Kennedy’s top 7 all set PRs in the Varsity race to place 6th at Bell Gardens. Junior Felipe Perez (0995) led the Golden Cougars with a 15:00.3 PR to win the race with the 2nd fastest City performance this season.
(l-r) Mateo Cedillo, Bryan Rodriguez, Kabeer Kang, Felipe Perez, Diego Cervantes, Nour De Fazio, Ian Castillo
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Heard on the Trail . . . .
33 City teams are confirmed for Mt. SAC and 2 City boys are signed up for the Individual Sweepstakes race: Ethan Funk (Palisades) and Miguel Mora (Carson).
Granada Hills freshman VALERIA ROJAS missed Bell Gardens but is confirmed in race 65 at Mt. SAC.
Venice junior WHITNEY DERBY hasn’t run since Woodbridge but is confirmed for race 61 on Saturday morning at Mt. SAC.
Taft’s #3 girl JENNY NAVA and their #3 boy LIAM BARTH both missed Bell Gardens but will be back for Post Season (Taft is not running Mt. SAC).
39th Annual Bell Gardens Invitational
Oct. 17th, 2026
Autry Museum of the American West
Los Angeles, CA
Four City runners placed in the top 5 in the boys Varsity race and 22 runners broke 16 minutes to kick off events at the Bell Gardens Invitational. Kennedy junior FELIPE PEREZ won the race in a photo-finish with Carson junior MIGUEL MORA. Both ran big PRs to earn the #2 and #3 rankings in City. In that same race, the Marshall boys accomplished a feat that no division 2 team has done since the inception of D2 in City (2014), beat all D1 teams in a large invitational. Sophomore ALEXANDER SWARTZ led the Barristers with a 5th place 15:08.6 finish, a 28-second PB. That time is the 6th best performance by a City sophomore EVER behind City greats such as Justin Hazell, Ben Hammer, Hector Garcia (Marshal record 15:01.0 at Bell Gardens in 2013), Brent Smith, and current Palisades phenom Ethan Funk, who holds the current City record. Marshall’s other 4 scoring runners also had PB’s including FAUSTO NOBOA (14th, 15:28.6) and ANDREW GARDNER (221st 15:36.6). Carson junior MIGUEL MORA, competing in his 1st cross country season just missed winning the race with a phenomenal 15:00.4 performance.
In the girls varsity race, Taft’s top two KRYSTAL TJENALOOI and UNICA GUERRERA, ran away with the race placing 1st and 2nd in 17:57.7 and 17:57.8. The team scored their 3rd invitational win this season with 4 of their top 5 setting PBs. And this is without their #3 runner JENNY NAVA who is preparing for post season. Kennedy junior EMILY RODRIGUEZ just missed a PB with a 3rd place finish in 18:18.6. Junior Eleanor Mammen led the Palisades girls with a 27-seconds PB in 18:25.2 for 4th place. ALESSANDRE DUENAS was the top freshman runner at Bell Gardens, she led Granada with a 6th place finish in 18:32.8. Taft senior ELLIE KERCHER ran a 28-seconds PB to place 8th in 18:37.8, Taft’s #3 finisher. Belmont junior KAREN YES placed 15th in 19:06.6, the top D5 City finisher. Freshman VESPER HUME posted a huge 1-minute+ PB 19:08.9 to place 17th, Belmont’s top finisher at Bell Gardens. This is a runner to watch!
Here are the compiled results for City teams at Bell Garden, taking the 7 top runners from all races and scoring City teams only.
Rose City Cross Country Challenge
Oct. 10th, 2026 - Hahamongna Watershed
Pasaedana, CA
Taft continues to impress with team and individual titles in the boys and girls varsity and JV races at Rose City. Taft Junior EMERALDA VARGAS won her 1st HS XC race winning the JV 3-Mile race in 19:46.9. Senior ARIANNA LEWIS was close behind placing 2nd in 19:50.0. In the girls Varsity race, Taft’s top 6 runners placed in the top 12 to win the team race with 29 points. Sophomores KRYSTAL TJENALOOI and UNICA GUERRERO battled for the title with Krystal winning in the last 200m in 18:30.4; Unica finished 2nd in 18:32.8. Canoga Park sophomore GABRIELA CASTELLANOS ran a huge PR of 18:58.0 to place 5th in the Varsity race. A runner to watch, she could be the next in a long line of Canoga Park City D2 Champions.
Taft sophomore LIAM BARTH took top honors in the boys JV race in 16:47.5. Teammate MASSIMO SAKALOWSKY posted the 2nd fastest frosh time, 16:59.0, placing 3rd in the JV race. Taft’s scoring runners all placed within the top 10 in the JV race. In the Varsity race Santee senior ADRIAN AGUIRRE showed that his Woodbridge time of 15:08.9 was no aberration. Running on a more technical and hilly course at Rose City, Adrian still managed to run 15:25.3 to win in a very well executed race plan, his first HS XC win! Birmingham senior DANIEL SALAZAR set a PB of 15:37.3 to place 3rd in the Varsity race; a superb performance. Taft senior MARK BANUELOS nearly PR’d to place 4th. Garfield had 2 runners nearly break 16 minutes in the varsity race. Sophomore JESUS TORO placed 5th in 16:00.1, the top City sophomore, and junior ALEXIS ORTIZ placed 6th in 16:00.7; both were PBs and mid 15-minute performances on Woodbridge or Rosemead. Two runners to watch! Canoga Park sophomore DANIEL TORRES placed 19th in 16:32.9; he’s shown impressive improvements his sophomore year and will be a runner to watch in November.
