LA City’s Best Get Ready for ‘24 XC
The Top City Runners From Each Division:
(l-r) Angelina Lopez-Sr Canoga Park, Amber Lopez-JR Verdugo Hills, Kellie Mena-Jr MaCES, Blake Sigworth-Jr Palisades Charter, Jorge Montenegro-Sr Monroe, Demitri Hernandez-Sr Mendez, Angeles Feliciano-Sr Santee, Abel Serrano-Sr East Valley, Valerie Palma-Jr Stern, Zoey Morris-So Palisades Charter; Not pictured Carlos Aguiar-Sr Washington Prep (D5)
Woodbridge ‘24
West Valley Cluster #1 ‘24
Summer Camps ‘24
Pre-Season Rankings ‘24
COUNTDOWN TO CITY FINALS
INVIITE HIGHLIGHTS
BELL GARDENS
BELL -JEFF
CENTRAL PARK
WOODBRIDGE
El Dorado Park - Long Beach, CA
October 19th, 2024
BELL GARDENS Invite
Here are the top City finishers across all races at the ‘24 Bell Gardens Invite:
Palisades juniors BLAKE SIGWORTH and ZAC COHEN lead the ‘Senior ‘ race at 1 mile. The palisades boys won the race with 37 points, 59 points ahead of the #2 team.
Palisades sophomore ZOE MORRIS led a dominant Palisades girls team to 1st place in the Senior race. Zoe placed 2nd in 18:18.7
ALEXIS HUERTA finishes the Junior race at Bell Gardens . Alexis was the the top City finisher in the race placing 6th in 15:56.9.
SAMANTHA PACHECO passes the 1-mile mark in the Junior race. Sammy posted the top City time (and a course PR) at Bell Gardens placing 5th in 18:16.4.
The table below compares top overall and City Bell Garden performance for the last 4 years, 2021 - 2024:
ADRIAN AGUIRRE posted the 2nd best City sophomore time at El Dorado Park to place 6th in the Sophomore race in 16:07.8
GEORGIA ILLINGWORTH placed 17th in the girls Sophomore race to lead Kennedy and all City runners with a time of 21:12.7.
Bell Gardens Preview
Here’s a quick primer on Saturday’s Bell Garden Invite at El Dorado Park. The table below shows top overall and City performances for each race for the 3 years 2021-2023.
The race of the day is the Senior Boys Race at 9 am. This race is loaded with some of City’s absolute best, anyone of who can win this race. Top contenders include OWEN LEWICKY (Palisades), EVAN HADEISHI (San Pedro), CHARLES SIMON (Venice) and DANIEL RAMIREZ (Granada Hills). Palisades juniors BLAKE SIGWORTH and ZAC COHEN may be crashing this party so they’ll be contending for the win as well and ROLAND BALDERAS (Santee) and CHRISTOPHER FRELIX (San Pedro) won’t be far behind. This should be a barn burner!
The Girls Senior race should also show well for City with top ranked runners MEZTLIE VELAZQUEZ (Cleveland) , ANGELES FELICIANO (Santee) and KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION leading the charge. As in the boys race, Palisades may be bringing their younger runners into this race so look for ZOEY MORRIS and LULU MAMMEN to challenge for the top spots.
ALEXIS HUERTA (Birmingham) will have his work cut out for him in the Boys Junior Race but he has the talent and on the right day he can win this race. Cleveland’s NATHANIEL MELGOZA and Granada Hill’s JOAQUIN ORTEG-TOMOSELLI should place in the top 5.
SAMANTHA PACHECO (Granada Hills) is the de facto front-runner in the Girls Junior Race. Teammate SOPHIA BATTLE should place in the top 3 followed closely by ANANYA BALARAMAN (North Hollywood) and YESENIA VALDEZ (Birmingham) and EMILY GURROLA. These girls have the potential to go 1-5.
ADRIAN AGUIRRE (Santee) should win the Boys Sophomore Race going away. Look for DANIEL SALAZAR (Birmingham), AIDAN MATUL-BARRIOS (Granada Hills), and ZACHARY MACGRATH (San Pedro) to compete for a top 5 finish.
LA City INDIVIDUAL Rankings - October 16th
The individual grade-level rankings below are based on results posted in athletic.net as well as times provided by coaches, as of October 16th.
