
PIERCE TOP 100 - BOYS
LA CITY SECTION PRELIMS
Pierce College
November 12th, 2022
Our favorite day on the City XC calendar the LAC Prelims brings together teams that in many cases only compete against each other once a year. It’s also a first chance to see many of the East and Coast Conference teams on the Pierce course. But attempting to rank teams or project City Titles based on Prelims is a fool’s game. Many of the top teams use Prelims as a practice run for finals going so far as to run in trainers and run in a pack. So no ranking updates based on Prelims but some observations (of course). . .
Two division 5 records were broken at Saturday’s Prelims. GABRIELA NASCIMENTO and WILLIAM BUJAKE, both from New West Charter, set both division and school records for the Pierce course. Gabriela posted 19:07.6 and she’ll undodoubtedly be looking to break 19 minutes next Saturday at the City finals. William won the division 5 race easily in 16:13.0 and he too will be looking to break a Pierce milestone, 16 minutes.
City Records
New West Charter junior GABRIELA NASCIMENTO at the turn-around on the Pierce College course at the Division 5 City Prelims on Saturday, November 12th. Gabriela ran 19:07.6 to break the previous division 5 course record of 19:15.06 set in 2016 by VANESSA MORENO of Academia Avance. Gabriela also beat her previous school record of 19:37.6 on the Pierce course that she set at last year’s City Finals.
New West Charter senior WILLIAM BUJAKE with 800 meters to go at the division 5 City Prelims at Pierce College. Will ran 16:13.0 to break the previous division 5 course record of 16:40.0 set in 2019 by CESAR ROMERO of Maywood Center for Enriched Studies. Will also set a school record previously held by BRANDON ADREANI (16:47.2) set at last year’s City Final.
The division 2 girls individual title has been one of the most hyped race of the upcoming City Finals. The top division 2 girls - ANGELINA VALLADARES (Canoga Park), BRYNN BOGUE (Bravo Medical), GABBIE CANNESSON (Marshall), and LIDIA PROKOPOVYCH-SHCHEPETKIN (Venice) - all have impressive credentials. Add into the mix ANGELINA LOPEZ (Canoga Park) who had a big course PR of 19:29.2 and you have the makings for a very competative individual title race.
BUT, the division 2 team race has heated up as well . . . A LOT! One month ago Bravo Medical was ranked 7th. Last week, based on league final results, Bravo moved to #2. And then Saturday, the Bravo girls posted the top division 2 time . . . by almost a minute! Notwithstanding the caveats above, that was an impressive day of running by Bravo and should put Canoga Park on notice that the team title is not a lock.
Girls Division 2
ANGELINA VALLADARES has run several nice races at Pierce culminating in her 18:47.5. But her best is yet to come. If she gets her pacing right at final she should be in the low 18’s setting her up for a City title.
Bravo Medical’s BRYNN BOGUE’s effortless running style is deceptive. She posted the 4th fastest time at Prelims in what looked like a walk in the park. She’ll need to be all in at City Finals to secure a City title.
Since the start of the ‘22 XC season Granada Hills has been on top of the division 1 rankings.. That’s been the constant and well deserved. They were the only team that appeared to have 6-7 runners that could run under 16:30 on Pierce and in most year’s that wins the City title. Palisades Charter looked promising but was a very young and inexperienced team; factors that have traditionally not played well on Pierce. But if you examine trajectories and where teams are trending Palisades looks to be the team to beat on November 19th. And, their best races this year have been at Mt. Sac and Pierce at Prelims, where they have been the top City time.
Boys Division 1
Palisades Charter packs it in at heat 1 of the City Prelims. Palisades had 6 runners under 16:15. Three of those runners were freshman including BLAKE SIGWORTH (1301) who had a massive 1 minute improvement over his league final time at Pierce.
Granada Hills take the lead at the start of heat 2 at the City Prelims. On paper they’re performance at Prelims ranked #2 but this is a team that does it’s best work at Finals. Look for some big PR’s and at least 4 runners under 16 minutes.
The Pali and Hami girls have dueled it out all year long, most recently in a head-to-head competition on the Pierce course at the Western League Finals. That race set the stage for the Prelims which had Pali and Hami seeded in the same heat. But while these 2 teams fought it out on the hills and switchbacks of the 2.84 mile Pierce course, an interloper was looming in their mist. Cleveland was ranked 5th just 4 weeks ago and nothing at the West Valley League Finals indicated much was going to change leading up to the City Finals. That perspective changed at Saturday’s Prelims where four of Cleveland’s top 5 girls posted course PR’s, led by senior LAYLA EKMEKJI. Their #5, sophomore LUCY CULLITON, posted a massive 1 minute 36 seconds improvement over her League Final time at Pierce just a week earlier. When the dust had settled and we tallied the scores for division 1, Cleveland had moved into the #3 spot ahead of Hamilton and Taft.
Girls Division 1
LAYLA EKMEKJI (2234), ELEANOR CULLITON (2232) and SOPHIA RICHARDSON (2237) had big races at Saturday’s City Prelims to boost Cleveland’s prospects in the division 1 City Finals.
OK . . Call us a fool but here’s one ranking to illustrate how score and team-time don’t always jive. Check out Cleveland and Bell.
This table ranks the top 12 division 1 girls team virtual scores based on performances at the City Prelims.
Eagle Rock has been chasing Venice for most of the season. In our initial rankings we had Venice at #3 and Eagle Rock at #5. Both teams have moved up during the season with Eagle Rock finally taking the top position at the beginning of November based on League Finals performances. Eagle Rock kept the advantage again at Prelims, though ever so slightly. Each team has made their success in different ways. Venice’s top 3 consist of sophomore PAUL TRANQUILLA and freshmen LONDON WEBSTER and ALEXANDER DU. While Eagle Rock is relying on 3 seniors and 4 juniors led by ADAM LEWIS. In the virtual scoring from Prelims Eagle, Rock, Venice and Bravo Medical are all within 6 point of each other.
Boys Division 2
ADAM LEWIS leads the Eagle Rock varsity squad in warms-ups prior to the heat 1 of the division 1 & 2 City Prelims.
FABRIZZIO ROMERO posted the 3rd fastest division 2 time at the City Prelims to lift Bravo Medical to within 2 point of Eagle Rock.
One last ranking, promise! There are a lot of great races this coming week-end but this may be my new favorite. Four team within 20 points of each other and the team-times are all over the place. Fifth boy is going to matter! This race starts at 11:30am!
PAUL TRANQUILLA leads heat 2 at the City Prelims through the 1-mile mark. Paul finished with the 3rd fastest time overall and the top division 2 time.
THE FINAL ‘22 CITY RANKINGS
The team and individual rankings presented below are based on the League Final performances from last week. In total 2,584 City athletes competed in League Final at 3 venues - Elysian Park, Peck Park and Pierce College (click here for more details):
The 7 best times for each team across all races (Varsity, JV, Frosh/Soph) were used to calculate team times and scores
These team times and scores were used to create virtual scorings by division, using the top 12 teams in each division to simulate the City Finals.
All posted performances from Elysian Park and Peck Park have been converted to a Pierce course equivalency in order to provide comparative rankings.
Schools with less than 5 athletes competing in all league finals races were eliminated from the rankings.
Team Rankings - BOYS
Team Rankings - Girls
WESTERN LEAGUE FINALS
Pierce College - Friday, Nov 4th
WEST VALLEY LEAGUE FINALS
Pierce College - Thursday, Nov 3rd
EAST VALLEY, VALLEY, NORTHERN LEAGUE FINALS
Pierce College - Wed, Nov 2nd
BELL GARDENS INVITATIONAL
El Dorado Park, Long Beach
October 15th, 2022
As predicted, a big day for City athletes at the Bell Gardens Invitational. We didn’t get everything right in our Friday preview. Marshall was a no-show, Paul Tranquilla ran the Varsity Race instead of grade-level, and our predictions in the freshman races didn’t pan out. But for the most part the day played out as expected. But there were some surprises. The Palisades team winning wasn’t a big surprise but they way they did is sure was – 5 runners under 16 minutes including 2 freshman and a sophomore. The Palisades and Hamilton girls contest show cased 2 spectacular performances from AVA BAAK and LUCY VALENCIA. In the end these 2 teams, one of which will go to State, were separated by a mere 6 seconds. And the girls Bravo Medical team, ranked 7th just 2 weeks ago, took down 2nd place Venice based on team times. The biggest surprise, though, may have been KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION’s performance in the very competitive girls sophomore race.
STATE CONTENDERS
Granada Hills, Hamilton and Palisades Charters seniors line up at Bell Gardens. These teams will all be in the hunt for the top 2 team places in the division 1 City Finals in November and an invitation to the State meet.
