(l-r) Zach Cohen, Sebastian Funk, Ethan Funk,
Jackson Taylor, Andrew Razo, Mako Holt, Theo Mayeda
City Champions?
As City teams move into the second half of the ‘25 XC season the Palisades boys have set a standard that will be hard to beat in November . . . and they have yet to run at full strength!
Huntington Beach, CA
Octoboer 4th, 2025
Here are the Top-10 City performances across all races at the 2025 Central Park Invitational:
Griffith Park - Park Central
September 27th, 2025
Here are the City Teams Power Rankings from the 2025 Bellarmine-Sacred Heart Invitational:
Note: Teams with less than 5 runners across all races at Bell-Jeff are not included in the Power Rankings.
Here are the top City performances across all races at the 2025 Bellarmine-Sacred Heart Invitational:
BELL-JEFF CHAMPS - KENNEDY
Giada Di Salvo, Cameron Rose A Ramos, Georgia Illingworth, Emily Rodriguez, Arianna Aguilar, Emma Quezada, Colleen Kidwell
On a damp, cloudy morning the Kennedy girls took Bell-Jeff by storm, winning the varsity large school team contest. The Marshall girls also showed well earning 3rd for the team, above Granada Hills who was 5th. The Marshall boys continue to be the team to beat in City D2 finishing 4th in the large school race.
In only her 2nd XC race Kennedy sophomore EMILY RODRIGUEZ was the top placing varsity City runner, boy or girl, placing 2nd in 20:15.0 in the varsity large school race. Teammate GEORGIA ILLINGWORTH placed 5th, running over a minute faster than last year. For Marshall, ANNABEL ROBERTSON led the girls with a 11th place finish in 21:45.2 and Granada senior SAMMY PACHECO placed 4th in the race placing 4 City runners in the top 5.
Marshall senior RYE JUNKER was the top City finisher in the boys varsity large school race placing 12th in 16:47.3. Birmingham junior DANIEL SALAZAR finished just under 17 minutes to close as City’s #2. Daniel finished 3rd in the West Valley League Cluster on Thursday and ran well at Woodbridge so, like his teammate Yesenia, he is having a big month. City’s #3 finisher FAUSTO NOBOA (Jr-Bravo Medical) shaved over a minute off his time from last year to finish 19th in 17:16.8.
The Sophomores, both boys and girls, ran impressively at Bell-Jeff. North Hollywood’s KENSUKE OHSHIMA posted the #4 City time at Bell-Jeff and the top sophomore time to win the JV Large school race in 17:18.1. FELIPE FRANSUAT PEREZ, running well below his potential due to a lost shoe mid-race, was the #2 sophomore City finisher. Eagle Rock’s DAVID KANNER was seconds behind Felipe finishing 29th in 17:45.5 followed closely by newcomer ANGEL ROMAN of Fairfax who ran his 1st high school XC race on Saturday. Marshall freshman ALEXANDER SWARTZ was the top City freshman placing 37th in 17:57.6.
In addition to Emily Rodriguez (see above), Verdugo Hills sophomore HANNAH GALLIDORO posted the #7 City time at Bell-Jeff and Kennedy’s GIADA DI SALVO took almost 7 minutes off her ‘24 time at Bell Jeff to place 22nd in the Varsity large school race. Granada Hill’s TONI CRUZ was the top City Freshman placing 32nd in the same race.
The future looks bright for City!
Kennedy sophomore EMILY RODRIGUEZ crosses the finish line in 20:15.0 (the timing was off) to place 2nd in the Varsity Large School race, the top City finisher at Bell-Jeff.
While most of her varsity team was up at Portland SAMMY PACHECO held the fort for Granada Hills placing 4th in a time of 20:29.0.
Cleveland junior KIWA MCKNELLY finishes in 10th place in 21:49.00 to lead the Cavalier’s varsity team. She also placed 10th in the West Valley Cluster #2 on Thursday.