Clovis Invitational
The tables below highlight the top 10 City finishers across all races at the 2024 Clovis Invitational:
Granada Hills dominated City performances placing 4 athletes in the top 10 for both the girls and boys led by SAMANTHA PACHECO who continues to show she is the girl to beat in D1. Birmingham’s ALEXIS HUERTA posted the top City boys time who, along with teammate YESENIA VALDEZ who was the 6th ranked City girl, is heralding a new era for the Patriots. TRINIDAD MONTENEGRO was the only freshman to make either top 10 list and looks to be the future for Granada’s girls team. Contreras senior BRIGETTE TRUJILLO took 1 min 25 sec off her ‘23 Clovis Invite time putting her in serious contention for the D2 individual title. Sophomore’s ADRIAN AGUIRRE (Santee 17:09.0) and AIDAN MATUL BARRIOS (Granada Hills 17:19.1) continue to impress ranking #8 and #9 respectively across all City runners at Clovis.
LA City Team Rankings - October 1st
The rankings below were prepared by Leo Hernandez, head XC coach for Monroe, on behalf of the CIF LA City Section, based on performances through September 28th, 2024 including Rosemead, Woodbridge and Bell-Jeff.
LACXC.com will be providing an “unofficial” ranking prior to post season competitions.
Central Park Invite
Huntington Beach
October 5th, 2024
On a day when many of the top varsity runners for City teams opted out of competition, the younger runners shined. Veterans SAMMY PACHECO (Granada Hills) and CHARLES SIMON (Venice) had the top City times on Saturday but Taft sophomore ISABELLA SALCALOWSLCY and Venice freshman WHITNEY DERBY where the top City finishers in their races. Isabella led the Sophomore S1 race from start to finish to win in 20:05.1; the 6th fastest girls City time. And, Whitney had a huge finish to sprint ahead in the last 100 meters to earn a 2nd place in the Freshman S1 race. Granada freshman TRINIDAD MONTENEGRO ran in the Varsity race and posted the top 9th-grade time of 20:11.0. Teammate AIDEN MATUL BARRIOS posted the top City sophomore time for the boys 16:45.2 in the Varsity race. Taft sophomore JONAH SIMKIN was the highest placing City boy with a 14th place finish in the Sophomore S1 race in 17:21.4.
Much of the Granada Hills varsity team were out at Mt. Sac checking out the new course while Taft’s varsity did a training run at Central Park in lieu of racing. The Monroe boys fell during the Varsity S1 race so their times are 20-30 seconds off potential. Canoga Park standout ANGELINA LOPEZ was sidelined for Central Park so hopefully we’ll see her at Mt. Sac for a full 3-mile race. And, SOCES junior ALEXANDRA VILLANUEVA was a no show; she hasn’t run since last XC season so her fate for ‘24 XC looks in doubt.
The tables below highlight the top 10 City finishers across all races at the Central Park Invitational:
Canoga Park Girls Varsity
(l-r) Vanessa Perez, Jasmin Garcia, Nelly Flores, Dulce Godinez, Abriele Arcilla, Sarai Rosas, Abrianna Robles
Monroe’s New Racing Kits
Top: Jorge Montenegro, Oscar Garcia (2312)
Middle: Juan Nunez (2314), Alison Osorio (2321), Estefani Alas (2317), Raul Sanchez (2316), Laura Diaz (2319), Sebastian Perez (2315), Nayelly Flores (2320),
Front: Mishelle Zuniga (2323), Yazmin Cerritos (2318), Gennesis Valdez (2322)
ISABELLA SALCALOWSLCY leads the Sophomore S1 race at the 2-mile mark . . . by a lot!. She won the race in 20:05.1 to lead all Taft runners and rank as the 6th fastest City runner on the day.
Sophomore AIDEN MATUL BARRIOS posted a 16:45.2 in the Varsity S1 race, the 5th fastest City time at Central Park. He leads a large contingent of Granada Hills underclassmen that should make a big impact in the next 2 years.
Freshman WHITNEY DERBY sprints to the finish to clinch a 2nd place finish in the Freshman S1 race. This was a determined effort that had her and 3 other runners battling it out over the last mile. Well done!
Taft sophomore JONAH SIMKIN continues to improve posting the top time for the Toreadors, 17:21.4. He’ll be looking to consolidate his position as a top 5 scorer for Taft over the next 4 weeks.
Bell-Jeff Invite
Griffith Park
September 28th, 2024
The D1 City girls impressed big time at Bell-Jeff taking 8 of the top 10 places in the Varsity Large school race (see pictures in gallery below) while Palisades won the team title for the 2nd year in a row. The Pali boys team placed 2nd in the Large School race led by 3rd place finisher ZACHARY COHEN. BRIDGETT TRUJILLO (Miguel Contreras) won the Girls Varsity Small race and AMBER LOPEZ (Verdugo Hills) placed 2nd. Palisades boys went 1-3 in the Frosh/Soph Large School Race with MAKO HOLT winning and 2/3rds of the freshman triplet team, ETHAN and JUSTIN FUNK, taking 2nd and 3rd. Granada Hills freshman ELENA MEDRANO won the Girls Frosh/Soph All School race and Venice’s WHITNEY DERBY placed 2nd in the same race.