Senior Girls
This race did not disappoint! At the 1-mile mark 5 City girls were in the top 7, led by JOCELYN PACHECO who won the race in decisive fashion, and at the finish 6 City girls placed in the top eleven. Her teammate NAIMA SALAZAR had a big 2nd half of the race to move from 5th place at the first mile to finish 2nd in the race. Palisades’ AVA BAAK, running at less than 100%, gutted out an impressive 3rd place finish, a full minute ahead of her time last year… the year she took 3rd at City Finals! And, maybe the biggest surprise was LUCY VALENCIA’s 4th place finish, run only 2 days after winning a cluster meet at Peck Park (considered by many to be more difficult than Pierce or Mt. Sac) against division 5 standout Gabrielle Nascimento. This was a milestone performance that shows she can run with the top girls! Granada’s ZAIDA VELZAZQUEZ took 8th place in a fine performance that she’ll probably be a little disappointed with. Venice’s LIDIA PROKOPOVYCH-SHCHEPETKIN continues to improve with a performance that moves her in range of division 2 leader sophomore Brynn Bogue.
JOCELYN PACHECO passes the 1-mile mark at Bell Gardens with a large lead that she held on to the finish. She led an impressive senior Granada Hills senior team that had 3 girls in the top 10.
3 of LA City’s top runners, NAIMA SALAZAR (309), ZAIDA VELAZQUEZ (315) and LUCY VALENCIA (334) lead out the Senior race at Bell Gardens. Naima finished in 2nd place, Lucy in 4th and Zaida in 8th.
BELL GARDENS CITY RANKINGS - GIRLS
Granada Hills continues their quest for a record 5th straight City Championship with a dominate performance at Bell Gardens. Other division 1 teams Palisades and Hamilton placed 2nd and 3rd with only 6 seconds separating their top-5. But those times to not tell the whole story. Palisades’ #2 KYRA MORRISON did not run and Hamilton’s ADRIANA PLATAS is returning from an injury. Bravo Medical looks to be a strong front-runner in division 2; Mt. Sac will give us a better idea how the Knights will fare against Canoga Park. Verdugo Hills, a team we didn’t even have on our radar, is in ascendecy.
Senior Boys
Venice’s PAUL TRANQUILLA and Granada Hills’ SEAN TAYLOR were the top City finishers placing 9th and 10th in the race and 4th and 5th in City rankings. Paul’s not going to be happy with his race but on a slick course that is 20-30 seconds slower than the ‘fast’ courses that was a more than capable performance. And if I didn’t mention it, Paul is a sophomore; his time of 15:47.7 would have won the sophomore race by 8 seconds. Sean ran his 3rd sub-16 performance on Saturday and continues to push teammate Alex Mendoza for team preeminence. W’e’re looking forward to seeing where Sean lands in November.. Granada was without REECE ROBLES so don’t let the team standings from Bell Gardens influence your thoughts about City Final results too much. We‘ve run the numbers, imputing an estimate for a Reece Robles performance, and the numbers are markedly different - look for our City Final Preview on November 11th. Bravo Medical’s FABRIZZIO ROMERO and CHRISTIAN TRUJILLO both look to be getting back to form and led an impressive Knight boys team on Saturday. Seven of their top 10 runners PR’d on this course, most of whom had run Woodbridge. That’s a very encouraging sign!. Verdugo’s WILLIAM LOW also had a big PR to place in the top 20 and was part of a resurgent Verdugo Hills’ boys team that looks to be setting the stage for a repeat division 3 City Championship.
Venice sophomore PAUL TRANQUILLA crosses the finish line in the Senior Race in 15:47.7. He was the top sophomore at Bell Garden and placed 9th in this race; the 8 runners in front of him were all seniors.
BELL GARDENS CITY RANKINGS - BOYS
The Palisades boys showed well at Bell Gardens, bouyed by their younger freshman and sophomore runners. Both Palisades and Granada were without top runners; Pali was missing ELAN LEE and Granada REECE ROBLES. This will be a nail-biter for the division 1 titles with the winner going to the the team that can line-up a healthy varsity squad on November 19th. Division 2 saw Bravo Medical leap frog over Eagle Rock in team results but both were well off Venice’s team time. Verdugo Hills continues to reign supreme in division 3.
Junior Girls
The start for this race was fast and the winner ran the only sub-18 time all day, 17:42.8. But Granada’s LILIANNA MOREIRA maintained her composure, holding her position the whole race to place 4th in 19:48.1. Palisades VIRGINIA O’NEILL ran an incredibly gutsy race to place 9th in 20:13.8. This is a vastly improved runner who ranked 15th on the Palisades team last year and currently ranks 2nd. Cleveland’s KAYLA LOPEZ closed out the top 10 with a 20:15.5.
Other noteworthy performances: Palisades’ sophomore LEENA ADELI had a huge PR 20:25.0 to make a big move up the Palisades girls depth chart to #3. Eagle Rock’s ELLIZABETH CORRIGAN was the top finisher for the Eagles and moves into the City division 2 top 10 with this performance.
LILIANNA MOREIRA ascends the only hill at Bell Gardens at about the 1-mile mark. She placed 4th in the Junior race in 19:48.1.
VIRGINIA O’NEILL leads the Junior race in the 1st 800 meters. A surprise front-runner for Palisades she placed 9th in the race in 20:13.8.
Eagle Rock’s ELIZABETH CORRIGAN continues to improve this year. She was the top Eagles runner at Bell Gardens, placing 14th in the Junior race in 20:27.0
Junior Boys
Palisades’ MAX FIELDS and Granada’s ALEX MENDOZA led for most of the race with Max pulling away at 2 miles to finish with the best City time and the 2nd top performance on the day in what is becoming a routine sub-15 14:58.3. Max, who also is not 100%, ran 40 seconds ahead of last year’s time so prospects for a 15-minute run at Pierce are looking promising. Alex faded in the last mile but this was definitely a noteworthy performance by a runner who will be a legitimate contender for the City title. AXEL MAMMEN placed 4th in 15:59.9 to join a 5-boy Palisades contingency that broke 16 minutes at Bell Gardens. That’s important because this Bell Gardens course is a good proxy for Pierce and the last team to have 5 runners break 16 on Pierce was the great Belmont team of 1998. JOSEPH VARGAS (Cleveland) ran 16:03.6 for 5th. Granada’s ALEC FLORES had a nice PR and RYAN DUDLEY closed out the top 10 in 9th and 10th place. Twelve City runners placed in the top 20 in this race.
Some other notable performances . . .
Garfield’s BRANDON RODRIGUEZ ran a big PR of 16:21.14 which placed him just outside of both the race and City top 10. Birmingham’s EFRAIN HERNANDEZ also PR’d and if his performance trajectory continues will be an impact runner in November. The boys from Verdugo Hills are beginning to show what they are made of. Both EVAN ELLERSIECK and DUSTIN HARZMANN ran PR’s on Saturday and join teammate William Low in a triumvariate that will look to spoil Franklin’s designs on a 1-2 finish at the City championships.
MAX FIELDS (1352) and ALEX MENDOZA (1197) take the lead at 1,000 meters into the Junior race. Max won the race in 14:53.8 and Alex placed 3rd in 15:38.2; the two fastest City performances.
Palisades’ AXEL MAMMEN was one of 8 City athletes to break 16 minutes at Bell Gardens. His 15:59..9 was a PR and ranks him as the Dolphin’s #5 on a very talented team.
Girls Sophomore
This was the race of the day! Three girls, Granada’s MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ, Garfield’s KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION and Bravo Medical’s BRYNN BOGUE, battled it out for most of the race. At the finish that was the order with Meztli pulling away in the final mile for the win. Brynn ran a fierce race, leading from the start. But Kelia, who was in 4th place at the 1-mile mark and looked like she was being dropped, rallied in the final mile to finish in 2nd with a big PR of 18:57.1. That performance was the 7th best City performance at Bell Garden and ranks her in the City top-10 this season. Phenomenal performances by all three girls. Other notable performances: SOFIA NAJARRO (Bravo Medical) 20:23.7 and MARIA CRUZ (Hamilton) 20:33.8 both had PR’s placing 8th and 10th.
MEZTLIE VELAZQUEZ finished the final mile at Bell Gardens in dominate fashion to pull away for the win and post the 8th fastest time on the day in 18:37.9.
KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION had a big PR to place 2nd in the Sophomore race. She ran a very impressive last mile to take 2nd place .
Bravo Medical’s BRYNN BOGUE leads the Sophomore race at the half-way point with Granada’s MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ and Garfield’s KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION. These City girls took the top 3 places in the Sophomore race.
Boys Sophomore
Palisades’ OWEN LEWICKY led this race from start to finish to win in 15:55.6 in a very confident performance. His first mile was hot, close to 5 minutes. A more measured pace and Owen’s likely closer to 15:30. But then again, it takes a 5-minute 1st mile at Mt. Sac to be in the hunt so maybe that was good practice! The hyped match-up between Owen and Paul Tranquilla didn’t’ happen since Paul ran the varsity race. Owen’s teammate BEN BARNETT placed 7th in 16:28.30.
OWEN LEWICKY holds a decisive lead at the half-way point of the Sophomore race. He continued to grow the lead to over 18 seconds to win in a time of 15:55.8.
BEN BARNETT (1346) leads a chase pack in the Sophomore race. He was the 2nd City finisher in the race taking 7th place in 16:57 8.