Adrian Aguirre set a course record at Rose City in 15:25.3. He’s a top contender for the D2 title in November.
Krystal Tjenalooi takes the win in the varsity race to lead Taft to a team victory at Rose City.
Twins Unica and Genesis Guerrero are a big part of the Taft girls’ success this season. Unica placed 2nd in 18:32.8 and Genesis 8th 19:12.8
Daniel Salazar (2836) continues to impress in his senior year with a big 3rd place finish at Rose City in 15:37.3, the top B’ham runner.
Canoga Park has a slew of young talent and sophomore Gabriela Castellanos is one of their brightest. Here she crosses the finish line at Rose City in 5th place in a PB of 18:58.0.
Sophomore Liam Barth looks to be the future of the Taft Boy’s team. He set a school grade-level record at Woodbridge (15:58.1) and won the JV race at Rose City in 16:47.5.
Junior Esmeralda Vargas is running over 2 minutes faster than last year’s season best. She won the JV race at Rose City in 19:46.9, the 6th fastest Taft time on the day.
45th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic
Sept, 18-19th, 2026 - The Great Park, Irvine
Both of Taft's varsity teams took top City honors at Woodbridge. Two sophomores led the Toreadors, KRYSTAL TJENALOOI and UNICA GUERRERO. Both have set school records this season, Unica 3 weeks ago at We RUN LA and Krystal on Saturday evening in the rated race. Jenny Nava finished as Taft’s #3; running on very limited mileage she still managed to almost break 18 minutes and just missed placing top-100 in the Rated race. A very talented runner, she’ll be someone to watch in November. These 3 runners posted the top LA City times this season. Note: Hudson Song is not running XC this season. No front runners this year for the Taft boys but as a squad this team is better. In the Gold Varsity B race they just missed getting all of their top 5 runners under 16-minutes, led by senior JONAH SIMKIN who finished in 15:43.6. More impressive, the delta between their #1 and #5 was a mere 16.5 seconds. That combination earned the Toreadors a 55-point margin over 2nd ranked Marshall in hypothetical scoring and if they can continue to improve will make the Taft boys a tough team to beat in November. Note: William Hipple has transferred to Redondo Union.
Palisades Charter did not run at Woodbridge; both their girls and boys will likely challenging Taft for D1 City title.
Santee senior ADRIAN AGUIRRE took City top honors with a 25-seconds PR of 15:09.5. Adrian spent most of last year dealing with a nagging thigh injury but he appears to be in top form this year and will be a force if he can stay healthy. Kennedy’s top runner, junior FELIPE FRANSUAT PEREZ, was on a sub-15 minute tear at 2-miles but faded in the final mile to finish with City’s #2 performance 15:19.4. Marshall’s top 2, sophomore ALEXANDER SWARTZ and senior FAUSTO NOBOA, both ran PBs in Saturday morning’s Green races. Alexander is running over a minute faster than his freshman year and Fausto, the reigning D2 champion, is 20 seconds ahead of last year. Cleveland phenom WILL ABIRAGI ran the 2nd fastest City D1 time in a PR of 15:35.1 which puts him in the money for City Finals. Regardless of that outcome, his commitment this fall should pay dividends next spring.
The top 10 City girls at Woodbridge look to be the future of LA City XC. Eight of these girls will be back next year and 4 are underclassmen. All have made big improvements over last year to rise to the top. The Taft girls dominated the City leader board with the top 3 City performances at Woodbridge and 8 of the fastest 15 City performances (see below). Granada Hills freshman ALLESANDRE DUUMAS was the big surprise for the City girls. She ran well on the faster Rosemead course 2 weeks ago. But her performance at Woodbridge was another level; she PR’d by over a minute to rank #4 in City as the top freshman. This could be a franchise runner for Granada! Belmont junior KAREN YES’ hard work this summer is paying off with some very impressive early season performances. Her school record performance of 18:20.2 on Friday night is almost 2 minutes off her ‘25 PR and ranks her #5 in LA City.
Krystal Tjenalooi set a Taft school record and the City standard of 17:52.0 in the Rated race at Woodbridge.
Junior KAREN YES set a Belmont school record and a City D5 record with her 18:20.2 performance in the White Varsity A race on Friday evening. She’s ranked #5 in LA City.
Cleveland junior WILL ABIRAGI crosses the 2-mile mark in the Blue Varsity B race. He finished in 15:35.1, a 30-second PR over his time at Cool Breeze 2 weeks ago.
Last year’s D2 City runner-up FIONA WALTS led Eagle Rock with a 19:29.3 in the Gold Varsity A race.
San Pedro junior ZACHARY MCGRATH matched his ‘25 season PR with a 15:41.1 performance that ranks #7 in LA City
Granada Hills Varsity
Kylie Garcia, Mia Abrego, Trinidad Montenegro, Elena Medrano, Allesandra Duenas, Emma Contreras, Toni Cruz
Kennedy Varsity Boys
Ian Castillo, Mateo Cedillo, Charles Menjivar, Felipe Perez, Nour de Fazio, Diego Cervantes, Bryan Rodriguez
Top 15 Individual City Performances
City Team Rankings
City rankings are based on scoring of the top 5 runners for each team based on performances across all races at the 45th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, scored in a virtual contest with only City teams. City teams that with fewer than 5 runners are not included in the ranking.
‘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!