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
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 5 top 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:
Heard on the Trail . . .
Venice sophomore WHITNEY DERBY set the Pierce ‘New’ course record on Wednesday at the Western league cluster with a PR of 18:51.0 - Whitney’s second PR of the week following her performance at Bell Gardens. She’ll have strong competition this weekend in the Varsity Blue race against Granada Hills and Birmingham.
San Pedro’s varsity teams forewent the LAUSD League Cluster #3 in preparation for Mt. Sac. which allowed ANDREW ALBA ROMERO (Washington Prep) the opportunity to claim his 2nd HS XC win, his first this year, in the varsity race against 316 competitors. Freemont won team honors with a 2-point victory over Stella Charter; 42 team competed in this race! In the girls varsity race, AVERY CAVALIER (Larchmont) claimed her 3rd consecutive win this year over 257 contestants in a PR of 19:47.3; San Pedro took the team title against 43 teams.
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.
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:
38th Annual Bell Gardens Invitational
Griffith Park, Los Angeles - Saturday October 18th, 2025
The Bell Gardens Invitational moved to Griffth Park for the 38th running of the event that hosted 23 City teams this year. The new course started and finished at the Autry Museum at Griffith Park making a single loop around the Griffith Park golf course on a predominantly flat dirt trail.
The boys and girls Palisades teams topped City Power rankings at Bell Garden while Birmingham senior YESENIA VALDEZ impressed as the top City girl with her first sub-18 performance and Palisades JACKSON TAYLOR was the top City boy athlete placing 6th in the Senior race in 15:23.5. Marshall freshman ALEXANDER SWARTZ was the lone City winner at Bell Gardens, taking the Freshman race in a PR of 16:21.8.
The Palisades girls dominated the Senior race with their 5 scoring runners placing in the top 13 for a team score of 34 (2nd place was 109). DAILA HARINCK led the Dolphins placing 5th in 18:10.3 and LULU MAMMEN finished 6th in 18:19.9. The Pali boys ran Bell Gardens without their top 2 runners and still managed a 2nd place finish in the Senior race. In addition to Jackson (see above), THEO MAYEDA just missed a PR running 15:31.5 as Pali’s #2 and ANDREW RAZO impressed in his second race back from injury posting a PR of 15:37.5, the 4th best City time at Bell Gardens.
Marshall boys have arrived! It’s been 6 years since Marshall just missed winning the D1 City championship in 2019 and since then the program has waned. But at Bell Gardens they made a statement. Two runners under 16 minutes (almost 3) and all 5 runners under 16:22 on a course the runs a bit slower than Woodbridge! They are the team to beat in D2 this year and their top runner RYE JUNKER is the D2 individual favorite after his spectacular 15:26.9 performance on the Griffith Park course. FAUSTO NOBOA also broke 15 minutes for the Barristers posting an 18-second PR of 15:53.8. Marshall’s team time for their top-5 averaged 16:01.4, just 12 seconds behind Palisades.
On the girls’ side, Kennedy continues to roll with the #2 City team ranking at Bell Gardens. In a very competitive girls City ranking sophomore EMILY RODRIGUEZ had the 8th fastest City performance in 19:04.0 and teammate GEORGIE ILLINGWORTH was close behind in 19:15.7. If they can find a #5 that can close under 21-minutes this team could be a factor in November. OLIVIA CORRIGAN ran the 3rd best sophomore time overall at Bell Garden against some powerhouse teams such as Mira Costa and Palm Dessert. Her PR of 18:21.0 placed her 7th in the Senior race and she is still not at 100% after some early season injuries. Another sophomore, Venice’s WHITNEY DERBEY placed 3rd in the Sophomore race with the 7th top City time of 18:56.1. Senior GABRIELA ZARAT placed 10th in the Senior race to lead her Belmont team to a 4th place finish.
Here are the City Team Power Rankings from the 38th Annual Bell Gardens Invitational:
Note: Schools with less than 5 athletes competing at Bell Garden are not included in the Power Rankings.
JACKSON TAYLOR has been the breakout athlete for the Palisades’ boys team this year emerging as one of the Dolphin’s top runners. His 15:23.5 at Bell Gardens was a near-PR leading the Dolphins to a 6th place finish in the Senior race.
YESENIA VALDEZ continues to dominate City running with a big PR at Bell Garden that led all City runners and earned her 4th place in the girls Senior race. She’s only the 2nd City girl to break 18 minutes this year and puts her solidly in the conversation for City champion.
Marshall Freshman ALEXANDER SWARTZ set a PR and the top City freshman time on his way to winning the Freshman race at Bell Gardens.
EMILY RODRIGUEZ placed 6th in the Sophomore race in a PR of 19:04.0 . . . . and was disappointed. That says a lot about Emily and what she expects from herself. This is only her 2nd season of running and her first XC season so plenty of untapped potential to draw on in the coming years.
Senior RYAN PERRELLA broke 16 minutes for the first time at Bell Gardens with a 17-second PR over his Woodbridge performance - really impressive. He placed 16th in the Senior race in 15:43.0, the #5 City time at Bell Gardens.