Annabel Robertson, Nico Weinberg, Katherine Clowes, Niamh Dodd, Marlowe Henderson, Kayley Castillo, Isela Guizar, Izabel Nunez
MARSHALL VARSITY
Margot Cendreda, Summer Carluen, Katherine Lewis,
Alondra Gutierrez, Celia Rainman
EAGLE ROCK VARSITY
Marshall senior RYE JUNKER heads into the hills for the 2nd time at Bell-Jeff. Rye was the highest placing boy in the Varsity large school race placing 12th in 16:47.3
Senior JOSIA CASTRO led Kennedy with a 23rd place in 17:28.5 in the Varsity Large School race.
Sophomore DAVID KANNER continues his reign as Eagle Rock’s top runner placing 20th in 17:45.50; a performance that is over 3 minutes faster than his time at last year’s Bell-Jeff.
A diamond in the rough? In his first high school race ever, track or XC, Fairfax sophomore ANGEL ROMAN placed 31st in the Varsity Large School race with a commendable 17:46.4. Definitely a runner to watch.
Taft’s JULIAN SEGAL and Birmingham’s ALEXIS HEURTA sprint through the gauntlet to the finish on the new Pierce course at the West Valley Cluster on Thursday, September 25th, 2025.
West Valley League Cluster #2
GIRLS VARSITY
Three leagues converged on Pierce on Thursday to try their hand on the new 3-mile “flat” course that is in the running (pardon the pun) as the venue for City Finals. Despite early criticisms that this new course is boring, desolate, hot and flat - on balance it wasn’t bad. A wide 300-meter long team staging area sits directly adjacent to the start and finish which provides fantastic viewing and an athlete village vibe. The start and finish are long, wide stretches that should create plenty of excitement. As for the hills, nothing close to the traditional course for sure but every runner I spoke to commented on “The Hill”, a man-made hillock which is run 3 times during the race. Much of the course is behind a chain link fence that limits the inadvertent spectator incursions that are endemic on the hill course, but this does contribute to the sense of “desolation” on the back sections of the course.
Now to the running. In the 2nd West Valley Cluster of the 2025 season Taft dominated, winning all 6 team contests and five of the six individual races. To be fair, much of Granada Hills’ varsity teams were on their way to Nike Portland XC and other teams ran at less than 100% due to Bell-Jeff on Saturday. Nonetheless, as the sun set on Pierce there was a definite sense of a changing of the guard in the West Valley.
NEW COURSE RECORD
Taft seniors ETHAN BAROK and HUNTER BENNETT led from start to finish to help the Toreadors to an impressive team score of 19. Ethan set a course record of 16:02.2 while Hunter finished in 16:04.2.
Birmingham senior YESENIA VALDEZ leads the varsity race on the 2nd loop. Yesenia won her 2nd West Valley Cluster this year in 19:24.9; she set a course record on Sept 11th of 19:14.5.
We missed ANGEL SOLORIO’s record setting performance at Woodbridge so made a point to catch him in the Central Valley League Cluster. The Sun Valley senior set a D5 and school record of 15:42.7 on a slow Woodbridge course. Angel won Thursday’s race easily but well off his PR.
Birmingham junior DANIEL SALAZAR kept the varsity race honest pushing the leaders for half of the race and breaking up Taft’s top 4 to finish in 3rd place in 16:35.1.
UPDATED: Freshmen UNICA GUERRERO and MAILE BRADY placed 1st and 2nd in the JV race at the West Valley Cluster #2.
Sophomore MILES GOHIL was the top finisher in the Valley League race
TAFT VARSITY
Indie Hyman, Julian Segal, Angel Rodriguez, Hunter Bennet
Ethan Barok, Jonah Simkin, Mark Banuelos
Pierce Course - 2025
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 flat 2-loop course on the north-west side of the Pierce campus (see diagram below). This major course change will have a notable impact on the City Champions, especially affecting individual titles more than team titles. More on this in our upcoming ‘Power Rankings’ issue coming out later this week.
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.
Below is an image of the Pierce Course for the 2025 XC season. The course is 2 loops with each loop 1.5 miles (photo and graphics courtesy of Taft coach Mario Castillo of Taft).
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!