The premier City race of the 2024 Woodbridge Invite was the Girls Varsity Blue -B race which had City’s top D1 teams going head-to-head for the first time this year. Granada Hills’ SAMMY PACHECO took full advantage of the chance to show her talents with a typically gutsy performance of 17:34.6 that earned her the win and the top City time at Woodbridge, and in the overall City rankings. Cleveland senior MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ pushed hard in the last 2 miles to move from 26th to 5th at the finish in her first 3-mile PR in over 2 years. Meztli had the 3rd fastest third mile in the race. Granada’s SOPHIA BATTLE continued to impress with another personal best of 18:27.1, her 2nd PR in 2 weeks. And, Taft’s KENNEDY BRANNON ran over a minute faster than her previous PR to finish in 18:34.0. Big performances all around! Sorry, no pictures from this race.
Here’s the girls D1 scoring based on ALL ‘24 Woodbridge performances:
Woodbridge Recap
*Scores are calculated based on each City D1 team’s top- 5 performances at Woodbridge across all races on Friday and Saturday.
The counterpart to this race had Granada Hills, Taft, Birmingham, and Cleveland facing off against each other in the Boys Varsity Blue-B race. Six City boys broke 16 minutes in this race including Granada Hills’ senior DANIEL RAMIREZ, the top City runner in the race with a PR of 15:09.6 and (in lessons learned from Rosemead?) the 3rd fastest mile in the race, 4:55.9. Taft junior ETHAN BAROK was close behind in a 48-second PR of 15:16.5 to rank him in the top-10 in City so far this year. Another junior, Birmingham’s ALEXIS HUERTA, shaved 39 seconds off his previous best to post a time of 15:25.5. Cleveland’s NATHANIEL MELGOAZA was 23 seconds better than last year to finish in 51st place in 15:36.3. Taft’s HUNTER BENNETT was the 5th City runner to cross the line with a 31 second PR of 15:44.8. And Granada Hills junior JOAQUIN ORTEGA-TOMASELLI was the final runner under 16 minutes posting a PR of 15:55.6. Really nice performances!
Three other boys’ races will have profound impacts on the next City D1 rankings: Sweepstakes, Varsity Gold B and Red Varsity B.
The Palisades boys entered their 2nd consecutive Sweepstakes race with a decidedly younger team than last year’s (which was pretty young too!). And, they delivered typically top-tier performances with their front runners - BLAKE SIGWOTH and OWEN LEWICKY - making the City Sub-15 Minute Woodbridge Performances ranking (see below). Teammate ANDREW RAZO ran a 24 second personal best, his 1st in almost 2 years, of 15:41.4 to give clear indications he’ll be in the sub-16 minutes club on Pierce in November and Freshman THEO MAYEDA ran 18 seconds faster than his Great Cow performance 3 weeks ago (his 1st high school race) to earn the top City freshman time of 16:02.01. As great as these performances were, know that, like most City teams, Palisades doesn’t necessarily train for this race and they always improve throughout the season. If their form holds they should have 5 runners break 16 minutes on Pierce in November, for only the 3rd time in City history.
Venice runners PAUL TRANQUILLA and CHARLES SIMON were undoubtedly the City MVP’s of ‘24 Woodbridge. Both broke 15 minutes in the Varsity Gold-B race, a feat that has been done less than 15 times in the history of City cross country, with Paul posting the 4th best City time ever at Woodbridge behind City greats Justin Hazell (State XC Champion), Steve Correa (City XC Champ) and Pablo Rosales (Pierce course record holder).
And on Friday night in the Varsity Red-B race San Pedro showed that they’ll be in the State qualifying hunt with 3 impressive performance by seniors EVAN HADEISHI, CHRISTOPHER FRELIX and JACK BUTTERFIELD. Evan just missed the Top-10 All Time Woodbridge performances ranking (he’s #12) with a ridiculous 1 minute 21 second PR of 14:55.8. Teammate CHRISTOPHER FRELIX ran a 52 second PR of 15:07.2 to rank 7th in LA City so far and JACK BUTTERFIELD ran a 1 min 12 sec PR to rank 11th in LA City.
