There were 84 races across 2 days of competition at this year’s Mt. Sac XC invitational and without a doubt the most exciting contest was delivered by City athletes and won by SAMMY PACHECO. Her time of 18:51.8 was the top City time at Mt. Sac and sets a City record for the new Mt. Sac course.
Elysian Park - Thursday, November 20th
First Race 8:00am
Heard on the Trail . . .
Former Palisades Charter standout BLAKE SIGWORTH posted the top time at the Warrior Mile (actually 1,600m) at West Torrance High on Wednesday night. Now running for Palos Verdes Blake ran an incredible 4:11.72 to win in the elite race, only .5 seconds off his track PR set this past spring at CIF Prelims. Click here for a video of the race by hdRunners. Check out the cadence on the last 500m - approx. 205-210/minute; finished with a 2:02 final 800m and a :57 final 400m!
AVERY CAVALIER (Larchmont) went 4 for 4 in the LAUSD League Cluster series at 22nd Street Park in San Pedro, winning her 4th race in 19:20.7 on Thursday afternoon. This was a 26-second PR performance and puts Avery almost a minute ahead of her nearest competition in D5.
For the first time in the history of LA City Section Cross Country, ELYSIAN PARK will host the 2025 LA City Section Cross Country Championships on November 20th, 2025. There will be no Prelims this year so the League Finals will determine qualifying teams for the finals. Click here for details. Note, the Finals will be held on Thursday, November 20th. See more details below.
Correction: Emily Rodriguez was inadvertently identified as a junior in the photo from Mt. SAC. She is in fact a sophomore and the photo has been updated.
Twenty-two leagues will compete at 3 venues on Wednesday, November 5th and Thursday, November 6th to determine qualifiers for the City Championship on November 20th. Unlike most years, there will be no Prelims so the league finals will carry additional import. The qualifications for City Finals are as follows:
1. The top three teams from each League Finals meet based on team finish at that meet will qualify for City Finals
2. Any individuals who finish in the top ten at their respective League Finals meet will qualify as an individual for City Finals
3. At-large teams will also be considered based on league final team time and converted times via peitition to LA City Section
The 3rd condition should provide remedy in situations where a team competes in a league with teams from other divisions and doesn’t qualify based on condition #1. We don’t see any specific recourse for individuals who fail to qualify based on condition #2 and are running against teams from other divisions.
The Venues for league finals are:
Elysian Park - 5k
Pierce College - 3 Mile
22nd Street Park, San Pedro - 3 Mile
Here is the schedule for all City league finals:
Click on the table above to see the league final schedule for each school and the top performance for each school as of 10.31.25.
ELYSIAN COURSE INFORMATION
For the first time in the history of LA City Section Cross Country, ELYSIAN PARK will host the 2025 LA City Section Cross Country Championships on November 20th, 2025. There will be no Prelims this year so the League Finals will determine qualifying teams for the finals. Click here for details.
The courses are fairly similar. Like the Pierce hill course, Elysian’s 1st mile has the biggest elevation gain but of the key metrics that impact performance Elysian Park reads as the more difficult course - Elysian is longer, has steeper hills and greater overall elevation gain, though not as many hills as Pierce. Results substantiate the theory. Based on comparisons LACXC.com has done over the last 4 years on same-runner performances on Pierce and Elysian, Elysian runs approximately 12.3% slower than Pierce (that % is closer to 10% for the top runners). The difference in distance between the 2 courses accounts for approximately 8%, and without a doubt runners on average perform their best at City Finals so that contributes to the difference as well, but there is the remaining 2-3% that is course difficulty. For reference, 3% for a 16-minute runner is 28.8 seconds.
Where to start? Some big performances and equally big surprises at the 77th Annual Mt. SAC Invitational. The girls D1 Varsity Blue race was a City showcase with runners from different City teams placing 1st - 3rd. SAMMY PACHECO and YESENIA VALDEZ battled it out across 3 miles culminating in a photo finish that initially gave Yesenia the win but after review the decision and win went to Sammy. From atop Reservoir you could hear the roar from the stadium and the announcer’s call as the lead went back and forth on the last 300 meters on the track. An amazing race by 2 incredible athletes that should make for an epic showdown at City Finals.
Almost lost in the excitement was the performance by Kennedy sophomore EMILY RODRIGUEZ. In only her 4th high school XC race she ran the 3rd fastest City time at Mt. Sac this year, beating her Woodbridge time and nearly PR’ing on a course that no one PR’s on. Her teammate junior GEORGIA ILLINGWORTH was close behind in a superb performance that ranked her 6th overall in City and sets the grade-level City record for the course. And speaking of Kennedy, what a performance by the boys and girls’ teams. Both teams ranked 3rd against D1 City teams at Mt. SAC and on the current trajectory will definitely be making a statement on November 20th. Fantastic progress for a program that is shooting for the stars.
