Carson junior JAYDEN RENDON has been red hot all year, breaking 37 seconds in the 300m for the first time at Mt. Sac and then dropping a sub-14 second performance at City Prelims in the 110m hurdles. It all came together at State where he placed 5th in the fastest 110m hurdles in CIF history and then came back to win in a photo-finish in the 300m hurdles, setting a school record of 36.50. He also set the school record in the 110m hurdles at State Prelims the previous evening in 13.93. Click here to see a video of Jayden’s 300m hurdle State performance.
Coaches, parents, athletes wanting specific photos from this season please submit your request on the form at the bottom of this page.
City Athletes in the News
Really nice piece on the San Pedro boys distance track program by Sean Rice of San Pedro Today. Click on the image to go to the article. Check out the imbedded video; Coaches & athletes, some words of wisdom from a guy that knows a thing or two about running - Jeff Atkinson.
Blake Sigworth has made the most of a really bad situation since the fires in the Palisades. He now runs with Palos Verdes and posted a PR of 4:11.05 at the Southern Section Masters meet to qualify for State in the 1,600m. Blake made front page of the Orange County Register Sports section last week.
State Championships
Buchanan High School - Clovis, CA
Friday-Saturday, May 30th-31st, 2025
5/31/25 Update 11:33pm
Carson sprinter CHRISTINA GRAY ran the final leg of their 5th place 4x100m relay then placed 3rd in the 100m. All well and good. But her best performance was in the 200m, an event she’s struggled with throughout this season. Her prelim run was an eye-opener, where she ran a PR in lane 9 to qualify for Finals but that was only a hint of the 3rd place performance to come on Saturday evening. Really great stuff from the Carson athletes who get it done in the big races! Birmingham senior ANTRELL HARRIS deserves props as well. He PR’d in the 100m and 200m at State Prelims to qualify for Finals in both races and went on to place 8th in the 100m and 9th in the 200m on Saturday evening.
And since this is a distance-focused web site lets talk about the boys 4x800m. San Pedro coach Jeff Atkinson has spoken all year about the “Process” and City Finals looked like that was the culmination; Four medals in the top 3 places for the boys 1600m and 800m and City titles in the 1600m and 4x800m relay. Job well done! But there was a sense of unfinished business. At State Finals they put an exclamation point on the process, smashing the 4x800m City record by over 18 seconds and setting a school record in the process in a time of 7:47.07. That’s 4 runners averaging under 1:57 per 800m split (Butterfield 1:56.66, Frelix 1.56.28, Hadeishi 1:54.78, Ayau-Espins 1:59.25). EVAN HADEISHI ran an incredible 3rd leg to move San Pedro into 5th place. Phenomenal performance by San Pedro to place 8th in an incredibly competitive race.
Santee senior ANGELES FELICIANO ran a PR in the 3,200m and set a school record in 10:56.71. Also, ANGELINA LOPEZ set a school record for Canoga Park in the same race in 11:16.74.
Note: Granada Hills senior JUSTIN HART did not start the 400m Finals due to a hamstring injury incurred in Prelims in the same event.
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5/30/25 Update
State Prelims kicked-off tonight and here are some of the City highlights. The Carson girls 4x100m relay team posted the top team across 4 heats with CHRISTINA GRAY crushing the final leg to come from 10 meters back in 3rd place to give Carson the win and the top seed in tomorrow night’s final. Christina also set a PR in the 100m to place 2nd in heat 2 and then set another PR (.42 seconds!!!) in the 200m to place 2nd in heat 1; she qualified for Finals in both so including the relay she’ll be in 3 Finals races tomorrow. Phenomenal Prelim performances (announcer compared her to Sha'Carri Richardson!) Teammate JAYDEN RENDON ran .18 seconds in front of his PR to place 2nd in heat 4 of the 110m High Hurdles and followed that up with the 2nd best time of the night in the 300m hurdles, qualifying for tomorrow’s Finals in both events. Birmingham senior ANTRELL HARRIS ran an absolutely crazy .38 second PR in the 100m to place 3rd in heat 1 and qualify for Finals. Granada senior JUSTIN HART placed 3rd in heat 4 of the 400m to qualify for Saturday’s finals. In the 1st heat of the 200m he pulled up at about 100m with an apparent hamstring injury and didn’t finish. He did not run in the 4x400 relay later in the evening but has been cleared to run the 400m in Final. LAWRENCE KENSINGER threw a near-PR in the shot put to place 10th over all in Prelims and qualify for Finals. Palisades junior ANNABELL REFNES ran an almost 4-second PR in the 3rd heat of the 800m to post the top City time of the year 2:14.56. Not only the top time in 2025 but the best City time since 2005, when Sarah Roth from El Camino Real ran 2:14.21 in the State Prelims, and likely a Palisades school record (checking on that)! She followed that up the next evening at Finals with a 2:15.46 1st-leg split in the 4x800m relay to put Palisades into 2nd place on the first transition. Really impressive performances! JACK BUTTERFIELD continues to impress with another huge 4-second PR (3.9 to be precise) to claim the top City time this year in the 800m in 1:53.04 and a school record! You have to go back to the year 2001 to find a better time (Christopher Wells-Anders, El Camino Real 1:52.93). ALEJANDRO HERRERA wasn’t far behind taking almost 2 seconds off his PR to set a Bravo Medical school record of 1:55.55 in the same 800m heat as Jack. Canoga Park Senior ANGELINA LOPEZ ran a 5-second PR of 5:09.93 in the 1,600m.