Here’s how the boys D1 CIty race is shaking out based on Woodbridge performances (REVISED - sorry Birmingham, your score has been corrected):
Here’s how the boys D2 City teams that participated at Woodbridge rank:
The Monroe boys had the 5th fastest City time across all divisions led by SEBASTIAN PEREZ and JORGE MONTENEGRO and just missed averaging sub-16 minutes for their top 5 runners. Santee’s ROLAND BALDERAS and ADRIAN AGUIRRE shined on Friday evening but they’ll need more from their #3-5 to get close to Monroe. Marshall ran without their top runner from ‘23 Gabriel Cabrera (he’s been MIA all season?) but RYE JUNKER worked to fill the void with a big PR 16:23.8. Eagle Rock was registered to run Woodbridge but did not; we’ll see them at Bell-Jeff without their top 2 runners?!
And here’s the girls D2 rankings from Woodbridge
Monroe’s NAYELLY FLORES posted the top D2 girls time on Saturday evening in the Gold Varsity -B race but Santee had more than enough horsepower to take the D2 title, led by senior ANGELES FELICIANO. The Marshall girls only ran 4 girls and Eagle Rock did not run at all.
Last but not least, the D5 Woodbridge rankings for both the boys and girls
Three D5 runners ran under 16:20 at Woodbridge with Community Charter’s DANIEL MARTINEZ leading the way followed closely by Sun Valley’s JOSEPH JUAREZ and ANGEL SOLORIO. Come November is will be these teams’ #5 that will determine which team earns their first City Championship.
Based on Woodbridge results Sun Valley should be able to clinch a City Title in ‘24, their first since 2018, led by seniors GRISELDA ROCA and ADRIANA CHEVEZ who are running way ahead of last year. Kudos to Stella Charter in their 3rd year running City XC; they should have a shot at the top 3 in D5 this year. Central City junior ELLIE PEREZ will be looking at an individual title; she was the top D5 finisher at Woodbridge. This division has opened up a quite a bit with New West Charter now D4 and East Valley without a team this year.
We’ll get a much better idea of how City teams rank in the LA City Section after Bell Jeff this coming Saturday where twenty-six City teams will compete at the new (2nd year) Griffith Park course. Fourteen City teams will compete head-to-head in the boys Doug Speck and girls Varsity Large School races. Stay tuned.
*Scores are calculated based on each City team’s top-5 performances within their CIF division at Woodbridge across all races on Friday and Saturday.
Venice Senior PAUL TRANQUILLA approaches the 2-mile mark in the Varsity Gold-B race. He placed 2nd in the race in 14:29.5 ranking him #4 City All-Time. His 2nd mile in this race was the fastest of any City athlete, 4:47.8.
CHARLES SIMON posted the 5th best City time,14:56.6, ranking him 15th on the All-Time best City Woodbridge performances.
The Palisades Varsity team prepares for their epic performance in the Girls Rated race. The team posted the 2nd best time ever at Woodbridge, 1:30:56.0, with the top 5 averaging 18:11.2 .
(l-r) Daila Harinck, Gabriella Gilyard, Kendal Shaver, Maya Hively, Zoey Morris, Louis Mammen, Eleanor Mammen
DANIEL RAMIREZ was the top City finisher in the Varsity Blue-B race, finishing in 15:09.6. He now ranks as the #4 Granada Hills 3-miler all time!
In only her 2nd high school race freshman MAYA HIVELY posted the 2nd best City time at Woodbridge to lead the Palisades girls to a 9th place finish in the Rated race.
Junior ETHAN BAROK just missed the Taft school 3-mile record by 1.5 seconds with his 15:16.5 performance in the Varsity Blue-B race at Woodbridge on Saturday evening.
