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POST SEASON
RUN LIKE A GIRL!
Three of LA City’s top athletes - Yanilette Montano, Frieda Cedillo and Dulce Gonzalez - transform a pejorative taunt into aspirational goals. Their dynamic performances at Pierce College the last 2 weeks herald a new generation of LA City runners that are determined to not just persevere, but thrive.
CITY PRELIMS ‘21
The City Prelims tend to be a mixed bag that has the top teams holding back and the challengers running for PR’s. The 2021 City Prelims, for the most part, held true to form. Take a look at our analysis below for specifics on team and individual performances at the City Prelims and projections for the City Final.
In this year of COVID we’d be remis if we didn’t highlight a few of the impacts to City’s XC programs in post season as a result of the pandemic:
Belmont, the most successful cross-country program in the modern history of LA City distance running, by any measure, did not have 5 runners at their League Finals. As a result, they did not participate in the City Prelims and will not be in the Finals.
Elizabeth Learning Center girl’s team, which were the City division 5 runner-up team at the 2019 City Finals did not field a team in 2021.
North Hollywood, home of one of the top City runners in the last 30 years, Natalie Stein, did not have a qualifying team, boys or girls, at Prelims.
Manual Arts, Polytechnic, and Dorsey are just a few more of the 20 City schools that did not field a qualifying team for league finals or Prelims.
As part of this issue on the ‘Post Season’ we’re including team and individual rankings, by division, based on Prelim and League Final results. Read on for the details.
LA CITY RANKINGS
Preparing cross-country rankings is far from a perfect science and using the City Prelims as the primary data set doesn’t help the cause, mostly for the reasons mentioned above. In 2021 there was an additional wrinkle in that divisions 3-4 did not run Prelims at Pierce. For these divisions we used the teams’ performances from their League Finals. This introduced further complexities in that many of these teams ran their League Finals at Elysian Park or Peck Park, NOT Pierce. For the division 3 and 4 teams that ran their league finals at Elysian or Peck Park we’ve converted the individual and team times to Pierce-equivalents. Very scientific :)
So……here are our rankings and analysis. We’ll continue to update throughout the week to cover all of the divisions.
TEAM RANKINGS
The tables below rank all teams that participated in the LA City Prelims at Pierce College (divisions 1,2&5) and League Finals at Elysian Park, Peck Park and Pierce (divisions 3&4). Overall team rankings are based on each team’s top 5 runner’s times at the Prelims or League Finals.
Click on the tables below to see TEAM RANKINGS BY DIVISION
BOYS TEAM RANKINGS - ALL DIVISIONS
GIRLS - ALL DIVISIONS
Division 1 Girls Analysis
DIVISIONS
2-5 Girls Analysis
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS - BOYS TOP 25
Click on the tables below to see INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS BY DIVISION
INDIVIUDAL RANKINGS - GIRLS TOP 25
CITY PRELIMS WINNERS CIRCLE
BOYS Division 1 - Heat 2
MAX FIELDS - Palisades Charter - 15:50.1
GIRLS Division 1 - Heat 2
ISABEL CASTAGNOLA - Granada Hills - 18:37.9
BOYS Division 2 - Heat 1
JAMES JIMINEZ - Venice - 16:08.7
GIRLS Division 2 - Heat 1
ANGELICA MILAR - Bravo Medical - 19:11.9
BOYS Division 1 - Heat 1
AUSTIN LEDGERWOOD - El Camino Real - 16:16.0
GIRLS Division 1 - Heat 1
MOLLIE WINTTENBERG - Palisades Charter - 19:23.5
BOYS Division 2 - Heat 2
WILLIAM ROJAS - Monroe - 16:30.1
GIRLS Division 2 - Heat 2
CELEST CORRIGAN - Eagle Rock - 19:31.1
BOYS Division 5 - Heat 2
BRANDON ADREANI - New West - 17:13.1
BOYS Division 5 - Heat 1
ISIDRO VALDEZ - Sun Valley Magnet - 18:07.1
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
JOCELYN PACHECO - Granada Hills - 19:12.5 and FRIEDA CEDILLA - Kennedy - 19:47.5
MEZTLI VELAZQUEZ - Granada Hills - 19:16.3
BRYNN BOGUE - Bravo Medical - 19:42.9
KELIA & SOPHIA NARANJO-CHAMPION - Garfield - 19:30.7 & 20:17.0
JOSE SEVILLA - Palisades Charter - 16:14.7
KEELY MYAMOTO - Eagle Rock - 20:15.7
LUIS SANDOVAL - San Pedro - 16:20.8
AMELIE MISSIG - Taft - 20:45.7
ECR’s ISAAC TORRES - 16:26.6, MAX LIBERMAN - 16:26.0 and MATEO GLASS - 16:24.5
KAYLEE VARGAS - San Pedro - 20:54.9
ANDREW REYES-GOMEZ - Miguel Contreras - 16:33.4
THEA AMON-FRANCESCHI - Marshall - 21:05.0
RIGOBERTO CASTELLANOS - Monroe - 16:52.4
DANIEL RIVERA - Monroe - 17:05.9
WILLIAM BUJAKE - New West - 17:47.0
LEAGUE FINALS
Three venues across greater Los Angeles hosted the 2021 LA City League Finals - Elysian Park, Peck Park and Pierce College. In all, 955 boys and girls competed, representing 5 divisions, 12 leagues and 35 schools.