Granada Hills had impressive performances at Mt. SAC and JOAQUIN ORTEGA-TOMASELLI was part of that story. Joaquin’s always done well in big races but because of injuries in the past those big races were necessarily City Finals. This season has been different. Joaquin’s had a solid summer build and no injuries resulting in a string of nice performances. But Mt. SAC was special. Going toe-to-toe against City’s best he came out on top with a 3rd place finish in the Varsity Yellow race and a City record for the new course of 15:40.8. Granada now owns both City records on the new Mt. Sac course.
Joaquin continues on a record settng pace headed into post season. His performance at Mt. SAC was the best on the new course by a City runner and ranks as the 2nd best all time Granada performance at Mt. Sac.
Georgia enters the airstrip at the half-way point at Mt. Sac. She placed 9th in the D1 Varsity Blue race against some of City’s best runners. Her time of 18:49.2 sets the City junior record for the new Mt. SAC course.
The Palisades boys won the D1 Varsity Yellow race comfortably, and this without their #2 ETHAN FUNK who hasn’t run since Central Park. Their top 5 scoring runners all made the City Top-10 list led by senior ZACH COHEN, one of only two City athletes to break 16 minutes. Sophomore THEO MAYEDA had a big race for the Dolphins posting a 16:09.5, the 3rd best City time overall and the new sophomore City course record. And LAJUS COLLINS had a huge race finishing as the Dolphins #5 with the 9th best City time. The Pali girls team led going into the final mile of the D1 Varsity Red race but were edged out by 4 points in the final mile by Pleasant Grove. Three Dolphins made the City Top-10 list including DAILA HARINCK who continues to lead the Dolphin juggernaut and placed 3rd in the race. LULU MAMMEN was close behind finishing in 6th with a 25-second course PR and ZOEY MORRIS placed 10th in the race and #7 in City overall. The Dolphin girls top 5 averaged under 20 minutes (19:59.0); the only City team to accomplish this at Mt. Sac.
Marshall’s impressed all year but Mt. Sac is a true test of a team’s mettle and the Marshall boys delivered on Saturday. Senior RYE JUNKER and junior FAUSTO NOBOA ran the full 3-miles together and finished as the #6 and #7 City runners overall at Mt. Sac. Teammate ALEXANDER SWARTZ was the top City freshman and took 10th in the race. Junior ANDREW GARDNER has been Marshall’s #3 and was 20 seconds off the lead at the halfway mark but faded badly in the last mile. The team still placed 3rd running against some big southern section programs.
RYE JUNKER and FAUSTO NOBOA turn the corner onto the Airstrip in perfect unison. They placed 4th and 5th in the D2 Varsity Red race, ranking as the 8th and 9th best City performances at Mt. SAC.
The Belmont teams ran on Friday and showed once again that they are the best D4 teams by a mile. The girls placed 3rd in the D5 Varsity Yellow race (they tied Thacher but placed 3rd based on the 6th runner - Belmont only ran 5), led by senior GABRIELA ZARAT who had the 10th fastest City performance on the Mt. Sac course. And they did this without their #3 runner. They were only 7 points off the winning team so with better circumstances probably a team win here. The Belmont girls rank as the #6 City team at Mt. SAC. The Belmont boys placed 2nd in the D5 Varsity Yellow race led by junior SERGIO GUARCHAJ. They had the 9th best City team time at Mt. Sac. Fantastic program with great spirit and pride.
Canoga’s girls team continues to make huge strides. On Friday they placed 2nd in the D3 Varsity Green race with the 4th fastest City team time at Mt. Sac. Senior SARAI ROSAS led the Hunters with a 5th place finish in 20:46.7. They were the top D2 team by almost 7 minutes, but Eagle Rock didn’t have their #1 and #2 and you know Bravo Medical will make a game of it at City Finals.
Belmont’s Top Ranked Girl Sentinels
(l-r) Gabriela Zarat, Jennifer Ramos, Ashley Perrusquia, Valeria Hernandez, Jessica Tecum
Canoga Park senior SARAI ROSAS rounds the corner on her way up Reservoir Hill in the D3 Varsity Green race on Friday. Sarai placed 5th in the race and the team 2nd.
Also on Friday, Sun Valley senior ANGEL SOLORIO ran a dominant race in the D5 Varsity Yellow race leading from start to finish to win by 45 seconds. With some competition he certainly would have been on the City Top-10 list.
Sun Valley senior ANGEL SOLORIO descends down Reservoir in the D5 Varsity Yellow race at Mt. SAC which he won by over 44 seconds in 16:53.5.
(l-r) Javier Palacios, Denicio Trejo, Andy Diaz, Angel Solorio, ???, Nestor Solorio, Octavio Hernandez, Angel Torres
SUN VALLEY MAGNET
Here’s the Cite Team Power Rankings from Mt. SAC:
Teams with less than 5 runners across all races are not included in the Power Rankings. Taft was registered to run Mt. Sac but pulled out. Olivia Corrigan and Fiona Walts did not compete for Eagle Rock. North Hollywood did not register for Mt. Sac so City’s top ranked runner Anayna Balaraman did not compete.