To say that Woodbridge is getting more competitive is an understatement. Never mind the absurdness of two boys sprinting for a 13:30 finish or Riley Blade posting a 15:20.3 3-mile high school record. Those are outliers that belie statistics. Just 7 years ago ECR’s Justin Hazell won the Sweepstakes race in 13:59.5; that performance on Saturday evening would have placed him no better than 14th. And Paul Tranquilla’s 2nd place performance of 14:29.7 in the Gold Varsity -B race on Saturday? That would have placed him 9th in the 2009 Sweepstakes race. The good news is that City athletes have embraced this trend and in 2024 the 19 schools and 444 athletes that participated at Woodbridge set some City standards for the record books:
CITY BOYS-2024
Top-5 Average Time: 16:51.9 (Best Ever, by a lot!)
Sub-15 Performances: 5 (Most Ever)
Sub-16 Performances: 20 (Tied w/2018 For Most)
Team Time: Palisades, 15:20.3 (4th best ever)
CITY GIRLS-2024
Sub-18 Performances: 5 (Most Ever)
Sub-19 Performances: 10 (2nd to 2018)
Here are the numbers for the last 9 years (there was no Woodbridge Invite in 2020 due to COVID):
Saturday Recap
PENELOPE SENELICK sets City Record*
Venice freshman PENELOPE SENELICK crushed the girls City 3-mile record with a 15:51.1 performance at Woodbridge on Saturday evening. Here’s the Top-10 All Time Woodbridge performances by City girls:
*Minor error in timekeeping as Penelope Senelick lost her bib and her bib was picked up by another runner who crossed the finish line during the Boys Gold Varsity A race. So no record for Penelope! :)
Here is the “OFFICIAL” Top-10 All Time Woodbridge performances by City girls:
And, here is a list of City runners that have broken 15 minutes in the 43-year history of Woodbridge, with the 2024 additions highlighted:
Congratulations to PAUL TRANQUILLA, BLAKE SIGWORTH, OWEN LEWICKY, EVAN HADEISHI, and CHARLES SIMON for some truly superlative performances!
Here are the City Top-10 BOYS performances for ‘24 Woodbridge:
Here are the City Top-10 GIRLS performances for ‘24 Woodbridge:
Some big City performances on Friday evening particularly in the boys races. Santee senior ROLANDO BALDERAS led from start to finish in the Red-Senior race to win comfortably in 15:05.4. With any competition this was easily a sub-15 performance. Forty-eight minutes later EVAN HEDEISHI led an impressive San Pedro team with a masterful individual performance, staying within striking distance of the leaders for 2.5 miles and then surging to take the lead and win in the last 400 meters in 14:55.8. In the same race teammates CHRISTOPHER FRELIX placed 5th in 15:07.2 and JACK BUTTERFIELD placed 15th in 15:21.2. These are minute+ PR’s for these runners! Santee’s ADRIAN AGUIRRE is the only sophomore to make the City Top-10 list and this was due to a phenomenal 2nd place finish in the Red-Sophomore race in a time of 15:35.7.
And while those performances are noteworthy, the biggest surprises came out of D5. In the fastest race on Friday evening, Community Charter DANIEL MARTINEZ posted a 16:03.7 in the White-Varsity, the 6th best City time and the top D5 time. Earlier in the evening in the White Senior race, Sun Valley senior JOSEPH JUAREZ and junior ANGELO SOLARIO placed 7th and 8th with times of 16:07.4 and 16:22.9. These times are 1 1/2 minutes ahead of their best times last year and comparable to D1/D2 performances, a result of a major increase in mileage this year (a common them for all of these runners). DEMITRI HERNANDEZ led the Mendez boys to a team win in the WHite Senior race; DemitrI finished in 10th in 16:22.9 and is #10 in the City Top-10. Well done!