Girls Freshman
If there is a more fearless runner in southern California high school running than Sammy Pacheco I haven’t seen her, or him. Yes, that Pacheco, younger sister of Jocelyn. I first saw her run in a combined boys-girls Varsity cluster meet at Pierce back in early September. I had asked some of the Varsity boys to lead out the race fast through the first turn so I could get a good picture. Sammy was the first one to reach the turn, ahead of all the girls AND boys! So I have a great picture of her…not so much of the varsity boys! That’s how Sammy runs. Regardless of the competition she’s going in the lead. And that’s what she did on Saturday. Nine times out of ten an 18:40 wins the freshman race at Bell Gardens. Unfortunately, the other freshman in the race ran the 2nd best time of the invitational in 18:08.3. Nevertheless, Sammy’s performance was equal to some of her best performances this year and nothing to be dissappointed with. In addition to Sammy, there were some other outstanding City performances. Three girls from Palisades ran PR’s – LOUISA MAMMEN, MARIBEL HENDERSON-MACLENNAN and MAYA BHASIN – finishing within 20 seconds of each other to place 6th, 7th and 8th and Hamilton’s KLAUDIA CZACKO finished in 10th.
Granada standout SAMANTHA PACHECO leads the girls freshman race at Bell Gardens. She finished in 2nd place in 18:40.7, the 10th fastest performance on the day. That’s her dad in the background.
Boys Freshman
Palisades ZACHARY COHEN cruised to his 2nd win in 8 days to lead the Dolphins to a decisive team win in the freshman race. Teammate ANDREW RAZO ran side-by-side with Zachary most of the race until the last mile. Both ran PR’s under 16 minutes. Another Dolphin BLAKE SIGWORTH placed 3rd in 16:31.3, just ahead of Granada’s JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI who had an off-day. Venice’s LONDON WEBSTER placed 5th in 16:47.3 for a nice PR. London will be someone to watch in division 2 in November.
In total, Palisades had all 7 of their runners finish in the top 21 in this race. One of their top freshman, BRIAN WELSH, finished outside of the top 10 but he is recovering and if can get back to 100% he should be vying for a spot on the varsity team.
Palisades ‘Four Freshman’: ANDREW RAZO (1358) and ZACHARY COHEN (1350) lead at Bell Gardens with BRIAN WELSH and BLAKE SIGWORTH close behind. They placed 1st (Zachary), 2nd (Andrew), 3rd (Blake) and 7th (Brian) to win the team title.
CITY PREVIEW
BELL GARDENS INVITATIONAL
El Dorado Park, Long Beach
October 15th, 2022
This year’s Bell Gardens Invitational will showcase some of the City’s top athletes and sets up some exciting individual contests that we’ll likely not see again until City Finals. And the medals should be raining down on City athletes who have a chance to win 6 of the 8 events on Saturday, depending on how teams seed their runners.
The El Dorado Park course is not the raceway of years past when season PR’s were almost a lock. This is a legit 3 miles and the first 200 meters is a literal mine field of gopher holes. Add a small hill at the half-way mark and it’s just enough to keep many runners off their Woodbridge times. For runners playing catch-up though, this is decent course to attempt a season best.
Ten City schools are competing including top ranked Granada Hills, Palisades Charter, Hamilton, Venice, Bravo Medical and Verdugo Hills.
THE GIRLS RACES
The Granada Hills girls have the potential to win each of the 4 grade-level races at Bell Gardens depending on how they race their varsity team. Top teams typically run the Senior Race like a sweepstakes with the top juniors and sophomores running alongside seniors. If Granada runs their varsity team in the senior race the 4-race sweep won’t happen but we have the inside scoop and Granada is running grade-level across the board. So here’s what that looks like…
Granada has the top-rated City freshman, SAMANTHA PACHECO. If she runs the Freshman race she should win going away. Her PR of 18:20.9 is more than a minute ahead of last year’s winning time.
Granada’s MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ should win the sophomore race, too. But she’ll get some stiff competition from two other City runners, Bravo Medical’s BRYNN BOGUE and Marshall’s GABBIE CANNESSON. All three have the potential to win this race and should be in the top 10 for sure. Look for KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION (Garfield) to challenge the City’s top sophomores. If last year is any indication she is on a steep performance curve so do not count her out.
The closest race of the four will be the Junior Race. Granada’s LILLIANNA MORIERA has a season best that’s close to what it will take to win this race. But, just like the Sophomore race there’s a city runner, Garfield’s SOPHIA NARANJO-CHAMPION, who is not going to make this easy. On the right day either of these girls could win this race.
The Senior Race, regardless of where teams run their varsity, is going to be a cavalcade of City talent. Five girls ranked in our City Top-10 are in the race including Granada’s JOCELYN PACHECO, NAIMA SALAZAR and ZAIDA VELAZQUEZ, Palisade Charter’s AVA BAAK, and Venice’s LIDIA PROKOPOVYCH-SHCHEPETKIN. Get ready for some spectacular finishline pictures because the top 10 should be dominated by City runners that likely will also include Hamilton’s LUCY VALENCIA and Venice’s ELIN NOWAK.
DO NOT MISS THIS RACE!
THE BOYS RACES
The boys’ races will pit a seasoned Granada team against the interlopers from Palisades Charter in what will be a preview of post-season competition in November. Word on the street is that Palisades will run grade-specific races so this won’t be a varsity showdown in the Senior race. But that’s just going to spread the talent and make the 4 races more exciting. Like the girls, the City boys should have a chance to win most of the races.
In the Freshman race, Granada Hill’s JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASILLA goes up against the Palisades triumvirate of BRIAN WELSH, ZACHARY COHEN, and ANDREW RAZO. The PR’s don’t tell the full story here as some of these runners have recently started to show well on very difficult course. Suffice to say these boys are red hot and I’d be very surprised if they don’t place 1-4 in this race. Get there early to watch what is sure to be City’s next section champion in a couple of years.
We can only hope that the sophomore race will have Venice’s PAUL TRANQUILLA and Palisades’ OWEN LEWICKY squaring off. It’s likely that Paul will run the Senior Race. But if not, this will be a treat for fans of City XC. Paul is favored to win the Division 2 City championship in November and if that happens he’d be only the 3rd City boy to accomplish that feat. Owen’s PR, which was run on a rain-slick course in less than ideal conditions, is just 23 seconds off Paul’s. What phenomenal talents! A City boy WILL win this race and in the process, spectators will be treated to 2 of City’s best athletes.
Another great City showdown in the Junior Race with City’s top ranked runner Palisades’ MAX FIELDS going toe-to-toe with Granada’s ALEXANDER MENDOZA in a matchup that should portend the division 1 City Championships. This is the 1st course that Max has run this year that can be compared to his sophomore year so it will be interesting to see how he’s progressed. Like the freshman and sophomore races we are projecting a City win in this race.
Granada Hills has several runners that should place in the top 10 in the Senior Race including SEAN TAYLOR and REECE ROBLES but a victory is probably 20-30 seconds away. It’s been almost a month since Eagle Rock’s ADAM LEWIS and palisades’ ETHAN LEE posted their PR’s so it will be interesting to see if they can break the 16-minute barrier. If they can that should place them in the top 20. Even if Granada Hills and Palisades Charter run their full varsity teams in this race they are unlikely to beat perennial favorite Ayala though.
SANTA CLARITA INVITATIONAL
College of the Canyons
October 8th, 2022
City Teams: 13
Boys: 131
Girls: 123
This must be the season for new courses, first Woodbridge, then Bell-Jeff and this past week-end Santa Clarita. The new Santa Clarita course at College of the Canyons starts with a 1-mile gradual climb into the hills leading to a 2-loop circuit that includes a moderate hill and finishes with a final mile that is mostly downhill. For many this was an easier course than last week’s Bell-Jeff but the steady onslaught of hill races the last 3 weeks appears to be taking its toll as many runners were feeling beat up. And. there’s no apparent letup in the coming weeks for teams that have cluster meets scheduled at Pierce this next 2 weeks and who are running Mt. Sac on the 21st-22nd..
Marshall dominated the City individual contests. GABBIE CANNESSON posted the top City time in the large school varsity race placing 11th in 19:56.3 and JUAN ZAMORA followed-up in the boys' race placing 19th in 17:05.2.
ISAAC TORRES led an impressive ECR team performance that had their top 3 runners finish within 16 seconds of each other to help ECR to a 4-minute advantage over the next City team-time. JACOB DAUM and JONAH GENSLER continue to vie for ECR’s 2nd position and international exchange student NILS SCHLOSSER has moved up the ECR depth chart to #4 based on Saturday’s results. Sophomore JOHN MATASSA ran another good race to complete ECR’s scoring top-5. KOYO TAKAHASHI and sophomore RYAN SLOHN had big performances in the large school Frosh/Soph/JV race, to earn varsity spots.