Your 2025 State Track & Field Qualifiers
Birmingham Community Charter HS
Thursday May 22nd, 2025
For the first time in school history both Granada Hills boys and girls teams took home the City championship trophies at Thursday’s City Finals at Birmingham Community Charter High School, only the 5th school to accomplish the double* the last being Carson in 2015. For the boys it was just another day at the office winning the team contest with a convincing 32-point advantage over 2nd place San Pedro and in the process taking home their 4th consecutive City title. The girls win was their first ever after placing 2nd to Carson the last 4 years and broke the record-setting Carson title streak going back to 2014.
* The 4 other schools that have won both the boys and girls titles in the same year: Birmingham, Carson (2x’s), Dorsey (2x’s), and Taft.
In the distance races the favorites rose to the occasion with ANANYA BALARAMAN winning City titles in both the 1,600m and 800m and ANGELES FELICIANO taking the girls 3,200m. San Pedro ruled the boys 1,600m with JACK BUTTERFIELD and EVAN HADEISHI going 1-2 and Venice’s CHARLES SIMON took the City 3,200m title. The big surprise was in the boys 800m where Bravo Medical senior ALEJANDRO HERRERA stormed down the final straight-away to snatch the race away from the race favorites. Bravo Medical really impressed! Prior to Thursday’s Final Bravo had been completely off the radar with no titles at the Northern league finals and no prominent performances in the Prelims. But on the big day they made the podium 4 times in the distance events. In addition to Alejandro, senior ANGELIQUE MORALES placed 4th in a very competitive 1,600m and then came back to take 3rd in the 3,200m. Their boys 4x800m also had a noteworthy performance placing 4th in the lead-off event of the meet. Bravo Bravo!
The younger runners showed well at finals. El Camino Real sophomore SCARLET HARRIS placed 3rd in the girls 800m in 2:20.13, Taft sophomore ISABELLA SAKALOWSKY placed 4th in girls 1,600m in 5:25.26, Cleveland freshman WILL ABIRAGI placed 5th in 800m in a 2-second PR of 2:00.53, OLIVIA CORRIGAN placed 5th in the girls 3200m, and FIONA WALTS placed 6th in the girls 800m in 2:23.02. Just outside of the top 6 Kennedy freshman EMILY RODRIGUEZ placed 7th in the 1,600m and 10th in the 3200m, Venice freshman WHITNEY DERBY placed 9th in the 1600m and teammate HARINA GIRMAY placed 8th in the3200m, and Palisades freshman THEO MAYEDA placed 8th in the 3200m. Impressive performances that bode well for City’s future.
Some other performances of note: Garfield senior RUBEN MENDOZA was one of the few runners to post a PR at Finals and his effort of 4:32.73 earned him 6th place in the 1600m. MARIO ALUIZO and ARMAN VAZQUEZ both finished their senior year off with podium performances in the 1,600m and 800m (Mario) and the 3200m (Arman). Taft senior SAGE KODAMA posted a 2-second PR of 2:21.26 to place 4th in the girls 800m.
Girls 4 x 800m Relay
Dalia Harinck leads out the 1st leg of the 4x800m relays for Palisades. In a departure from the other CIF sections, the race was the first event at the Finals and the Dolphins ran away with it taking 1st by 13 seconds. The team included Vitalija Schafer, Gabriella Gilyard and Annabelle Refnes who had the fastest split of 2:21.74. Granada placed 2nd and along with Palisades will be headed to State.
Boys 4 x 800m Relay
Christopher Frelix brings it home on the final leg of the 4x800m relay to clinch the win for San Pedro and a trip to State. Though not the school record they were hoping for their time of 8:10.59 earned them a comfortable lead over 2nd place Palisades Charter. San Pedro’s other runners were Edwards Ayau-Espina, Jack Butterfield and Robbie Rivas.
GIRLS 4x100m RELAY
The Carson girls clinched another 4x100m City title, their 8th in a row since 2016. (l-r) Christina Gray, Kelis Hicks, Kaitlyn Williams and Tiffany Williams
BOYS 4x100m RELAY
Granada Hills senior Quion Williams edges out Birmingham’s Braylen Morgan by a mere .02 seconds to win the 4x100m relay. Both teams ran big PR’s to earn their bid to the State meet. The other members of Granada’s team were Nasir Enilolobo, Justin Hart and Timothy Wyatt.