Here are the City Top-10 boys performances:
Friday Evening Recap
Santee senior ANGELES FELICIANO led the girls on Friday evening with the top City time of 19:20.6 and an 8th place finish in the Red-Senior/Junior race. Though not up to last year’s effort a solid performance considering she’s still not quite 100%. Angeles led a strong Santee contingency that had 3 of her teammates in the Friday City Top-10. Esteban Torres’ s SAMANTHA AVILA was the big surprise Friday evening, posting a 19:20.7 in the White-Junior/Senior race and only missing the top City time by .1 second. Samantha has set herself up to be a legitimate top-5 contender in D2. EMILY GURROLA had the top San Pedro performance, an almost 2-minute PR of 19:24.5 . Two other San Pedro runners made Friday’s Top 10 as well. Mendez senior Magaly Garcia-Sanchez posted the #3 D2 time this year, a 21:08.5 effort that ranks her 7th in Friday City performances. and junior Elle Perez from Central City Value posted the top LA City D5 time of 21:26.8.
Here are the City Top-10 girls performances:
WOODBRIDGE PREVIEW
Woodbridge is a bell-weather event in the XC season for most southern California teams and the first opportunity for LACXC.com to refine predictions for the the LA City Section post season. This year there’s some added interest in the D1 boys as a result of the addition of a 3rd State qualifier for this division. So we’ll be paying particular attention to San Pedro, Venice, Granada Hills and Taft to see who has the edge at this point in the season and might join Palisades as the #2 and #3 in November.
Twenty City teams will be competing this weekend, down slightly from the 23 teams that ran in 2023. Notably missing this year is D1 El Camino Real, D2 Bravo Medical, D3 Verdugo Hills and D4 New West. This year introduces another course change, the 3rd in four years, that should alleviate some of the issues with the start in previous years at The Great Park but looks to also introduce additional and tighter turns in the 1st mile. See course map here. Weather forecasts look perfect for both days and impact from the Airport Fire is negligible.
Friday
Eight City teams are registered for Friday night including Central City Value Community, Charter Early College, Esteban Torres, Mendez, San Pedro, Santee, Stella Charter and Sun Valley. Top billing on Friday goes to the Varsity Red-B races that have some of City’s best in San Pedro and Santee going head-to-head. For the boys, San Pedro’s Christopher Frelix will be looking at a sub 15:20 performance, based on his result at the Laguna Hills Invite last week, which should place him in the top 3 in the Varsity Red-B race and in a decent position to win. Teammate Evan Hedeishi might be looking at something closer to 15 minutes flat and the win IF he hasn’t had any injuries or illness - he missed the Laguna Hills race on Sept. 14th but is scheduled to run at Woodbridge. Santee’s Roland Balderas should be close behind Frelix and Hedeishi (if he runs the Varsity race) in the neighborhood of 15:30. If these 3 run to their potential they can all place in the top 5 in the Varsity Red-B race. If Roland opts to run in the Senior Red race he’ll win going away! Also, we’ll be checking in on Santee sophomore Adrian Aquirre; he should be looking at a sub-16 min (conservative) and a win if he decides to run the Sophomore Red race.
On the girls side Santee’s Angeles Feliciano should break 19 minutes and rank as the top City runner and should get the win in the Junior/Senior Red race at 6:40. San Pedro’s Emily Gurrola has started 2024 on a tear, running Laguna Hills 2 min 45 seconds faster than last year. She’ll be looking to break 20 minutes to lead the Pirate women in the Varsity Red-B race at 9:52. along with teammate Rita Rizor.
In other races on Friday night, D3 top returner Demitri Hernandez (Mendez) and D5 stand-out Daniel Martinez (Community Charter) are running in the Senior White race at 6:52 and Michael Juarez Estrada (Mendez) will be running in the Junior White race at 6:28. D5 City runner-up Ellie Perez (Central City Values) and D2 standout Samantha Avila (Esteban Torres) will be running in the Senior/Junior White race at 8:04 as will top D3 runner Magaly Garcia-Sanchez (Mendez).