Palisades Senior DAILA HARINCK closes in on sub-18 with a 18:10.3 PR at Bell Gardens. She placed 5th in the Senior race and was City’s #2.
Here are the Top-10 City individual performances at the Bell Gardens Invitational:
West Valley Cluster #3
Pierce College 3.0 mile Course
September 16th, 2025
Start of the freshman race at the West Valley Cluster #3
Granada Hills and Taft dominated competition at the 3rd West Valley Cluster with Granada sweeping all 3 boys races and Taft sweeping the girls races. SAMMY PACHECO led the Highlanders with a confident and jubilant victory in the girls varsity race. Birmingham showed well with 5 runners placing in the top 10 across all races. ALEXIS HUERTA looks to be back to almost 100%, placing 2nd in the boys Varsity, while teammate DANIEL SALAZAR placed 4th in the same race. El Camino Real junior SCARLET HARRIS ran well in only her 2nd race this year, placing 2nd in the girls varsity race. Like last year, Scarlet is completely off anybody’s radar but she will be a factor on November 16th. Sun Valley senior ANGEL SOLORIO won his league race in 16:09 and placed 3rd in the combined race with the West Valley. Impressive performance by a D5 runner against some of the best City D1 teams.
A lot of key runners not putting in full efforts in anticipation of Bell Gardens and Mt. Sac, so these results will likely shift come league finals. With some of the top teams and individuals not competing at Bell Gardens this weekend, Mt. Sac will likely be our only preview of City teams prior to post season.
Frosh/Soph Profiles
In her first ever high school race freshman SUNNY SAKAI took the win in the frosh-soph race at the West Valley Cluster #3.
Sophomore JAMES LIMBO gets his first win in the boys frosh-soph race with an almost 2-minute course PR of 17:39.9. James ran with the lead pack for the 1st 2 loops and then pulled away for the win on the final mile.
Freshman MADISON FARBO and sophomore ELLIE KARSHMER placed 2nd and 3rd in the girls frosh-soph race.
Sophomore RENAUE TRINIDAD leads the boys frosh-soph race after the 1st loop. Renaue finished in 2nd place in 18:03.8.
The top four finishers in the girls frosh-soph race descend the hill on the start of the 2nd loop.
(l-r) Madison Farbo, Ellie Karchmer,
Sunny Sakai, Toni Cruz
Birmingham sophomore DANNY C. MAYORGA has taken almost 2 1/2 minutes of his time from the 1st West Valley cluster in September. On Thursday he posted a 1-min 21-sec course PR to place 3rd in the boys frosh-soph race.
Sophomore WILLIAM HIPPLE had a solid race in his 1st performance of the ‘25 XC season. He was Taft’s top finisher in the boys’ frosh-soph race placing 4th in 18:19.4.
Sophomore JAWADE JAMI finishes strong with a 5th place in the boys frosh-soph race.
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.
(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
Granada Hills was the first team to run at Central Park back in 2016. The following year Canoga Park and Venice competed, and these three teams have been the City mainstays of this race to this day. On Saturday, 10 City schools competed, the most since 2016. This year Palisades Charter ran for the first time as did D3 Panorama and D5 schools Middle College and Stella Charter. This is not a fast course in the vein of Rosemead or Woodbridge, so very few SR’s or PR’s, but it is an honest course and provides some reliable information on City team strength at mid-season.
ZACH COHEN continues his reign as City’s top athlete with a 15:04.8 9th place finish in the Sweepstakes race at the Central Park Invite.
Junior KENDAL SHAVER transferred from San Diego section last year and since that time she’s moved up in the team rankings as a consistent top-5 varsity runner for Pali. Her times this year have been 1-2 minutes better than in ‘24 and City Park was no exception where she ran 19:27.4.
Both Taft varsity teams continue to show strong, particularly in their top 3. HUNTER BENNETT took top honors this week with a big performance that earned him 2nd place. ETHAN BAROK was close behind in a gutsy performance that may have been a bit too hot in the 1st mile (no criticism, love to see that). ISABELA SAKALOWSKY continues her role as the de facto leader for the girl Toreadors with a nice performance at Central Park. Going forward, her mission, if she decides to accept :), is finding a way to shave another 20-30 seconds off her performances - that puts her in D1 top-5 range where she belongs. Sophomore HUDSON SONG and junior JONAH SIMKIN have impressed all year and Central Park was no exception. They’re the backbone of their respective Taft teams this year and should be setting themselves up for some remarkable stuff in ‘26. Junior JENNY NAVA will be critical in Taft’s quest for a first-ever State qualification; she hasn’t run since Woodbridge so a big question mark. Freshmen UNICA GUERRO and MAILE BRADY posted the top City 9th-grade times across all races at Central Park in the Varsity S1 race.
State Qualifier?
