BOYS - DIVISION 1
#1 PALISADES CHARTER
The Dolphins lose their #1 and #3 from last year but if anyone is hoping there is a chink in the Palisades armor think again. They bring back some of the best runners in City in juniors BLAKE SIGWORTH and ZAC COHEN and senior OWEN LEWICKY. Each of these 3 runners could win the championship and has the potential to run 15 minutes on Pierce. ANDREW RAZO and BRIAN WELSH will likely contend for Palisades top 5 and both are capable of running under 16 minutes at the championship. Razo’s PR on Pierce is 16:05.3 as a freshman and he posted a 4:33.1 in the 1,600m this spring. Welsh didn’t run XC last year but may be one of Palisades most talented runners. In his 1st race as a freshman 2 years ago he placed 12th at the Cerritos Great Cow Run in 16:01.5; he was the top freshman in the race and the #2 Palisades finisher. Senior BEN BARNETT and junior ROLAND BECKING should fill out the roster but they will likely need to fight for those positions. There is a wave of talent coming into the program this year (again!) with times rivaling those of the freshman class of ’22 including 4 boys that have run sub 5-min 1,600m in 8th grade. Sorry folks, the Palisades juggernaut is going to continue for the foreseeable future.
Junior Zac Cohen splits his time between running and tennis but may be the top talent in City. He’ll be looking for a top 5 finish this fall.
#2 SAN PEDRO
San Pedro is looking for a State bid for the 1st time since their 2019 championship season and has a fair shot of it if they can continue the progress they’ve made over the last year. But the Championship race against Venice will be tight, razor thin really, with several of our virtual race models going to the “6th man” to decide the score. Their top 3 runners are all capable of going sub-16 at Pierce, led by EVAN HADEISHI who had a breakout track season this spring (4:20.15 1,600m PR) and will be looking to improve markedly on his Pierce PR from last year. He’ll need to be be in the low 15’s to give the Pirates a chance. CHRISTOPHER FRELIX is the top returner from last year and he will surely be looking for a sub 15:30 after breaking 16 last year as a junior. JACK BUTTERFIELD may be the “X” factor for San Pedro. He had a phenomenal junior year in track and should be targeting sub 16 minutes. The pirates will need a 4th and 5th that can run sub 17 minutes at the Championship, and probably closer to 16:30 if they want to secure 2nd place. Junior CAMILO VISESSIRI-PETITE looks to be a likely candidates and sophomore ZACHARY MCGRATH showed some potential in his freshman year. Senior ETHAN DURAN, who ran his 1st HS track this spring and will be running his 1st XC season as a senior shows promise as well. This is a team that historically nails it at City Finals.
Christopher Frelix is San Pedro’s top returner from ‘23. His Pirates will be in a down-to-the-wire battle for a 2nd place State qualifier against Venice.
#3 VENICE
The Gondoliers are led by City standout PAUL TRANQUILLA who’s coming off another spectacular track season (4:16.78 1,600m and 1:55.26 800m). He’ll be looking to improve on his Pierce PR of 16:03.7 that he ran 2 years ago as a sophomore - a full minute off of what he is capable of running on Pierce - and making amends for a disappointing XC post season last year! Senior CHARLES SIMON and junior ALEXANDER DU should fill out the top 3; both are capable of a sub-16 Pierce. Charles ran a 9:59.12 3,200m as a sophomore and this past spring ran a 4:29.31 1,600m; both of these are top tier grade-level performances. The ’24 XC season will only be his 2nd so looking for big things from SIMON. DU shows better in XC and is going into his 3rd year. Like Alexander he should be making the jump to run with the front pack. Senior MILO POPP IV and junior RYAN PERRELLA complete the top five. They drop off significantly after these 5 so any injuries are going to be impactful.
The race for 2nd place State qualifier will be extremely close and Venice will need to 1) keep healthy, 2) run well on Pierce, AND 3) save their best for the Finals, if they hope to take down San Pedro. This team has the potential to upset!
By the way, this story plays out much differently if LONDON WEBSTER returns to the team.
Paul Tranquilla and Venice will be looking for vindication this year after a disappointing City Final last year.
#4 GRANADA HILLS
Junior JOAQUIN ORTEGA-TOMASELLI and senior DANIEL RAMIREZ will lead one of the youngest Highlander teams in recent history into the ’24 XC season. Joaquin nearly broke 16 minutes 3 times as a sophomore, an epic 2-week romp that is nearly unmatched in recent City lore; I can count on one hand the number of sophomores that have accomplished that! And Daniel had an absolutely phenomenal track season crushing his 800m and 1,600m PR’s by 15 and 30 seconds from his sophomore year. Look for big performances from both of these athletes. If Granada has any notion of getting to State though they’ll need 3 other runners that can run sub 16:20 on Championship day. The good news is they have a plethora of possible candidates including seniors DAVID PRIEM, HARPRAHKASH SINGH, and CHRISTOPHER KAJIWARA; Juniors SHIA AUBE, JAYDEN OSTERHAUS-FLORES , VICTOR LUGO and HENRY GONZLES; and sophomore AIDEN MTAUL BARRIOS. All are contenders and have shown an ability to evolve into runners capable of helping Granada on the big day. HARPRAHKASH SINGH and CHRISTOPHER KAJIWARA in particular had very good track seasons this spring which should translate into big performances in XC this year if the progress continues. Granada also draws from a huge student body – the largest in LA City – as well as several local clubs, so new and unknown talent is always a factor. That said, in the last 10 years only 1 freshman boy has run in the Varsity City Championship for Granada – namely JOAQUIN ORTEGA-TOMASELLI - but on a relatively inexperienced team such as this team it’s a possibility.
