GIRLS - DIVISION 1
#1 PALISADES CHARTER
This year’s Dolphins should be even better than the title winning ’23 team. Five of their top 7 return from last year’s varsity team, and each have continued to improve this spring. They also look to have a stronger bench due in in part to an impressive incoming freshman class. Palisades is led by the reigning City champion sophomore ZOEY MORRIS. She finished a phenomenal freshman year with 2 individual City titles, one each in XC and track, as well as holding the #4 City ranking in the 1,600m. Morris improved in every major race she’s competed in as a freshman; look for that to continue with a sub-17 performance in November. The #2 spot likely will be a contest between LOUISA MAMMEN and GABRIELLA GILYARD. Mammen finished the ’23 XC season with the 4th best City performance across all divisions (she placed 3rd in D1). XC is her better season and she always shows well when it counts in November. Gilyard had a fine ’23 XC season and then exploded this past track season culminating in a 5:21.92 1,600m. Look for her to take over a minute off her current Pierce PR and to challenge for the top 5 at City Finals. Junior DAILA HARINCK was Palisades #5 last year in her 1st XC season. She focused on the 800m this spring where she placed 6th at City Finals and she also had the #14 City ranking in the 1,600m. Expect big improvements from Harinck this fall to shore up the middle scoring for Palisades. Sophomore VITALIJO SCHAFER was Palisades #7 last year but was less than 12 seconds off of their #4. If she can get past some nagging injuries Schafer should be an important part of the Dolphin’s scoring 5. All of these runners are capable of running under 20 minutes which is comparable to the ’23 team. Add better top-end capabilities this year and a influx of talented freshman and you’ve got a team that is firing on all cylinders. It will take a lot to knock Palisades off the City Champion pedestal and not likely in 2024.
Dalia Harnick and Gabriella Gilyard are the core of one of Palisades best varsity girls XC teams ever; they’ll help the Dolphins to their 3rd consecutive City Championships this fall.
#2 GRANADA HILLS
Granada Hills returns 4 of their top 5 from last year’s runner-up team, led by junior SAMANTHA PACHECO. Pacheco has some unfinished business from her sophomore year that she’ll be looking to settle this fall. Look for her to dominate the very competitive West Valley league with an eye on closing in on 17 minutes at Pierce and winning the City individual title. Granada has 3 runners that showed impressive improvements this spring and who will be essential for Granada to place well in November. Junior KIANA DIAMOND is the Highlanders #3 returner from last year and she continued to impress this spring with an exceptional 5th place in a very competitive 800m City Finals. Her time of 2:22.70 was a 12-second PR over her freshman year. Look for Diamond to finish in the top-10 with a sub-20 minute performance at City Finals. Last fall was GISELA RAMOS-HASSETT ‘s breakout season where she dropped over 3-minutes on her Pierce PR from her freshman year to place 18th at the City XC Finals. Gisela has the ability to run with Kiana in ‘24 and this intra-team challenge may be the catalyst to move both Diamond and Ramos-Hassett to new levels. SOPHIA BATTLE’s improvements over the last 2 years may not be as impressive as Gisela’s but she started at a much faster place her freshman year. Nonetheless, she has consistently set PR’s in every event she’s run - XC and track - in each year she’s run. These 3 runners - Diamond, Ramos-Hassett and Battle - are crucial in Granada’s quest to lock down 2nd place on November 23rd. If Cleveland’s #3 manages to break up these 3 runners than Granada’s #2 ranking becomes tenuous.
Kiana Diamond had an impressive sophomore year; her continued improvement this fall will be critical to Granada Hill’s State bid.
#3 CLEVELAND
The Cavalier’s top 2 runners should be miles ahead of last year. Senior MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ finally looked to be back in form this past track season and should be targeting sub-18 minutes on Pierce (she ran 18:22.0 as a sophomore). Likewise, LUCY CULLITON is coming off a stellar junior year and should be looking for times south of 18:30 on Pierce – both of those times are conservative! Cleveland’s #3-5 aren’t quite as clear, but not for lack of talent. Their #3 from last year, ELEANOR CULLITON, was out this past track season and will have her work cutout for her to get back into form and then improve over last year. Seniors SIENA MIDDLETON and YANA SEN will likely compete for the #3 position in the mean time. Both showed big improvements last year. Senior CHARLIZE BOLTON returns from last year’s varsity team. She had on off day at City Finals last year but clearly has the potential to get to 21 minutes at Pierce. Add into the mix sophomore KIWI MCKNELLY and senior MICA KAUFMAN and there’s a lot of talent to draw from. One of these 5 girls will need to run mid-19’s on Pierce to have a shot at Granada.
The Culliton twins (left-Eleanor, right-Lucy) will need to be in top form if Cleveland hopes to catch Granada Hills.
#4 TAFT
The Toreadors are the team to watch out for in D1. They have moved up in their City Final placing each of the last 3 years and will hardly be content with another 4th place in ‘24. KENNEDY BRANNON had a huge City Final performance last year and will need to improve on that performance this fall in order to move Taft up the rankings. Brannon missed most of the ’24 track season due to injuries so she’ll need a big summer build to be ready for these type of performances. Realistically, she’ll need to be sub-19 minutes in November. But that only earns the team a handful of points over her 9th place finish last year. KAYLA TJENALOOI will need to make a statement in her final XC season at Taft. She’s a very gifted athlete who’s balanced running and soccer the last three years. This year she’s focusing on XC and clearly has the potential to place in the top 10. Taft has 7 additional runners that had PR’s last year in the 21-minute range, all within 30 seconds of each other. That’s a great 1st-division problem to have. These include seniors SAGE KODAMA, PAVETRASRI SAKTHIVEL, ANAEL FARKASH, and LILY and KEILA SARKATA; junior ALEINA IMAI, and sophomore ISABELLA SAKALOWSKY. They all will compete for Taft’s #3-5 positions but Kodama and Imai may have the edge headed into August and potentially are the runners who can place ahead of Cleveland’s #3. Kodoma is Taft’s #3 returner from last year and like Tjenalooi, she is foregoing soccer to focus on running. Imai had an impressive track season winning the West Valley League F/S 1,600 title in 5:47.33 and will be in her 2nd XC season, which typically shows big improvements. Watch also for sophomore SAGE COWLES who did not run XC her freshman year but had a superlative freshman track season with an 800m PR of 2:26.82. She splits her time between running and lacrosse so her build this summer will be pivotal. She could be a disrupter.