The Hamilton girls topped all City schools at Santa Clarita led by LUCY VALENCIA’s 17th place finish. The team placed 9th in the varsity large school race without 2 of their top runners ADRIANA PLATAS and KLAUDIA CZAKO. ELIZABETH SERVIN continues to run well race-after-race and she finished as Hamilton’s #2 on Saturday and ranked 4th among all City runners. MARIA CRUZ SANTIAGO and JASMIN CAMPOS both had big races moving into Hamilton’s #3 and #4 spots. SHERYLYNNE CHENSAM completed the scoring for the “Hami’s”.
The division 3 Verdugo Hills boys' teams finally delivered to expectation with the 2nd best City team time at Santa Clarita. They still don’t have their top runner from 2021, junior EVAN ELLERSIEK, in the scoring. He ran the 2-mile small school frosh/soph/JV race, which he won in 11:17.8. But their top 2, junior DUSTIN HARZMAN and senior WILLIAM LOW, showed big improvements in this race.
Division 2 rivals Monroe and Marshal finished with identical team times, 1:32.50.7 to rank as the #3 and #4 City teams at Santa Clarita. Sophomore SEBASTION PEREZ was Monroe’s top runner and ranked as the 9th top City performance at Santa Clarita. Division 2 is red hot!
The Monroe girl’s team had 3 runners on the City Top 10, NOELIA ORTEGA, YASMIN LIERA and TIFFANY FLORES. This is Tiffany’s 1st year running as a senior so it will be interesting to see how she progresses.
The Granada Hills varsity teams ran up at Clovis this week-end and Taft’s varsity took a week off of racing in preparation for a busy racing schedule the next 6 weeks.
The ‘City Team Top-10’ results include the top 5 boys performances for each school across all 3-mile races at the Santa Clarita invitational. Schools with less than 5 runners competing across all races show as “N/A” in the results.
The ‘City Team Top-10’ results include the top 5 girls performances for each school across all 3-mile races at the Santa Clarita invitational. Schools with less than 5 runners competing across all races show as “N/A” in the results.
Marshall junior JUAN ZAMORA leads a pack through the 1st mile on the College of the Canyons course at the Santa Clarita Invite.. Juan led all City runners with a time of 17:05.2 to place 19th in the varsity large school race.
This table lists the top 10 boys performances across all 3-mile races at the 2022 Santa Clarita Invite. ECR has 4 runners ranked in the top 10 and division 5 JUAN MORALES and sophomore SEBASTIAN PEREZ join the big boys..
Marshall sophomore GABBIE CANNESSON leads out the varsity large school race at Santa Clarita. Gabbie was the fastest City girl placing 11th in 19:56.3.
This table lists the top 10 girls performances across all 3-mile races at the 2022 Santa Clarita Invite. Hamilton and Monroe both have 3 girls ranked in the top 10. Four sophomores crashed the party - 2 from Marshall.
MICHELE GUTIERREZ LOPEZ had the 3rd fastest City girl’s time at Santa Clarita. Hamilton’s SHERILYNNE CHENSAM runs along side her at the 1-mile mark as they prepare to head up the 1st big hill.
El Camino’s JACOB DAUM had another big performance at Santa Clarita finishing as ECR’s #2 in a time of 17:28.9. In this picture he’s cleared the 2-mile mark and is descending down the final hill toward his 30th place finish in the varsity large school race.
Hamilton sophomore MARIA CRUZ SANTIAGO posted the 2nd fastest City sophomore time at Santa Clarita and ranked 7th among all City runners Saturday.
Birmingham junior EFRAIN HERNANDEZ ranks as the 5th fastest City athlete at Santa Clarita. He continues to improve each race and looks to be closing in on 16 minutes in November.
BELL-JEFF INVITATIONAL
Griffith Park
October 1st, 2022
City Teams: 23
Boys: 232
Girls: 157
Bell-Jeff offered up a new course this year that included a hill climb in the first mile that may be the steepest and longest City runners encounter all year. And the effects of this hill lingered all the way to the finish line as evidenced by times that were more than a minute off PR’s. Nonetheless, the Palisades girls and boys teams perservered with a team win in the girls Red race led by AVA BAAK and an individual win in the boys Red Varsity race by freshman ZACHARY COHEN. Each of the Palisades teams had 5 runners in the City top-10 Bell-Jeff rankings. Franklin showed well with FRANCISCO RODIRIGUEZ posting the top City time and placing 5th in the Doug-Speck race and teammate MATHEW LAMBAM finishing 24th. BRYNN BOGUE continues to impress with a win in the Frosh/Soph Red race. Her time of 20.44.1 was the 3rd fastest City time of the day.
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ (Franklin) and MAX FIELDS (Palisades) head up the lower 2nd loop on their way to posting the top City times at Bell-Jeff. Francisco placed 5th in 15:54.1 and Max 7th in 15:56.8.
Bell-Jeff City Top 10 BOYS
This table lists the top 10 boys performances across all races at the 2022 Bell-Jeff Invitatiional. Two themes: Palisades did very well as did the underclassmen, on a very difficult course.
Freshman ZACHARY COHEN led the Varsity Red race from start to finish to post the 7th fastest City time at Bell-Jeff. With 100 meters to go the Shafter runner pulled up along side Zachary and looked ready to take the lead but Zachary held him off to capture the win.
ISAAC TORRES’ 16:58.2 was the 3rd fastest CIty time at Bell-Jeff to lead the Royals to a 6th place finish in the Doug-Speck race. That’s ECR alum Giancarlo Puccia in the background………cheering for someone else?
Bell-Jeff City Top 10 GIRLS
This table lists the top 10 girls performances across all races at the 2022 Bell-Jeff Invitational. Same two themes: Palisades did very well as did the underclassmen, on a very difficult course.
Palisades senior AVA BAAK went out hard in the 1st mile and held position to the finish to place 4th in the Varsity Red race and lead the dolphins to a team win. Her time of 20.03.2 was the fastest City time at Bell-Jeff.
Marshall’s elusive GABBI CANNESSON threw down the gauntlet with her 5th place finish in the Varsity Red race. Her time of 20.39.6 was the top division 2 time and the 2nd best City time at Bell-Jeff.
KYRA MORRIS (Palisades) and KELIA NAVANJO-CHAMPION (Garfield) join forces on the final mile in the Varsity Red race to reel in several runners. Kelia finished in 6th in 20:48.5 and Kyra was 7th in 20:53.8.
Bell-Jeff City Team Rankings - GIRLS
The Palisades girls won both City bragging rights and the Varsity Red race but Bravo Medical was the big surprise. Led by BRYNN BOGUE and running with their top 5 runners for the first time this year the Knights soared ahead of Santee, a team that we had ranked 3rd in division 2. ANGELES FELICIANO led a Santee team that had their top 5 finishing within 1 minute 11 seconds of each other. Marshall and Eagle Rock both ran to form with big performances from GABBI CANNESSON (Marshall) and ELIZABETH CORRIGAN (Eagle Rock). Bernstien’s top 3 finished within 6 seconds of each other to help the Dragons to a 6th place finish in the Varsity Red race. If trends continue, Helen Bernstein could be looking at a division 3 City title in November. Finally, great to see Sun Valley representing division 5,. They had 14 girls run Bell-Jeff, 31 total including the boys which is very impressive.
Bell-Jeff City Team Rankings - BOYS
No big surprises in boys division 1 -3 at Bell-Jeff. Palisades Charter dominated with a top-5 team time almost 4 minutes faster than the next fastest City team. Garfield ran well, led by junior BRANDON RODRIGUEZ, placing ahead of Cleveland in division 1 competitions. Eagle Rock won the division 2 City contest on a day when the team as a whole did not run pariculalry well. Bravo Medical and Marshall were separated by only 6 seconds on team times to rank 2nd and 3rd and University was a surpise, ranking ahead of RFK. The division 3 title race is heating up with upstart Helen Bernstein edging out division frontrunner Verdugo Hills by a mere 20 seconds based on top-5 team times. SOCES also fared well nearly beating division 1 Kennedy and placing ahead of division 2 RFK. Top ranked Franklin and Reseda are struggling to get 5 runners on the line so far this year.
MAX FIELDS (Palisades) posted the top division 1 time at Bell-Jeff and Marshall’s JUAN ZAMORA had the best divisions 2 time. JUDE SANDRIDGE (Reseda) had a nice race to rank 2nd in division 3 to FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ. ERNESTO HERNADEZ led East Valley and division 4 with a time of 19:16.2 and Alliance Marine’s FELIX CARMONA had the top division 5 time in 19.19.8.
September 2022
LA CITY RANKINGS
How the rankings are created
The updated ‘LA City Rankings’ are LACXC’s projections for the ‘22 City Championships at Pierce in November and NOT the current standings (check those out for yourself at athletic.net).
These rankings are based on all 3-mile City performance best-times recorded this season, adjusted to a common standard - the Woodbridge Invitational course. We adopted Woodbridge as the standard since it’s the course that has the most City performances so far this year and therefore provided the most logical baseline. Statistical models were used to evaluate and adjust performances to the Woodbridge standard and these adjusted results were used to calculate virtual team scores and times to determine team rankings.
For Example:
if a City runner’s best time so far this year is the West Valley Cluster meet at Pierce , that Pierce time is adjusted to a Woodbridge equivalent and the adjusted time is used to rank the performance against other City runners and to calculate team rankings. If a runners’ best time is at Woodbridge than that time is used for both the individual and team rankings.