Saturday
Twelve City teams are registered in Saturday races at Woodbridge including Birmingham, Carson, Cleveland, Eagle Rock, Garfield, Granada Hills, Hamilton, Marshall, Monroe, Palisades Charter, Taft, and Venice. For the 2nd year in a row the Palisades boys will be running in the Sweepstakes race. Their top 3 of Blake Sigworth, Zachary Cohen and Owen Lewicky will be leading the pack targeting sub-15 minute performances. Palisades will have a sophomore and 2 freshman running in the Championship racel - Mayo Holt (so), Sebastian Funk and Theo Mayeda - who will all be looking to run mid 15’s as well as junior Andrew Razo who should be right there as well. Lots of new faces on the Pali boys team so this will be interesting! Birmingham, Cleveland and Granada Hills compete in the Varsity Blue-B race at 7:46 so we’ll see some of City’s top talent in Alexis Huerta (Birmingham), Nathaniel Melgoza (Cleveland), and Daniel Ramirez (Granada Hills) battle it out for City bragging rights, assuming they all run the Varsity race. All of these boys should be under 15:30. Venice’s Paul Tranquilla will be going for the win and a sub-14:50 performance in the Varsity Gold-B race at 8:22. We’ll also get a chance to see a follow-up to teammate Charles Simon’s impressive run at Rosemead. They’ll both be up against a slew of City runners from Hamilton, Marshall and Monroe. Look for a D2 match-up in this race between Monroe’s Jorge Montenegro and Sebastian Perez and Marshall’s Gabriel Cabrera and Bao Le. Taft’s Ethan Barok and Hunter Bennett run in the Varsity Blue-B race at 7:46 and will be closing in on 15:40. Eagle Rock’s top boys Lucio Hightower Rojas and Oliver Barr run in the Senior Gold race at 5:34. Both of these athletes had phenomenal ‘23 seasons but are MIA so far in ‘24.
The Palisades girls run in the Rated race at 8:54 led by D1 City Champion Zoey Morris who should run sub-18 minutes. Not far behind are Lulu Mammen and freshman Maya Hively targeting low 18’s. The Varsity Blue-B race at 8:34 pits Granada Hills against City rival Cleveland in possibly the most exciting City matchup at Woodbridge. Granada Hills is led by West Valley Champion Sammy Pacheco and teammate Sophia Battle who has taken her game next level this year;Sammy will be looking to break 18 and Sophia should be angeling for a low 18-minute performance. We have an idea on what the Granada girls can do but the Cleveland team has been reserved in their performances so far this year so Woodbridge will be LACXC.com’s first chance to see Meztli Velasquez, Lucy Culliton (who may be out due to injury), Eleanor Culliton and Yana Sen in a legitimate race effort. Really looking forward to this race! We’d love to see Taft in the race with Granada and Cleveland but they’re running in the Varsity Blue-A race at 8:10. Taft senior Kennedy Brannon ran over 2 minutes faster in the West Valley Cluster #1 than a year ago so she’ll be targeting a big Woodbridge PR in the low 19 minutes with sophomore Isabella Sakalowsky looking at mid 19’s along with teammate Kayla Tjenalooi. Once the results are in for these 2 races and LACXC.com has a chance to compile and analyze, the road to the City Championship for D1 girls should be a lot clearer. In other races, top ranked D1 athlete Kelia Narnanjo Champion (Garfield) will look to break 19 minutes in the Varsity Blue-A race at 8:10. Venice’s Jade Flores and Ella Senelick compete in the Junior/Senior gold race at 6:46 along with Monroe’s Nayelly Flores who will be in her 1st XC race as a senior. And, Hamilton’s Maria Cruz Santiago runs in the Varsity Gold-B race at 7:34.
‘The Drive’
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