The Highlanders are clearly the wild card for the state bid in 2024. They have lots of potential and depth and in City those are good cards to hold, maybe the best. In the final analysis, there is a 12-point difference encompassing a 38-second deficit to catch #2 San Pedro.
Joaquin Ortega-Tomaselli just missed breaking 16 minutes last year. He’s Granada’s top returner and will be looking for a top-5 finish in November.
#5 TAFT
For the 1st time in 35 years Taft has 2 runners capable of breaking 16 minutes on Pierce, and they’re just juniors. ETHAN BAROK and HUNTER BENNETT come into the 2024 XC season with impressive grade-level credentials and will be looking to take it to the next level this fall. The Taft record of 15:15.0 set by Brian Godsey (current Taft AD) in 1990 may not be in jeopardy this year but their current coach Mario Castillo’s PR of 15:50.0 certainly is as both of these runners should be looking at sub 15:30 in November. CARSON NGUYYN, GABRIEL PEREZ, JONAH SIMKIN and INDIE HYMAN will fight it out for the top 5. They should all be looking at sub 16:30 times come November. Look for PARSA SHAHAMIRI and ANGEL RODRIGUEZ to make a run at varsity as well.
Taft has come a long way since their 12th place finish back in 2018. With the exception of last year when a very young team imploded at City Finals the Toreadors under coach Mario Castillo have incrementally worked their way up the D1 standings. They need another runner that can go under 16 minutes to make a run at 2nd place at Finals but if any of the runners listed above can breakout similar to BAROK or BENNETT they should be able to move up into the top 3; a feat they haven’t accomplished in the 3-mile era.
Ethan Barok had a stellar sophomore track season that he’ll hope to leverage into a successful ‘24 XC post season.
Division 1 Best of the Rest . . .
Banning makes a big move up in 2024 to 6th place. They’re not on most people’s radar because they didn’t run post-season at Pierce last year but based on converted Peck Park times the team was definitely talented enough to qualify and have 5 of their top 7 back in ‘24. Th Pilots are led by seniors CESAR FLORES and GEOVANNY QUIJADA and should have 3 runners comfortable under 16:30 and 2 under 17 minutes at Pierce.
Birmingham is ranked #7 but look for them to move up to #6 after the 1st couple of races. Junior ALEXIS HUERTA continues to impress and will be looking for a sub-16 after running 9:58 this spring in the 3,200m as a sophomore. Sophomore DANIEL SALAZAR has shown promise breaking 17 minutes as a freshman and winning the frosh/soph West Valley 3,200m this spring and senior DEVEN SZYMCZAK should be able to run mid 16’s. The Patriots need another runner, or two, that can break 17 minutes to be in the conversation for top 5.
El Camino Real could rank as high as 5th or as low as 14th depending on who decides to run this fall. Of their top 5 potential returning athletes from the ’23 XC season only one ran a 1,600m or 3,200m this spring. Their #2 and #3 don’t appear to have run at all. BUT, if they get JOHN MATASSA, RYAN SLOHN and DEREK SMITH back running consistently this summer they can be formidable. CAMERON PYNE took a minute off his 3,200m PR this spring and should be looking for a sub-17 on Pierce in November.
Cleveland reached a high-water mark last year, placing 3rd at City Finals, the teams highest finish in the 3-mile era (since 1976) . Their top 3 from that team have graduated so this fall a much younger team will focus on progress and rebuilding in hopes that 2025 can return the team to glory. The Cavaliers have a plethora of young talent starting with junior NATHANIEL MELGOZA, who bears more than a passing resemblance to former Cleveland great Joseph Vargas, both in looks and talent. MELGOZA showed big improvements last fall and continued to impress this spring with a 4:31.87 1,600m as a sophomore. Senior KEVIN PARK is the #2 returner from last year but he may be challenged by senior SEBASTIAN ALARCON who has shown nice progress in XC the last 3 years and had some impressive 3,200m races this spring. Two sophomores, NOAH MIRA and LUKE NGUYEN, also showed promise this spring and hopefully will continue running in the fall.
Freemont brings a very experienced team into the fall XC season including 4 seniors in their top 5 led by ZOLIO PEREZ and GERARDO NUNEZ-ESPINO; both should looking at sub-16:30 on Pierce.
South East senior Arman Vasquez will be looking for gold in ‘24 after his 5th place finish last year at City Finals.
Hunter Bennett had an exceptional sophomore year. He’ll help Taft to one of their best team placings at the City Championships in November.
Junior Alexis Huerta leads a resurgent Birmingham team.
Junior Nathanial Melgoza moves into the #1 position at Cleveland after a standout sophomore year.
Mateo Cedillo posted the top 9th-grade Pierce time last fall. He leads a Kennedy team that is looking to qualify for the D1 City Championship in ‘24.
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