For schools or athletes that haven’t yet competed in the ‘22 XC season we’ve used the LACXC pre-season rankings published in July which were based on the ‘21 XC and ‘22 track seasons.
Disclaimer: The rankings and opinions contained herein are not reviewed, endorsed, or re-purposed by CIF LA City Section or any of it affiliates.
Team Rankings - BOYS
Team Rankings - GIRLS
GIRLS TOP 10 -Individual
1. Jocelyn Pacheco Sr-Granada H. D1
2. Meztli Velazquez So-Granada H. D1
3. Naima Salazar Sr-Granada H. D1
4. Zaida Velazquez Sr-Granada H. D1
5. Samantha Pacheco Fr-Granada H. D1
6. Angelina Valladares Jr-Canoga Park D2
7. Lizeth Sanchez Sr-Taft D1
8. Ava Baak Sr-Palisades Charter D1
9. Lidia P.-Shchepetkin Sr-Venice D2
10. Brynn Bogue So-Bravo Medical D2
The Granada Hills girls have a chance to do what no other City team, boys or girls, has accomplished on the Pierce 3-mile course, run the board at the City Championships with a perfect 15 score. JOCELYN PACHECO has proven herself as the Highlanders’ #1 runner and leads a top-5 that that includes City standouts MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ, NAIMA SALAZAR and ZAIDA VELAZQUEZ.. Freshman SAMANTHA PACHECO shores up a very potent team that will have their sights set on State come November. ANGELINA VALLADARES competes in a hotly contested division 2 this year but her early performances show she is ready. Her first big race against City competition will be at Bell-Jeff. Come November we’re expecting a sub-18:30 at Pierce which should challenge for the D2 championship. If anyone can usurp Granada’s stronghold at the division 1 championships it will be Taft’s LIZETH SANCHEZ and Palisade’s AVA BAAK. This is Lizeth’s 1st year running for Taft and she should benefit from a steep performance curve as the season progresses. She’s already impressed with her 18:29.1 at Woodbridge. Ava has been relatively quite outside of a 2.7 race earlier this month but is well ahead of where she was last year at this time and we’re projecting a sub-19 minute Final at Pierce in November. Venice’s LIDIA PROKOPOVYCH-SHCHEPETKIN’s appearance on this list may be a surprise to some due to the lack of performances so far this year but this is a supremely talented runner. Last year she ran her 1st race at league finals and went on to win the division 2 City Championship with the 3rd fastest time across all divisions. We have it on good information that she is back running and may be competing in Huntington Beach on October 1st. Bravo Medical sophomore BRYNN BOGUE faces some old and new foes in division 2 with Canoga Park and Marshal adding to an already competitive landscape that includes Venice and Eagle Rock. She looks to be up to the challenge though with the 6th fastest City time at Woodbridge 2 weeks ago.
For those of you keeping track that’s 10 girls with the potential to break 19 minutes. Add to that count the 4-6 athletes below in the ‘Girls to Watch’ that are capable of doing the same and that makes for a potentially exceptional City Final.
GIRLS TO WATCH
BOYS TOP 10 - Individual
1. Max Fields Jr-Palisades Charter D1
2. Francisco Rodriguez Sr-Franklin D3
3. Alex Mendoza Jr-Granada Hills D1
4. Paul Tranquilla - So-Venice D2
5. William Bujake Sr-New West D5
6. Daniel Ruiz Sr-San Pedro D1
7. Sean Taylor Sr-Granada Hills D1
8. Jose Torres Sr-El Camino Real D1
9. Reece Robles Sr- Granada Hills D1
10. Owen Lewicky So-Palisades Charter D1
MAX FIELDS and FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ had superlative performances in September to claim the top 2 spots in our ranking. Don’t miss Bell-Jeff on October 1st where they’ll meet for the first and possibly last time.. PAUL TRANQUILLA reconfirmed his position as the top City sophomore and the best in division 2 with his 15:26.1 win at Rosemead. WILLIAM BUJAKE’s 15:32.6 at Woodbridge was monumental. In a single performance he shattered school, league and division records in a time that beat his previous PR by over 2 minutes. DANIEL RUIZ held form at Woodbridge with a competent 15:33.1 to hold on to #6; barring injury expect to see better performances in post season. Granada Hills’ senior SEAN TAYLOR had breakout performances in September including sub-16 races at Rosemead and Woodbridge that launched him onto the Top-10 for the 1st time at #7. On the surface ISAAC TORRES’ 15:51.5 doesn’t seem like it quite makes the cut for the Top 10 list. But he’s currently running almost a minute faster than last year at this time, and Isaac has shown an uncanny ability to peak for the big races. On most days running 15:37.8 would get you some props. But REECE ROBLES had the misfortune to run this time, his PR, on the same day another City athlete set a school and division 3 City record. Nonetheless, it was a noteworthy performance that inaugurated Reece into the elite sub-16 club and #9 in our Top-10. Palisades’ sophomore OWEN LEWICKY was highlighted in our ‘Boys to Watch’ in August but catapulted to #10 with his 15:49.6 performance at the South Bay Twilight race, run in less-than-ideal conditions. Owen is part of a very talented group of underclassmen at Palisades that should have division 1 coaches very worried.
BOYS TO WATCH
WOODBRIDGE!
THE ROUNDUP . . .
Final Tally - 392 City athletes competed at Woodbridge this year: 222 boys and 170 girls. 325 of these runners PR’d - 83%!
8 boys ran under 16 minutes and 8 girls under 19 minutes over the 2 evenings. For comparison, during 2016-2021 the boys averaged 14 runners under 16 minutes per year and the girls averaged 7 runners under 19 minutes per year.
Franklin senior FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ (15:01.8) set a division 3 and school record for Woodbridge and New West Charter senior WILLIAM BUJAKE (15:32.6) did the same in division 5..
The GRANADA HILLS GIRLS placed 4 of their girls in the top 10 in the Varisity Blue B race on their way to winning the team contest by 76 points. Their time of 1:32:07.6 is the 2nd best for a Highlander team behind the epic 2018 squad that posted a time of 1:30:33.5 (with the help of Sofia Abrego’s 17:01.3 performance).
Granada Hills freshman SAMANTHA PACHECO’s time of 18:20.9 is the 4th best freshman performance at Woodbridge by a City athlete, behind City greats Sofia Abrego, Miranda Shriver and Marissa Williams.
The GRANADA BOYS had 5 runners under 16:10 and 8 runners under 16:30. ALEXANDER MENDOZA, SEAN TAYLOR and REECE ROBLES all broke 16 minutes. This team is looking good!
Granada Hills freshman JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI continues to impress. His 16:08.3 at Woodbridge was the fastest City freshman time and he’s currently ranked 2nd among all City freshman.
Senior LIZ SANCHEZ ran the 2nd fastest time ever by a Taft girl at Woodbridge, 18:29.1.
LUCIANA VALENCIA’s 18:59.3 is the top Hamilton girls performance at Woodbridge, all time.
The TAFT BOYS boys had the best performance by a Taft team at Woodbridge in 6 years, at least! They have 3 runners on the cusp of breaking 16 minutes. Nice job!
Two girls to watch - Bravo Medical sophomore BRYNN BOGUE (18:51.2) and Marshall sophomore GABRIELLA CANNESSON (19:01.2). They’d been quiet since last XC season but showed they are back in form this weekend. One of these girls will be the division 2 City champ. Better make that 3 girls to watch. Canoga Park’s ANGELINA VALLADARES didn’t run Woodbridge but will be competing with Brynn and Gabriella at Bell-Jeff.
UPDATED
WOODBRIDGE TOP 100
Hot off the press! Here are the new additions to the LA City All-Time Top 100 Woodbridge rankings.
See the carousels below for complete lists of boys and girls rankings. New City entries from this year are highlighted in yellow. Current invitation records are in Red Caps. Records at time of performance are in red.
Woodbridge Top 100 - GIRLS
Woodbridge Top 100 - BOYS
WOODBRIDGE-By the Numbers
Top City Performances
City Team Results - BOYS
City Team Results - GIRLS
‘Team Time’ is the sum of the five fastest performances for each school across all races at the 2022 Woodbridge Invitational.
WOODBRIDGE RECAP - Thursday
On the first night, overall faster times this year compared to last with 5 boys running better than 15 minutes and 22 girls breaking 18 minutes. For comparison, last year 1 boy broke 15 minutes and 8 girls ran faster than 18 minutes. The course is very similar to last year’s course with with lots of turns and loops on a majority of low-cut turf and sidewalk. Don’t get caught in the back at the start!
PARENTS - GET YOU PARKING PASS ONLINE or PAY $20 CASH ONLY ONSITE!
BOYS
Four boys broke 16 last night including FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ 15:01.8 (sr-Franklin) 15:01.1, WILL BUJAKE 15:31.8 (sr-New West Charter), DANIEL RUIZ 15:33.8 (sr-San Pedro), and JOSPEH VARGAS 15:46.1 (jr-Cleveland).