Most of the Granada Hills varsity teams ran up at Nike Portland this weekend, Venice’s varsity team opted for a long run at Griffith Park versus racing, Taft didn’t run Bell-Jeff, and some of ECR’s top runners were MIA. So no big updates to D1 rankings based on Bell-Jeff. .
The gallery below highlights some of City’s top City girl athletes that were unfortunately not given adequate coverage at Woodbridge last week.
City Takes 8 of Top 10 Places in Varsity Large School Race
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2nd Sammy Pacheco - Granada Hills 19:22.6
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3rd Zoey Morris - Palisades Charter 19:34.9
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4th Meztli Velazquez - Cleveland 19:39.8
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5th Lulu Mammen - Palisades Charter 19:40.6
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7th Ananya Balaraman - N. Hollywood 19:47.0
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8th Kelia Naranjo-Champion - Garfield 20:11.6
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9th Yesenia Valdez - Birmingham 20:45.9
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10th Gabriella Gilyard - Palisades Charter 20:47.9
BRIDGETTE TRUJILLO finishes a dominant performance in the Varsity Medium School Race to win in 20: 20.7, a 34 second PR over last year’s time at Bell-Jeff. Bridgette is the #3 returning D2 runner from last year’s City Championship.
Last year’s D3 City Champion AMBER LOPEZ placed 2nd in the Varsity Medium Race in 20:40.1. She’ll be looking to go sub-19 minutes at Pierce in November.
Palisades 2.0
Palisades Charter’s future has arrived. Sophomore MAKO HOLT (2089) and freshmen ETHAN FUNK (2085) and JUSTIN FUNK (2086) placed 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the Frosh/Soph Large Race. Their times ranked as the 7th, 9th & 10th best City times overall at Bell-Jeff. Two other freshmen, THEO MAYEDA and SEBASTIAN FUNK, competed in the Varsity race.
Sisters and Brothers
Sisters LULU and ELEANOR MAMMEN follow in the footsteps of their brother Axel (Palisades ‘24) . Lulu posted the 5th fastest time at Bell-Jeff and Elaanor was the 3rd best freshman on the day,.
Freshman OLIVIA CORRIGAN was the top Eagle Rock finisher at Bell-Jeff. Eleanor is sister to “Olympian” JAMES CORRIGAN and sister City Standouts CELESTE (ER ‘22) and ELIZABETH CORRIGAN (Crescenta Valley ‘24).
Note: Elizabeth ran at Eagle Rock for 3 years.
Here’s how City teams ranked based on performances for each team at Bell-Jeff . *Scoring is based on the top 7 performances for each team, using standard CIF scoring, compiled by division (all non-City teams have been excluded). Teams that did not have 5 performances at Bell-Jeff are N/A.
Rosemead Invite
September 14th, 2024
LACXC.com didn’t make it to Rosemead last night so no pictures but here are the top 10 City performances:
It’s fair to say that Paul Tranquilla owns the Rosemead Invitational. Since his sophomore year, he’s won every Rosemead race he’s entered and this year he posted the best time on the night, 14:38.7. And, that was the most comfortable 14:38 I’ve seen in a while based on the available video. Definitely looking forward to seeing what Paul can do at Woodbridge. Teammate Charles Simon also shined with a strong finish and 40 second PR to place 6th in the race. Granada’s Daniel Ramirez had a break-out performance, crushing his PR by 1 min 26 sec. Loved his confidence to take the lead on the first mile; with minor adjustments in pacing on the 1st and 3rd mile this was a sub-15 performance. Well done! Santee’s Roland Balderas looks to be the man to beat in D2 after last night’s performance. Teammate Adrian Aguirre had an inspired race to place 5th in the sophomore race in 15:45; a 1 min 20 sec PR. Garfield junior Ruben Mendoza also made huge improvements with a 1 min 37 sec PR of 16:17.3 .
Boys Varsity Race Courtesy of HDRunners
Paul Tranquilla highlight reel!
Sorry about the video quality.
Sammy Pacheco raced 2 times in 3 days and won both races convincingly. Last night was her 2nd consecutive win at Rosemead and her time of 18:03.8 puts Sammy at top of the LA City rankings. But none of this should come as a surprise to anyone. The big surprise is teammate Sophia Battle who’s 3rd place finish in the junior race was a 1 min 39 sec PR. A phenomenal performance and proof positive of the benefits of a solid summer program. Garfield’s Kelia Naranjo-Champion looks to be back in form with an early season PR of 18:55.4. That’s over a minute off her time at Rosemead last year. Venice senior Jade Flores improved by 1 min 29 sec to post the 7th best City time, 19:36.4. Trinidad Montenegro was the top City freshman placing 2nd in 19:54.6.
‘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!