Mt. SAC Preview
Dateline October 22nd, 2025
Thirty-four City teams and 798 City athletes are slated to run at this year’s Mt. SAC XC Invite, the largest contingency ever from the LA Section. This will be the 2nd year on the ‘New’ course that eliminates ‘Poop Out’ hill and extends the finish on to the stadium track for a legit 3-mile distance. City records on the ‘New’ course are held by PAUL TRANQUILLA (Venice-15:46.0) and ZOEY MORRIS (Palisades-19:00.0) - see table below. Team records both belong to Palisades; the boys 1:23:29.0 and the girls 1:40.03.0.
The race to watch this year is the boys Yellow Varsity race on Saturday that has D1’s top teams and individuals from Birmingham, Granada Hills and San Pedro are squaring off and should provide a preview of the City Championships just a month away. Palisades and Taft are running in different races, both boys and girls. The Palisades’ boys should have their “A” team running at 100% for the 1st time this year. The girls Varsity Blue race has 2 contenders for the City D1 individual title, Granada Hill’s SAMMY PACHECO and Birmingham’s YESENIA VALDEZ, going toe-to-toe in a rematch from last week’s West Valley Cluster. For the first time in several years there are no City teams or individuals in the Sweepstakes races. San Pedro is a late add to the official school listing as is Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academy. North Hollywood will not be running.
Here are the LA City Section records on the ‘New’ 3-mile Mt. SAC course:
Here is the UPDATED 2025 Mt SAC race schedule for all registered City teams, in order of each team’s final varsity race:
City’s Best . . .So Far
Here are the top City performances by division so far this year. Eight of the 10 athletes on the list below will be running at Mt. SAC this weekend:
CITY FINALS - 2025
UPDATE: For only the 3rd time in 67 years the City Prelims and Finals will NOT be held on the vaunted Pierce “hill” course that’s hosted some of the City’s greatest runners, a virtually uninterrupted legacy of running unrivaled anywhere in California. Due to construction at Pierce, this year’s post-season competitions will be held on a 5k course at Elysian Park. We’re waiting on a Strava elevation map of the course for details but we do know this, the course runs on average about 1:30’s slower than the Pierce Hill course and has a big ascent in the 1st and 3rd miles.
Before 1959, LA City ran their championship races on a 2.0-mile course at “the trails” at UCLA. The record on that course was set by KIRBY TRUE of Marshall in 1958 (9:55.0). The record on the 2-mile Pierce course, the course where City Finals were run from 1959 through 1974, is held by Wilson’s JOSE AMAYA who ran 8:35.0 at City Finals in 1970. Considered by many to be the finest performance at Pierce.
Since the move to Pierce, there have only been 2 deviations to the current Pierce ‘Hill” course and 2 times when the varsity boys did not run the standard Pierce ”Hill” course. The first deviation occurred in 1975, a transition year for City runners in anticipation of the state-wide CIF implementation of a 3-mile/5k standard in 1976, where the course was advertised as 2.85 miles (the record on that course is University’s DAVID PASCAL in 13:54.8). In 1976 the City Section transitioned to the 3-mile course we know today (2.87 miles, actually). The records for the 3-mile Pierce “Hill” course are 14:31.3 by PABLO ROSALES (San Pedro ‘09) and 16:33.2 by MARISSA WILLIAMS (Palisades Charter ‘14).
Note - girls started running City Finals in 1984 so the 3-mile record is all there is.
For reasons unknown, Pierce was not the venue for the 1963 Prelims or Finals; instead both races were run at Peck Park in San Pedro. And in 2010 and 2012 rain caused the races to be moved off of the standard Pierce “Hill” course. In 2010 all races were held on a 5k Pierce rain course, which consisted of two laps around Shepard Stadium and featured relatively flat terrain. In 2012 the boys Varsity Finals race was run on the Pierce hill course (see video – it was a mess) but all the other races that day were moved to Birmingham.
City Division Assignments - 2025
For the 2025 season, there are 10 fewer City team registered for Cross-Country, all from divisions 4 and 5. Last year was a high-water mark by a long shot so hard to say that interest in cross-country is waning but the trend is concerning. Likely though that some notable teams such as Academia Avance and Westchester will ultimately run so the final numbers may be better.
Here are the City XC teams that moved divisions in 2025:
The most surprising change is Monroe’s move from D2 to D1. It’s only the 3rd time in the last 5 years that a team has moved up to D1, the other 2 being Robert F. Kennedy and Venice back in 2023. This move may be a year late for Monroe as last year’s boys varsity team likely would have been chomping on the bit to compete in D1; this year not so much.
A shame to see Mendez back in Division 4 this year. They moved up to D3 in ‘23 and in 2 years usurped the perennial city champs Verdugo Hills last year to win the individual and team boys City titles. This is a program that has shown consistent improvement, both boys and girls, and really should be competing in D2.
‘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!