Francisco Rodriguez’s time places him 13th on LACXC’s All-Time Top Woodbridge performances. He ran a beautiful race that had him on the shoulder of lead runners from southern section power house Palos Verdes going on the final mile. Francisco placed 3rd in a race to the finish with the final 3 places decided in the last 50 meters. This was Francisco’s 2nd race in 4 days at or around 15 minutes. On fresher legs he wins this race!
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ sprints to the finish in the Varsity Red A race at Woodbrdige on Thursday. He posted the top City time 15:01.8
Will Bujake PR’d by OVER 2 minutes . . . 2 MINUTES! . . . to place 7th in his race; a division 5 record and #60 on the All-Time Time Woodbridge list! This was a groundbreaking performance by an athlete that abides by the basics - consistency and lots of miles. His goal is sub 15:30 at Pierce in November!
Daniel Ruiz led a depleted Pirates team with a nice 15:32.8. This race went out very quickly and Daniel was blocked back of the lead pack in the first mile. He made a big push in the final mile to recapture places and time. San Pedro’s other 2 top runners, Adrian Sverlow-Mendoza and Jason Saquic, did not run due to injuries.
WILL BUJAKE is on cruise control on the 3rd mile in the Varsity White A race. HIs time of 15:32.6 sets a division 5 City record.
DANIEL RUIZ pushes hard in the last 800 meters of the Varsity Red B race. This was a strong debut for Daniel - 15:33.1 - and earned him #6 on the current top CIty times.
JOSEPH VARGAS ran negative splits on all 3 miles to finish in 15:46.1 in the Varsity Red B race - a very nicely executed performance.. Joseph has another 20 seconds to go before he’s near his potential - this race was merely a prelude.
GIRLS
Bravo Medical sophomore BRYNN BOGUE kicked off her season with a phenomenal run in the Sophomore White race posting 18:51.2; the top division 2 time so far and #5 on the top City times to date.. Another sophomore, Marshall’s GABRIELLE CANNESSON, wasn’t far behind posting a 19:01.2 in the Red varsity B race. With the new divisional alignments these 2 will be meeting in the division 2 City Finals in November.
New West junior GABI NASCIMENTO led out a very fast first mile with the front pack that was on pace for a 17:30 finish. She paid the price in the final mile but still finished in a PR of 19:01.6 and the # 7 in time in City. This was Gabi’s 1st time at Woodbridge and a great learning experience. With a more balanced split differential this is a sub-18:30 performance. Looking forward to watching Gabi at Mt. Sac next month.
New West Charter junior GABI NASCEMENTO goes out strong in the Varsity White A race. Her time of 19:01.6 is the 2nd best division 5 performance on any course.
WOODBRIDGE TOP 100
As a primer for the 2-evening Woodbridge Invitational that starts this Thursday, LACXC presents the Boys 100 Top City Woodbridge Performances All-Time. Also, check-out our ‘Woodbridge Preview’ that follows.
City GIRLS will need to run
19:16 or better
City BOYS will need to run
15:45 or better
TO MAKE THE TOP 100
Note: HIGHLIGHTE ALL-CAP performances indicate the current City record; highlighted performances indicate City records at the time of the performance.
WOODBRIDGE PREVIEW
18 City teams and 431 City athletes are scheduled to run in this week’s Woodbridge invitational. Granada Hills has 66 entries, the largest of any City team. In a first in many years, no City runners are entered in the Sweepstakes or Rated races. BUT. . . . don’t dismay! This will only make the non-rated races more competitive and exciting, at least from an LA City perspective. Look for the Granada Hills girls to dominate in the best City race on Friday night, the ‘Varsity Blue B’. And don’t dismiss Thursday night - the ‘Varsity Red’ races have some of the best City competition at Woodbridge, with 4 of the top City runners competing head-to-head.
There are some notable omissions from this year’s Woodbridge Invitational. Palisades Charter, Venice, Canoga Park and Reseda are not running. The next time we’ll see these teams compete against each other will be at Bell-Jeff on October 1st.
The big events on Thursday will be the Boys Varsity Red A and B races which has Franklin’s star runner FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ gunning for a 2nd win in a week and the top time in City in the ‘A’ race at 8:40 pm and Cleveland’s JOSEPH VARGAS and San Pedro’s DANIEL RUIZ and ADRIAN SVERLO-MEDOZA going head-to-head at 9:04 pm in the ‘B’ race. Both of these races will require 15-minutes or better to win and all of these boys are capable of running close to that time so we are expecting a very good showing by City athletes.
Standout New West Charter junior GABRIELA NASCIMENTO will be running in the Varsity A White race at 8:28 pm. For those who don’t follow division 5, Gabriela won the City XC championship last year in 18:37.6, a time that would have ranked 7th in Division 1. She also placed 2nd in the 1,600m City Championship this spring. The girls white division is notoriously competitive, often posting winning times faster than Blue and Gold races. Nonetheless, expect a big performance from Gabriela. Also, watch out for teammate WILLIAM BUJAKE. He placed 2nd to his teammate in the division 5 City Finals last fall and is favorite to win the City championship XC this year. William has put in some epic miles this summer so look for a breakout performance at Woodbridge. Really like what they are doing at New West!
Bravo Medical is bringing 28 runners to Woodbridge, the 4th largest City contingency this year. They’ll be competing in the ‘White A’ races on Thursday. Sophomore standout BRYNN BOGUE has been on fire in early season time trials, way ahead of 2021…….a year in which she took 2nd at the City championships. This will be Brynn’s first time running Woodbridge and we’re looking for a big performance in her debut. Brynn and the Knight varsity girls race starts at 8:52 pm. Teammate FABRIZZIO ROMERO has also had a phenomenal summer and should fare well in another very competitive race that starts at 9:16 pm. Fabrizzio is the #1 boy on the top ranked Knights so this will be a defining moment in Bravo’s quest for the City Championship in November.
The race to watch Friday is the the Girls Varsity Blue B at 8:42 pm which will showcase the phenomenal Granada Hills team that includes JOCELYN PACHECO, NAIMA SALAZAR, MEZTLI VELEZQEAZ, ZAIDA VELAZQUEZ and SAMMY PACEHCO. Based on results from Rosemead, the Highlanders have 5 girls running under 18:20 which should be enough to win the team race and several girls running at or under 18 minutes which should be enough to win the individual race as well. This will be a fun one!
The Granada boys will be running at 7:54 pm against very stiff southern section competition from the likes of Redondo Union, Long Beach Poly and San Clemente. Expect very fast times and a great opportunity to watch ALEX MENDOZA, REECE ROBLES, SEAN TAYLOR and JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI compete, all of who should be under 16 minutes at Woodbridge. This race should flush out Granada’s top 5 varsity runners AND determine if they have a 5th runner capable of running close to 16 minutes.
The Garfield Girls varsity team is running at 7:42 pm and this will be our 1st time watching sister standouts SOPHIA (junior) and KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION (sophomore) compete this season. They both had phenomenal XC seasons last year and are both ranked in our City Top-10 this year. This will be both runners debut at Woodbridge.
The Hamilton girls team will be led by LUCIANA VALENCIA and much improved runners ELIZABETH SERVIN AND ADRIANA PLATAS. They will be competing in the same race with Garfield. Both teams are ranked Top-10 in City and compete in division 1 so look for spirited competition at the team and individual level.
Taft competes as the only City team in the ‘Blue A’ races. Look for senior LIZ SANCHEZ to set a top City mark in the low 19’s in her 1st big XC race. The boys will be looking to JAUME FOLZ, DAEL FARKASH and RYAN TJENALOOI to run in the very low 16’s if they intend to keep ahead of ECR. Looking forward to watching this team..
El Camino Real’s ISAAC TORRES competes in the ‘Varsity Gold B’ race at 8:30 pm. It will be interesting to see where Isaac’s form is at this stage of the season.. A low 15’s performance typically wins this race which is well within Isaac’s capability.
THURSDAY - SEPT 15TH
Thursday City Varsity Races
FRIDAY - SEPT 16TH
Friday City Varsity Races
WEEKEND UPDATE
September 11th
By The Numbers:
Both the boys and girls top City performances so far this year are ahead of last year’s top marks.; two sub-14 clockings by Max Fields and Francisco Rodriguez and a sub-18 run by Meztlie Velazquez - really impressive this early in the season! It’s been 8 years since 4 City boys have broken 15 minutes in a season - this may be the year that record goes down.
For those keeping track, Palisades’ top-5 boys performances this year edges out Granada Hills top-5 boys performances in a virtual dual meet, 27 to 28. This is going to be one to watch on November 19th.
Francisco Rodriguez wasn’t the only top performer for Franklin High School. Senior MATHEW LAMBAN ran a 16:13.3 in his second high school race ever. Look for Mathew to run sub-16 at Pierce.
Sophomore CATALINA ALVIDREZ was Eagle Rock’s top girl finisher in her 1st high school XC race. Catalina’s time last night at Rosemead would have ranked 3rd on last year’s championship team. She currently holds the 3rd fastest City division 2 time.