GIRLS 1,600m - START
LA City’s finest kick-off the individual
distance events at City Finals
(l-r) Angelina Lopez, Ananya Balaraman, Angeles Feliciano, Isabella Sakalowski, Zoe Morris, Sammy Pacheco, Angelique Morales, Brigette Trujillo, Whitney Derby, Kendal Shaver, Amelia Halpin
GIRLS 1,600m
Angeles Feliciano, Ananya Balaraman, Isabella Sakalowski and Angelina Lopez are part of a break-away pack on the 2nd lap. Ananya won the race in 5:03.75, the 1st 1,600m title ever for North Hollywood. Angeles placed 2nd with an 8-second PR of 5:04.25, Angelina finished 3rd in 5:17.76 and Isabella finished 5th in 5:26.68.
BOYS 1,600m
Oliver Barr leads out the first lap of the 1,600m in a pedestrian 1:12 for the 1st 400m. Things heated up in the last 800m when San Pedro’s Jack Butterfield and Evan Hadeishi pushed the tempo on their way to placing 1st and 2nd. Oliver placed 3rd and Ethan 5th in a race where everyone was far off their PR’s.
BOYS HIGH JUMP
Eagle Rock junior Liam Pasten clears 5’-10” on his first attempt
GIRLS 800m
Annabelle Refnes and freshman Fiona Walts set the early pace on the 1st lap of the 800m. Ananya Balaraman (hidden behind Annabell) won the race in 2:16.90 and Annabelle placed 2nd in 2:18.15. Fiona placed 6th in a time of 2:23.02, a 5-second PR and a grade-level school record.
BOYS 800m
With 300 meters to go the race was on and Bravo Medical senior Alejandro Herrera took the lead and didn’t relent until he crossed the line in 1st in a PR of 1:57.51. A surprise yes but a hardly an upset; Alejandro had run a 1:57.57 back on April 12th. Christopher Frelix (hidden behind #2) was a close 2nd in 1:57.62 and Evan Hadeishi (#2) placed 3rd. The kid in the black kit way in back? That’s Cleveland freshman Will Abiragi who finished strong placing 5th in 2:00.53, a 2-second PR.
MENS SHOPTPUT
Lawrence Kensiger spins into his final throw at City Finals, a 55’-0” effort that earned him 1st place and his 2nd City title.
GIRLS TRIPLE JUMP
Kacey Santiago sticks her final jump to take the lead and the win in a PR of 36’-4.25“ in the
girls triple jump.
BOYS TRIPLE JUMP
Derrick Johnson (pictured) was the top seeded jumper and was winning after 3 jumps but in the final round Dhannon Angeletti (King Drew Medical) added almost 2 feet to his previous best jump to take the City title.
GIRLS 300m HURDLES
DeAuna Louis cruises to victory in the 300m to earn her 2nd City title in the event. This was her 3rd event of 4 that she ran at City Finals, taking home 2 1st place and a 5th in the individual events and a 7th place in the 4x400m .
GIRLS 3,200m
Santee senior Angeles Feliciano was the favorite coming into City Finals and she set the pace from the start. This is her first City title in running, track or XC (hard to believe given her talent), in a time that was well off her PR of 10:57.89 from Mt. Sac. Angelina Lopez (#9) placed 2nd and Bravo Medical senior Angelique Morales (#16) surprised with a 38-second PR to take 3rd.
BOYS 3,200m Start
(l-r) Esteben Torres, Neftali Perez, Demitri Hernandez, Owen Lewicky, Hunter Bennett, Charles Simon, Zac Cohen
BOYS 3,200m
Until the final lap it looked like Santee might take both the boys and girls 3,200m title as Roland Balderas (#12) led the whole race up to that point. But in the final 100m Charles Simon sprinted in for the win followed by Zac Cohen and then Roland.
DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS
Venice Senior Charles Simon celebrates after winning the City title in the 3,200m. Charles has had a spectacular senior year in both cross country and track and this City title is the culmination of a commitment he made 2 years ago. Congratulations!
GIRLS 4 x 400m RELAY
Tiffany Williams carries the 3rd leg for Carson on the way to their win in the 4x400m. Palisades made a run for the title on the final leg with Annabelle Refnes running 59.01 to nearly catch Carson, falling short by only .7 seconds.
BOYS 4 x 400m RELAY
Jayden Joch is in the thick of it on the 2nd leg of the 4x400m with Granada’s Justin Hart and Dorsey’s William Moore moving hard off his right shoulder. Jayden held is own and the Palisades team got the win by .17 seconds over Granada Hills with the help of teammate Ronin Sherertz’s 49.29 final leg.
‘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!