Both the Taft boys and girls will be looking to send teams to State for the first time since the inception of the State meet in 1997. The boys need to qualify in the top 3 at the D1 City Championships and JONAH SIMKIN will likely be key to achieving this milestone. Palisades and Granada Hills will be their obvious competition but do not disregard San Pedro; they have a solid top 3 and if they can get 1 more runner in the low 16’s both Taft and Granada are vulnerable. The road to State for the girls will be more difficult. Only 2 City D1 girls teams qualify and that means the Taft girls will need to dethrone one of two teams - Palisades Charter or Granada Hills - that have won every City Final since 2012. Sophomore HUDSON SONG may be the difference that helps Taft earn their 1st State team appearance.
JONAH SIMKIN is in top form at the Central Park Invite. Jonah is Taft’s #3 and the linchpin to Taft’s post season success.
HUDSON SONG will be a pivotal player in the Taft girl’s quest for a first-ever State qualification in November.
The Venice girls’ underclassmen impressed with their top 3 finishing in the top 20 in the Sophomore S1 race. WHITNEY DERBY placed 2nd in 19:38.1, HARINA GIRMAY 7th in 21:10.2 and ZOEY KLEBER 20th in 21:47.7. This team will be formidable in the next 2 years. For the boys, senior RYAN PERRELLA was the top Gondolier in 16:26.1.
Most of Granada’s varsity teams did not compete this weekend in preparation for Clovis on Oct. 11th. But GAVIN FINEGAN did and he impressed in the Sophomore S1 race. Gavin placed 2nd in this race in 16:38.8 and was closing quickly on the leader; another 200 meters and he would have won the race.
Canoga Park ran in the afternoon races and showed well, particularly their upper classmen girls and under classmen boys. SARAI ROSAS posted the 10th best City girls’ performance and junior ABRIANNA ROBLES and senior ABRILEA ARCILLA were both in the City Top-20. Freshman DAISHA CASCO posted the #3 City 9th-grade time. The Canoga girls’ team ranked #3 among all City teams at Central Park. The boys were led by freshman DANIEL TORRES who ran 17:45.7 in the Frosh/Soph S2 race. The best freshman performance at City Park by a Canoga Park athlete ever and the 2nd best all-time Canoga 9th grade performance, ever! Canoga sophomore ALEXANDER OCANA also beat 18 minutes.
Panaroma showed up at Central Park for the first time this year and senior ANDY TOBAR ran a commendable 17:09.0, the #20th ranked City performance. D5 City school Stella Charter Academy brought 20 runners down to the OC to compete at Central Park - this is where greatness starts! Another D5 school Middle College also ran for the 1st time at Central Park this year; they also competed at Woodbridge. Love to see these D5 teams competing at the bigger invitationals.
Here are the City Team Power Rankings from the 2025 Central Park Invitational:
THEO MAYEDA was Palisades #2 in the Sweepstakes race where he finished 40th in 15:45.9. Theo’s success will be Pali’s success in post season and we are expecting big things from him in November!
ZOEY MORRIS had her best race so far this year at Central Park and looks to be on a trajectory that should have her in contention for a top finish headed into November. This wasn’t her best time this season but for the course and the competition a solid effort.
ETHAN BAROK finishes strong in the Varsity S1 race at Central Park. Ethan was Taft’s 2nd finisher in the race and posted the 3rd best City time at Central Park.
ISABELLA SAKALOWSKY took nearly a minute off her time from last year’s race at Central Park when she won the sophomore race. This year she placed 10th in the Varsity race in a time of 19:06.2; the 3rd best City performance.
With a mile to go GAVIN FINEGAN was 22 seconds off the lead and in a battle with 2 other runners for 2nd place in the Sophomore S1 race. With 600 meters to go Gavin launched a finish that got him within 5 seconds of the winner and left the other runners far behind.
WHITNEY DERBY heads into the final mile of the Sophomore S1 race. Whitney placed 2nd in 19:38.1, over a minute faster than her ‘24 time when she also placed 2nd in the Freshman race.
Venice sophomore HARINA GIRMAY placed 7th in Sophomore S1 race, a full minute and 40 seconds faster than her performance in 2024. She’s part of a youth renaissance at Venice that bodes well for the team’s future.
Granada Hills sophomore ELENA MEDRANO looks strong 800m into the Sophomore S1 race. She finished in 10th place in a time of 21:23.4. Elena was one of four City sophomores to place in the top 20 in this race.
Here are the Top-10 City performances across all races at the 2025 Central Park Invitational:
Monroe - Varsity S1 Race
Front: Yeime Perez, Mishelle Zuniga
Mid: Leilani Saldana, Mea Servin
Back: Angeline Torres, Laura Maya, Sheyli Sajche
Front: Zoey Kleber, Whitney Derby
Back: Avery Cilfone, Harina Girmay, Breanna Morales
Venice - Sophomore S1 Race
Front: Emily Erezuma
Rear: Angela Melixetov, Madison Fabro, Nikkan Shahzeidi, Tiffany Zherdev, Juliana Rodriguez
TAFT - JV S1 Race
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 3-loop 3-mile course on the north-west side of the Pierce campus (see video above). This major course change will have a notable impact on the City Champions, especially affecting individual titles more than team titles.
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!