TOP TIMES AT ROSEMEAD
Franklin High standout Francisco Rodriguez wins the boys Senior race at Rosemead in 14:48..3, just 2 tenths off the top City time this year.
Granada Hills sophomore MEZTLIE VELAZQUEZ posted the Top time in City 17:58.9 to win the sophomore race at Rosemead.
Rosemead Invitational
Rosemead High School
Sept 10th, 2022
CITY WINS THE NIGHT . . . led by huge performances from Granada Hills, Venice and Franklin, City athletes dominated the Rosemead Invitational scoring top 10 finishes in 7 of the 8 races including 3 wins and 2 2nd place finishes. Granada Hills’ SAMMY PACHECO kicked things off in the girls freshman race placing 2nd in 19:20.9; a time that before tonight would have had her ranked 2nd in City. Another Highlander freshman standout JOAUQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI placed 4th in the boys freshman race in 16:17.3, this after placing 3rd at the West Valley cluster on Thursday. City won both sophomore races with Granada’s MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ dominating the girls sophomore race in the 2nd fastest time of the evening 17:58.9 (and the top time in City) and Venice’s PAUL TRANQUILLA winning the boys race with a big finish in the last 200 meters to clinch the win in 15:26.1. ALEXANDER MENDOZA followed up his top-time performance on Thursday with another brilliant run in the boys junior race placing 3rd in 15:33.0 (#4 in City rankings).
Venice’s PAUL TRANQILLA posts the 3rd best time in City to win the Sophomore race at Rosemead in 15:26.1 - a PR by improvement of 78 seconds.
Granada runner ALEXANDER MENDOZA crosses the finish line in 15:33.0 to take 3rd place in the Junior Race at Rosemead. This was a 53 second PR for Alex.
GRANADA GIRLS DOMINATE
The piece de resistance was the girls senior race where 3 Granada athletes - JOCELYN PACHECO, NAIMA SALAZAR and ZAIDA VELAZQUEZ - placed 2nd (18:06.0), 5th (18:25.1) and 6th (18:38.3) respectively.
Granada Hills Girls Seniors FIONA LEE, NAIMA SALAZAR, ZAIDA VELAZQUEZ and JOCELYN PACHECO dominated the senior race at Rosemead claiming 3 of the top 6 places. Granada girls now hold the top 5 times in City.
Granada Hills freshman Sammy Pacheco had another brilliant race, placing 2nd at Rosemead in 19:20.9., #5 on the City top times..
LILIANNA MOREIRA ran a huge PR to take 6th in the girls junior race in 19:46.7.
Then there was Francisco. What a performance1 In the final race of the evening, in a sprint-to-the-finish against division 1 Loyola runner Jake Ratkovich that played out front of the grandstand, FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ surged to the lead and crossed the line in 14:48.3, just 2 tenths of a second off the City top time set by Max Fields at Cool Breeze last week.
FRANCISCO WINS BOYS VARSITY
The Palisades boys varsity had a strong showing on Friday night led by junior MAX FIELDS who won the Varsity/JV 3-mile race in 14:55.9 against some top-tier southern section teams including West Torrance and Redondo Union. Max took a decisive lead in the first 600m of the race which grew to 14 seconds at the finish line - a really impressive performance against some of southern California’s best. Sophomore OWEN LEWICKY took 16th place in 15:49.6, the 3rd best time in City so far. And junior AXEL MAMMEN is starting to get to the form we’re expecting with a 19th place finish in 16:06.4. Palisades ‘rising star’ freshman BRIAN WELSH had another standout performance posting a 16:15.7. Senior ELAN LEE finished out the scoring for the Dolphins placing 29th in 16:24.5. Palisades had all seven runners under 16:30.0 with sophomore BEN BARNETT (16:25.6) and freshman ZACAHRY COHEN (16:27.3) finishing close behind Lee. Some really nice performances and showing a lot of depth.
The girls race was short - 2.7 miles - so no, AVA BAAK’s 16:49.8 didn’t almost beat Marissa Williams’ City record. Nevertheless, she placed 4th against some of the southern sections best and helped the Dolphin’s to a 3rd place finish. KYRA MORRIS is back and looks in form placing 13th and not far behind was senior LAYLA ADELI in 17th. Very happy to see that MOLLIE WITTENBERG is back running. She placed 22nd in this race but will be a force to contend with if she can get back to her 2021 XC form. Sophomores LEENA ADELI and GIADA RICE placed 23rd and 27th.
Palisades is NOT running Woodbridge so the next time we’ll see this team is at Bell-Jeff on October 1st.
South Bay Twilight
Wilson Park - Torrance
Sept 9th, 2022
Laguna Hills Invite
Laguna Hills High School
Sept 10th, 2022
The Hamilton XC team made their annual visit to Orange County for the 38th Laguna Hills Invitation. The girls team was without seniors LUCINDA VALENCIA and ADRIANA PLATTE but ELIZABETH SERVINE represented well placing 9th in the senior race in a time of 21:37.3. MARIA CRUZ SANTIAGO was the highest placing Yankee, she took 6th place in 21:58.9 in the sophomore race., 35 seconds faster than at Cool Breeze and on a much more difficult course. Junior SHERILYNNE CHENSAM also made big improvements taking almost 1 1/2 minutes off her time from Cool Breeze. Hamilton’s top freshman was KLAUDIA OZAKO in 23:03.7.
For the Hamilton boys, ALEX REIS had the best time 18:21.8 which earned him 25th place in the junior race. Hamilton’s best freshman was DAVID WILSON in 22:54.4
West Valley Cluster #1
Pierce College
Thursday, September 8th, 2022
Teams waited for 30 minutes for clearance to run on a very hot day that, combined with the humidity, had the heat index perilously close to race cancellation. At 3 pm the girls frosh/soph and JV runners were given the green light to start and than at 3:15 the boys frosh/soph and JV. The varsity race was a combined girls and boys race that started at 3:53.
Boys Varsity Race
ECR’s ISAAC TORRES and JONAH GENSLER took the pace out hard and had big leads on the chase pack going into the 3rd mile. JOSEPH VARGAS (Cleveland) and JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI (Granada Hills) made up ground on the final mile and at the finish line it was 1. Torres (17:43.5), 2. Vargas (17:48.5), 3. Ortega Tomaselli (18:03.3). Granada won the race with a 1 minute 10 second team-time advantage over Taft and a 2 minute advantage over ECR. See race results here.
ECR seniors ISAAC TORRES and JONAH GENSLER take a decisive lead in the boys varsity race at Pierce.
Cleveland junior JOSPEHH VARGAS leads a chase pack on the 1st pass through ‘The Step’s, at approximately 1 km into the race.
Granada freshman JOAQUIN ORTEGA TOMASELLI makes a big move on the 3rd mile to secure 3rd place in the varsity race in 18:03.3, the 4th best time on the day.
JAUME FOLZE (2368) and DAEL FARKASH (2367) were Taft’s top finishers in the varsity race and helped their team score 2nd place over rival ECR. That’s RYAN TJENALOOI (2372) close behind. These 3 runners all finished within 10 seconds of each other.
GIRLS VARSITY
Much Like last year, Granada senior JOCELYN PACHECO took the lead from the start and never looked back, posting the top time in City this season. Her sister, Freshman SAMANTHA PACHECO, finished in 3rd place. Taft senior LIZ SANCHEZ finished in 2nd place in 21:09.1. In team results Taft stunned Granada Hills, scoring 35 points to GH’s 43. See results here.
JOCELYN PACHECO had the top girls time at the West Valley Cluster #1 - 19:33.1 - and the 15th top time OVERALL in the boys and girls varsity race.
LIZ SANCHEZ kept the pressure on in the second half of the girls varsity race and finished strong in 21:09.1, the 2nd best girls time on the day. She led the girls varsity to a win over Granada Hills.
Granada Hills freshman SAMANTHA PACHECO charges to the lead in the 1st 100m of the combined boys and girls varsity race. She held form throughout the race, placing 3rd in 22:16..7 and earning her the 7th best time for all girls that day.
Cool Breeze
Pamona Fairplex
Saturday, September 3rd, 2022
Franklin senior FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ improved his time by over 30 seconds compared to last year running 15:35.3 in the small school varsity race at Cool Breeze. Francisco looks to be on track to close in on a 15-minute performance at Pierce in November.
The Hamilton girls were out in force at Cool Breeze led by LUCIANA VALENCIA who placed 17th in 19:33.7 in the large school varsity race. That’s almost 40 seconds off her time from last year - look for her to be a factor in the Division 1 City Finals.
THE HAMILTON GIRLS
IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION . . . since last year the Hamilton girls varsity team has been on a tear. They placed 5th in last year’s City Final, just points away from a top 3 finish. This year 5 of the girls from their ‘21 XC team return and we saw a preview of what to expect this season at the Cool Breeze Invite on Saturday. Their top four runners posted big early-season times, averaging improvements of 1 minute 36 seconds compared to last year’s results. This is an exciting team that embraces the spirit of competition AND they always strike a great pose! Hats off to the Hamilton varsity girls team and to their coach “Stray 1”.