What makes LA City’s League Finals unique is that it is often the first and last time some of the top LA City teams run against each other. In some of the best racing all year, the East Valley, Northern, and Valley Mission leagues met in a combined League Final race that was awe inspiring. The girls varsity race was absolutely packed with talent that included Freida Cedillo (race winner, Valley Mission champ), Dulce Gonzalez, Keely Miyamoto (Northern League Champ), Yanilette Montano, Celeste Corrigan, Thea Amon-Franceschi, Gabrielle Cannesson, Leyla Huerta (East Valley Champ), and Angelina Valladares to name just a few.
Yanilette Montano (283) and Frieda Cedillo (138) chase the leaders up Chalk Hill just prior to the 1st mile. That’s Marshall’s fantastic freshman Gabrielle Cannesson (188) hanging tough just steps behind!
The boys race was equally exciting with Reseda stand-out Jude Sandridge, Franklin’s dynamic duo Francisco Gonzalez and David Martinez, and Monroe’s William Rojos all toeing the line against the venerable Marshall team that has Finlay Robertson, Panos Papadaes, and Anton Hense.
Jude Sandridge (Reseda), Francisco Rodriguez (109), and David Martinez (105) lead through the 1st pass up ‘The Switchbacks’ at Pierce College at the combined East Valley/Northern/Valley Mission League Finals race on Wed Nov 4th, 2021
The next day, Thur Nov 4th, West Valley’s finest met at Pierce College for the final day of LA City league finals. The Granada Hill’s girls came in as the prohibitive favorites and did not disappoint. Running without 2 of their top runners the Highlanders still placed all of their runners in front of the competition to tally a perfect team score of 15. Granada’s top 3 ISABEL CASTAGNOLA, JOCELYN PACHECO and MEZTLE VELAZQUEZ joined 8 other City girls who broke 20 minutes on the Pierce course in league finals this week.
The boys varsity West Valley league finals proved to be much more competitive with El Camino Real and Granada Hills competing for valley honors. Granada led the race at 1-mile but ECR turned the tides in mile-2 with a team-wide surge that culminated in AUSTIN LEDGERWOOD and MAX LIBERMAN moving into 1st and 2nd and their 5th runner ISAAC TORRES making a big move in the last mile.
Cleveland ran well enough to take 3rd despite JAMES LOPEZ still working to get back to top form. HARRISON NYUGEN looks to be back after missing most of October and JOSEPH VARGAS continues to impress.
Fourth place went to Taft who continues to improve. EMMANUEL PALACIOS went out hard with the lead pack and was able to hold on to take 12th place and the top place for the Toreadors.
Granada’s Juan Alcala (1215) and Pablo Abrego lead the varsity West Valley race on the 1st pass up Chalk Hill. Taft’s Emannuel Palacios (1260), Cleveland’s Joseph Vargas (1130), and several of the ECR team are close behind.
Ranking of TOP-15 BOYS LA City teams participating in League Finals. * Times from finals held at Elysian Park and Peck Park have been converted to Pierce Equivalents. CLICK ON THE TABLE TO SEE INDIVIDUAL TOP-10 RANKINGS BY DIVISION.
Ranking of TOP-15 GIRLS LA City teams participating in League Finals. * Times from finals held at Elysian Park and Peck Park have been converted to Pierce Equivalents. CLICK ON THE TABLE TO SEE INDIVIDUAL TOP-10 RANKINGS BY DIVISION.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Runners from three of the top teams in the West Valley League sprint to the finish!
Isaac Torres (right) won this battle as part of the larger war for League Team Champion.
