West Valley Cluster #1
Pierce College - Sept. 12th, 2024
First Time Ever! Taft Charter’s ‘24 XC squad arrived at Pierce College 60-plus strong and in unofficial scoring took both the girls and boys varsity races. Our statistician's are combing the record books but this may be a first for Taft in the 3-mile era that both the boys and girls varsity teams have won a West Valley XC meet!
Here are the unofficial results based on each team’s coaches contributions. Extra Mile Timing was not used for this meet (need to do something about that) so Granada Hills provided hand-timing support.
Team Results
On a warm day that had temperatures peaking at 82 degrees SAMMY PACHECO dominated the girls varsity winning in 18:56 while Birmingham’s ALEXIS HUERTA won the boys varsity in 16:05. All 5 of Taft’s varsity girls ran faster than their top girl at last year’s Cluster #1 to help the Toreadors in their historic win with their top 4 breaking 21 minutes. Senior KENNEDY BRANNON led Taft with a 2nd place finish in the girls varsity race in 19:47, Cleveland’s MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ placed 3rd in 20:11, and Taft sophomore ISABELLA SAKALOWSKY posted a 44-second Pierce PR to place 4th in 20:24. SCARLETT HARRIS was the top El Camino Real finisher placing 5th in 20:29 and YESENIA VALDEZ was Birmingham’s top finisher placing 8th in 21:00. Juniors ETHAN BAROK and HUNTER BENNETT placed 2nd and 3rd in 16:27 and 16:38 to lead Taft in the boys varsity race. Birmingham sophomore DANIEL SALAZAR had a big race finishing in 4th in 16:44, a 31-second PR on Pierce and a very happy INDIE HYMAN (Taft) placed 5th in 17:11, a 25-seconds Pierce PR. RYAN SLOAN was the top finisher for ECR placing 13th in 17:31.0.
Individual Results
Here are the top 10 finishers in the boys and girls varsity races. PPR indicates a Pierce personal record.
Sammy Pacheco takes a big lead on the 1st pass through the switchbacks at the inaugural Pierce XC Meet of 2024. She won the varsity girls race in a time of 18:56.0.
With 800m to go ALEXIS HUERTA holds a big lead in the boys varsity race which he kept to the finish to win in 16:05.0.
Taft’s Varsity Girls
(l-r) Isabella Sakalowsky, Kayla Tjenalooi,
Shannon Fabro, Sage Kodama, Alexandra Chase,
Kennedy Brannon, Jenny Nava
Taft’s Varsity Boys
(l-r) Gabe Perez, Jonah Simkin, Indie Hyman,
Hunter Bennett, Ethan Barok, Angel, Daniel Tochner
Mathew de la Cruz ran a dominant race to take 1st place in the boys JV rcontest in a time of 17:51.0, a 12-second Pierce PR for the Granada senior.
Scarlett Harris leads a chase pack on the switchbacks. She placed 5th in a time of 20:29 to lead ECR.
Granada senior DANIEL RAMIREZ and Cleveland junior NATHANIEL MELGOZA race to the finish. Both posted a time of 17:20.0 with Ramirez getting the nod for 6th place. Both runners will likely show faster times this Saturday at the Rosemead Invitational.
Birmingham Junior YESENIA VALDEZ shaved
3 minutes 25 seconds off her previous
Pierce PR to place 8th in 21:00.0.
ECR’s Ryan Slohn leads a pack at the 1-kilometer mark. He had ECR’s top time placing 13th in 17:31.0. Taft’s Jonah Simkin (left) and Daniel Tochner (right) are close behind.
‘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!