Hamilton Varsity: (l-r) Elizabeth Servin, Maria Cruz Santiago, Jasmine Campos, Gia Maldonado, Abigail Chaj Perez
Not Shown: Luciana Valencia, Adriana Platas, Sherylynne Chensam
Senior ELIZABETH SERVIN crosses the finish line in 21:05.8, the 2nd best time for a Hamilton girl at the Cool Breeze. Elizabeth improved her time by 2 minutes 40 seconds over last year’s performance at the same race.
Senior ADRIAN PLATAS posted a big performance for Hamilton, taking 2 minutes 26 seconds of her time from 2021 to finish as the Yankees 3rd runner in the Varsity Large School race.
Sophomore MARIA CRUZ SANTIAGO was Hamilton’s 4th runner to cross the line at Cool Breeze in a 22:33.3.
The Great Cow Run
Artesia High School
Saturday, September 3rd, 2022
Palisades freshman BRIAN WELSH posted the Dolphins 2nd best time at The Great Cow Run - 16.01.5 - to place 12th in the Varsity race.. This is one of the best early season City performances by a freshman since Brent Smith in 2015.
Palisades ZACHARY COHEN led a strong freshman contingency that earned the Dolphins 1st place in the freshman race at The Great Cow Run. Zachary placed 2nd in 16:51.7 and was one of five Palisades runners to break 17 minutes on Saturday.
The Palisades boys varsity is a VERY young team. The average grade-level for their top 5 runners is 10th and its possible they won’t have any seniors in their top 7 in November. At Saturday’s Cow Run, 13 Palisades freshman boys ran in both the Freshman (11) and Varsity (2) races with the top 5 breaking 18 minutes. Add into the mix a couple of promising sophomores and you have the makings of a team that will be formidable in the next several years.
PALISADES FRESHMAN BOYS
(-r) Zachary Cohen (5739), Diego Calleja (5738), Blake Sigworth (5750), Ashton Adibi (5734), Mark Saba (5749), Odino Spadavechia (5751), Charlie Roarke (5748), Lajus Collings (5740), Roland Becking (5736), Joseph Borna (5737), Kamran Yashouafar (5753),
CHARLIE ROARKE was was 1 of 3 Palisades freshman boys to break 18 minutes at The Great Cow Run. He finished in 9th place in the Freshman race in 17:57.5.
Note: Do not count out the Palisades varsity girls team. Their top 3 runners did not compete at The Great Cow Run. Look for a more representative showing on September 9th at the South Bay Twilight Invitational.
CITY ALL-TIME TOP 100 BOYS
With the 1st City cluster meet at Pierce scheduled for Sept. 1st we thought it was time to encourage some aspirational thoughts for the ‘22 XC season with our ranking of City’s All-Time Pierce performances by boys. We’ll b posting the girls rankings soon.
The rankings below are based on certified* performances on the Pierce course as of 1976 when the current 3-mile course was adopted by the CIF LA City Section.
Best of the Best
The table below lists the top 10 City runners all-time ranked on the basis of the number of appearances in our ‘Top-100’ and the average time for these performances.
Where is Ian Alsen?
The table below lists the top 10 City schools all-time ranked on the basis of the number of individual appearances in our ‘Top-100’ and the average time for these performances.
Here’s the list of the top 100 performances on the Pierce 3-mile course since 1976. Scroll to see all 100 performances.
The Top 100
BOLD highlighted performances denote current course records.. Highlighted athletes denote course records at the time of the performance.
* Certified performances are those run on the standard Pierce 3-mile course that has been measured and marked by USATF prior to the race, monitored by CIF officials during the race, and timed in accordance with CIF standards in effect at the time of the race. This effectively includes all City Prelim and Final races since 1976.
Pablo Rosales
City Final Record - 14:31.3
November 21st, 2009
On a brisk sunny morning on Saturday November 21st, 2009 senior PABLO ROSALES from San Pedro accomplished what no other runner ever has - he broke 14:40.0 in a City Final race on the Pierce 3-mile course. In this video Pablo delivers a master class on how to run Pierce..
This race was one of the fastest ever for a City Final. The team champions that day, Monroe, posted the 2nd best team-time in 25 years.. Pablo’s performance no doubt had something to do with the fast overall times. His explosive 1st mile literally pulled the other runners in his wake (check out the 1st 400m). And while the 1st mile was Impressive (a 5:10 pace) the 2nd and 3rd miles were even more so. The small gains Pablo made on the lead during the 2nd mile were a deception. Though it appeared that he was paying a price for an overly exuberant first mile with the strung-out line of runners chasing him still in striking distance. The reality is that he had pushed the pace hard on mile 2 and was setting up for an epic final mile.. When Pablo made his move on the final pass up Chalk Hill no one had the legs to go with him. And it’s in the final mile that he made up the majority of his 30+ second margin over the competition..
This video was giving to me 2 years ago by the late, great Bruce Thomson. It was contained on a CD in an obsolete format along with some other track video segments. As far as I know this video does not exist on YouTube or other social platforms.. Enjoy!
2nd Annual
Pre-Season Rankings
-UPDATED-
We had already gone to press with our pre-season rankings when the updates to the CIF LA City Section division assignments were released last month. The changes will have Marshall, a perennial division 1 XC powerhouse over the last 10 years, moving from division 1 to division 2 and Canoga Park moving from division 3 to division 2. These additions to division 2 are going to make for an incredible City contest at both the team and individual levels in November.
No changes in the individual Top-10 rankings below but take a look at the Team Analysis and the Girls and Boys to Watch sections for the latest updates.
TEAM RANKING NOTES - BOYS
TEAM RANKING NOTES - GIRLS
Balboa Golf Course, Van Nuys
Five City teams met for a friendly 5k matchup prior to the season’s 1st league meets. For El Camino Real the ‘Watermelon Run’ is their annual competition to determine their varsity team. The ECR boys and girls ran at 7am and ISAAC TORRES and MICHELE GUTIERREZ LOPEZ were the top finishers.
At 8am the Canoga Park, Cleveland, Monroe and Taft boys and girls ran - as did some of the ECR boys who decided to run a 2nd lap. Cleveland junior JOSPEPH VARGAS and Canoga Park senior ANGELICA VALLADARES won the second race and had the best times on the day.
Thanks to Coach Colson and Fleet Feet of Agoura Hills for another great event!
Start of the 8am 5k race at Balboa Golf Course
ECR’s Top 3 Runners (l-r) ISAAC ENRIQUEZ, ISAAC TORRES and JONAH GENSLER
ECR’s Top 3 Girl Runners (l-r) REBECCA ASCENCIO, MICHELE GUTIERREZ LOPEZ and MAIAH CHAN
ECR’s international recruits NILS SCHLOSSER (Germany) and FANNY LOUIS SKJONBERG (Norway) both had big races and will be nice additions to the varsity team. Be sure to welcome them to the LA City Section if you see them out on the course.
Coach Vasquez leads his Canoga Park cross-country team in a warm-up prior to the 5k 8am race
Canoga Park senior ANGELINA VALLADARES had the top girls time of 19:40 on Saturday, the best time by a girl for this race since at least 2014. Angelina is ranked 5th ranked in LA City this fall.
Cleveland’s JOSEPH VARGAS has a big lead with 200m to go to the finish. He had the top time at Balboa and is ranked 7th in LA City this fall.
Taft’s Varsity Team (l-r) JONATHAN SARCENO, DAEL FARKASH, GABRIEL PEREZ, RYAN TJENALOOI and ANDREW GAMM
Canoga Park’s Varsity Team (l-r) JONATHAN GONZALEZ, RYAN MOONEY, THEO SCHIDERMAN, CARLOS ARGUETA, RICARDO LOPEZ, ISSAC ROSAS and ALEXIS GONZALEZ
Taft’s Varsity Girls (l-r) KENNEDY BRANNON, LIZ SANZHEZ, ANAEL FARKASH, LIA MEDOVOI, KAYLA TJENALOOI, SAGE KODOMA and NORA SHANG
MAMMOTH 2022
Thanks to the coaches and athletes that allowed me to participate in their Mammoth training. Spectacular scenery and amazing City runners made for a truly memorable experience.
Click on the links below for complete set of images at higher resolution.
Sherwin Creek to Mammoth Rock
Wednesday, July 27th
7 Miles - 900 Vertical - 8,500 elevation
Agnew Meadows to Iceberg Lake
Wednesday, August 3rd
15 Miles - 2,421 Vertical - 9,800 elevation
PARAMOUNT RANCH
JULY 28th
A fantastic race in the Santa Monica Mountains, sponsored by Fleet Feet of Agoura Hills, drew a strong City contingency from the Valley teams including Cleveland, El Camino Real, Reseda and Taft.
The Paramount Ranch race follows a hilly, rocky and narrow path (a real cross-country course!) that makes a single loop around the Paramount ranch and measures a legit 3.1 miles. Reseda’s JOSEPH VARGAS took top honors for the City boys and Taft’s LIZETH SANCHEZ was the top City girl. Reseda coach HECTOR MENDOZA placed placed an impressive 8th overall.
‘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!