West Valley League Finals - Pierce College - Nov 4th, 2021 (l-r) James Lopez (Cleveland), Pablo Abrego (Granada Hills), Isaac Torres (El Camino Real)
BOYS TOP-10 Performances in League Final competitions at PIERCE. GREEN highlighted athletes are LEAGUE CHAMPS! CLICK IMAGE FOR TOP-10 RESULTS BY DIVISION
GIRLS TOP-10 Performances in League Final competitions at PIERCE. GREEN highlighted athletes are LEAGUE CHAMPS! CLICK IMAGE FOR TOP-10 RESULTS BY DIVISION
* Pierce Conversion 1:18.0 for boys. BOYS TOP-10 Performances in League Final competitions at Elysian Park. GREEN highlighted athletes are LEAGUE CHAMPS! CLICK IMAGE FOR TOP-10 RESULTS BY DIVISION
* Pierce Conversion 2:01.0 for girls. GIRLS TOP-10 Performances in League Final competitions at Elysian Park. GREEN highlighted athletes are LEAGUE CHAMPS! CLICK IMAGE FOR TOP-10 RESULTS BY DIVISION
BOYS Western League Champ MAX FIELDS (Palisades - 15:43.8)
GIRLS Western League Champ MOLLIE WITTENBERG (Palisades - 19:29.1)
Jose Sevilla (2nd-16:06.7) and Alec Schmitt (3rd-16:10.6)
BOYS West Valley League Champs - EL CAMINO REAL (l-r) Isaac Torres, Matteo, Glass, Kevin Alvarez, Max Liberman, Justin Canas, Austin Ledgerwood, Evan Sinnot
GIRLS West Valley League Champs - GRANADA HILLS (l-r) Naima Salazar, Jocelyn Pacheco, Isabel Castagnola, Meztli Velazquez, Reece Trice
BOYS West Valley League Champ: AUSTIN LEDGERWOOD (ECR 16:13.5)
GIRLS West Valley League Champ: ISABEL CASTAGNOLA (Granada Hills 19:07.8)
GIRLS Valley Mission League Champ FRIEDA CEDILLO (Kennedy - 19:15.3)
BOYS Valley Mission League Champ JUDE SANDRIDGE (Reseda - 16:16.1)
DULCE GONZALES - Canoga Park - 2nd place Valley Mission (19:34.6).
YANILETTE MONTANO - Reseda - 3rd place Valley Mission (20:17.0).
BOYS Northern League Champ FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ (Franklin - 16:28.0)
GIRLS Northern League Champ KEELY MIYAMOTO (Eagle Rock - 19:37.5)
BOYS Northern League Team Champions MARSHALL (l-r) Finlay Robinson (213), Anton Hense (211), Panos Papadeos (212)
BOYS East Valley League Champ WILLIAM ROJAS (Monroe - 16:35.3)
BOYS East Valley League Team Champs MONROE (l-r) Brandon Valadez, Rigoberto Castellanos, Netzer Escobar, William Rojas, Jefler Alonzo, Daniel Rivera, Nicolas Del Angel
GIRLS East Valley League Champ LEYLA HUERTA (Monroe - 21:25.0)
GIRLS East Valley League Team Champs MONROE l(r) Front: Mirabel Parra, Suleymi Navarro, Leyla Huerta Back: Noelia Ortega, Yasmin Liera, Emili Alacantara, Isabella Miguel, Daniela Dorantes, Stephanie Jeronimo
Garfield's Varsity Team (l-r) Alyson Perez, Mia Reyes, Jacqueline Ramirez, Halle Perez, Sophia Naranjo-Champion, Kelia Naranjo-Champion
Halle Perez (Garfield-20:21.5) 4th place Eastern League Finals - Elysian Park, Thurs Nov 4th.
HANNAH CARLSON (Northridge-22:37.3) Valley City Champ
TESSO SOLLANO (Lakeview Terrace-22:03.0-) North Valley City Champ
ISIDRO VALDEZ (Sun Valley Magnate-18:18.7) Central Valley Champ
ALEXIS RAMIREZ (East Valley-18:44.9) Valley League Champ and ALAN HERNANDEZ (SOCES-18:53.8) runner-up Valley League finals
EAST VALLEY VARSITY - Valley League Champs (l-r) Cristian Cortez (1326), Alexis Ramirez (1330, Samuel Membreno (1329), Gabriel Herrera (1328), Ernesto Hernandez (1327)
COMMUNITY CHARTER VARSITY-North Valley League Champs (l-r) Josue Gonzalez (1315), Eric Cortez (1311), Daniel Martinez (1313), Emanuel Cobos (1308), Emanuel Moreno (1314), William Salcedo (1312), Yamil Ballcels (1310)
FULTON PREP VARSITY - Valley League Runner-Up (l-r) Ronald Portillo (1349), Joshua Bahingire (1345), Aaron Wegulo (1351) Joshua Driottez (1346), Anthony Sanchez (1350), Yael Marrufo (1347), Hector Miranda (1348)
AROUND THE LEAGUES
CITY UPDATES
Team captains, and Olympians, join Sofia Abrego for a photo op at the 2019 Footlocker Nationals in San Diego, Ca.
Jenny Simpson, Brenda Martinez, Sofia Abrego and Abbey Cooper
Congratulations to Sofia Abrego of Granada Hills who has verbally committed to Ivy League Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In addition to having a rich tradition in running including Olympic qualifier Abbey Cooper the school is also one of the premier educational institutions in the US.
‘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!
