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.
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