Kennedy Brannon will lead a Taft team that has their sights set on a top 3 finish in City this year.
#5 GARFIELD
The Bulldogs have consistently placed in the top 6 at City Finals and ’24 should be no exception. They are led by multi-talented junior KELIA NARANJO-CHAMPION, an exceptional athlete who has qualified for State in track, XC and swimming and holds 2 swimming City championship in the 50m and 100m (the 1st City titles for Garfield ever in swimming). Kelia’s been in the top 10 at XC City Finals in each of her 3 years but will need to make a big jump to mid-18’s on Pierce to be in the top 5 in a much more competitive landscape and to compete for an individual title. Senior NATALIE VELEZ-TORRES is the incumbent #2 for Garfield but she’ll be challenged by senior AHAHI LOPEZ who impressed this spring. Junior MARISOL AVALOS and sophomore ESTRELLA RUIZ should complete the top 5.
Kelia Naranjo-Champion will be looking for her 4th top-10 City finish and State qualifier this fall.
Div 1 Best of the Rest . . .
San Pedro lost two of their top five from last year’s 7th place team but the ’24 girls team may be a better team nonetheless. Senior RITA RIZOR is the Pirates top returner from last fall. There was little improvement in her sophomore year but last year she made significant upticks in both XC and track. She finished her junior year with a big PR at Pierce of 20:55.7 and continued that success in track placing 2nd in the Marine league 1,600m finals. Rita will be targeting low 20’s this fall at Pierce. Junior EMILY GURROLA set big PR’s in the 800m and 1,600m this spring after a fine XC season where she also ran a superb City Final. Look for Emily to challenge Rita for San Pedro’s #1 spot. ALEXANDRA NOBREGAS is a very capable athlete whose first passion is swimming. She showed impressive talent in her first year running as a sophomore placing 8th at City Finals. Nobregas was well off this mark last year and San Pedro will need to tap into her potential in ‘24 in order to crack the top 5. Senior MARIA BADILLO is the returning #3 for the Pirates but she’ll get company from 3 runners who ran well last fall and continued to improve this spring. Senior HANNAH MORRIS and junior DEVINE SEGOVIA ran within seconds of each other in XC and track and sophomore KYOKO FUJI, in her first season of running this spring, ran with Hannah and Devine in the 1,600m. One of these girls will need to break 22 minutes on Pierce and the others will need to be low 22’s to move up the rankings.
Rita Rizor will leads an improving San Pedro team after a break-out XC season last fall.
The El Camino Real girls are a team that could surprise. Their top runner from the ’23 XC season, senior MICHELLE GUTIERREZ LOPEZ, has the potential to be top-10 but did not finish the City Finals last year and had a sub-par track season this spring. She’ll need to get back to form to help ECR get in the top 5. Sophomore SCARLETT HARRIS had a brilliant City Final last year scoring a huge PR and making D1 All-City. She continued to impress in track where she placed 7th in the 800m City Championships in 2:24.88 and posted a 1,600m PR of 5:37.81. Look for SCARLETT to challenge for a top-5 placing on November 23rd . Junior DANIELLA NISTORAN returns as ECR’s #3 after a solid sophomore season where she showed some of her potential earlier in the season. She participates in the sprinting events in track so she’ll have her work cut out for her trying to catch up with Scarlett. LONDON D’AMICO could surprise after a promising track season. She did not run XC her freshman year but posted the 2nd best 1,600m for ECR placing 4th in the West Valley frosh/soph league finals in 5:57.76. Senior JASMINE ASCENCIO and junior JANELLE JACOBO likely will fill out the varsity top 7. Sophomore DELANEY LAMBERT also showed promise this spring but has not run XC so her standing this fall is unknown.
Scarlet Harris made D1 All-City as a freshman and continued that success in track with a phenomenal 2:24.88 800m PR.
Hamilton lost their distance coach this past year and the absence showed. “Stray1” was a phenomenal coach – a guru really – that invested an incredible amount of time to get a very small program to perform at top-tier D1 levels. A perennially strong girls team evaporated during this past track season. In theory, their top 4 return and incoming senior MARIA CRUZ SANTIAGO is the defacto #1 after a brilliant junior XC season. She would surely have been looking at a top-10 finish while closing in on 19-minutes if she continued running through the spring. Still possible just more difficult. Junior KLAUDIA CZAKO held down the #2 spot for the Yankees but by less than a second. She’ll have her work cut out for her as sophomore VITA NASON continued to show well in track. Look for Nason to improve significantly this fall. Senior JASMINE CAMPOS has shown improvements each of the 3 years she’s run and should be looking for a top-20 finish. Do not count Hami out - they have proven to be a resilient and focused team over the last 3 years.
Maria Cruz Santiago will look to ressurect a Hamilton distance program that have lost their bearing since last fall.
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