Palisades Charter sophomore Max Fields, pictured competing at the Mt. SAC Invitational, won the Division 1 title at the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Championships at Pierce College. (Raymond Tran, file)
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Qualified athletes took on the 3-mile course at Pierce College in Woodland Hills on Saturday for the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Championship. The top two teams for boys and girls in Division 1 qualified for the CIF-State Championships on Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno. Only the LAC champion in Divisions 2-5 advanced to compete at the State Meet.
Here's a division-by-division look at Saturday's championships:
DIVISION 1
Boys
Palisades Charter sophomore Max Fields held off El Camino Real senior Austin Ledgerwood by 3.2 seconds to win the Division I title while leading his team to the title. It is the first title for the Palisades boys since 2015 and the fourth time overall.
Palisades went 1-3-4-7-14 for 29 points to beat ECR by 30 points. Seniors David Tobin (15:37.7), Jose Sevilla (15:40.8), Alec Schmitt (15:51.2), and Noah Wexler (16:10.2) also scored for Palisades.
Senior Max Liberman was eighth overall in 15:52.8 and sophomore Mateo Glass was 11th (16:01.0) for El Camino.
Girls
Senior Isabel Castagnola (pictured below), junior Jocelyn Pacheco, and junior Naima Salazar placed first, second and fourth to lead Granada Hills to a fourth consecutive team title. Castagnola ran away with the division title in 18:18.9 with teammate Pacheco well back in 19:13.0.
Palisades Charter junior Ava Baak placed third (19:20.7) and Garfield sophomore Sophia Naranjo-Champion was fifth (19:32.7).
Senior Sofia Abrego, a former champion, placed 10th (19:50.9), and junior Fiona Le was 12th (19:59.1) also scoring for the team champion.
Sophomore Kyra Morris placed sixth (19:36.0) for team runner-up Palisades Charter.
DIVISION 2
Boys
Venice senior James Jimenez ran 15:59.4 to win the division title and Monroe went 2-3-6-8-11 to take the team title by 57 points over Bravo Medical Magnet. Monroe won for the first time since 2009 and fifth time overall while snapping a two-season winning streak by Venice.
Jimenez placed 14th in this race as a sophomore in 2019.
Seniors William Rojas (16:01.3), RigoBerto Castellanos (16:28.4), Jefler Alonzo (16:55.1), Netzer Escobar (17:12.5) and Brendon Valadez (17:32.1) scored for Monroe.
Freshman Christopher Ramirez placed 13th in 17:33.8 as the top scorer for Bravo.
Girls
Venice junior Lidia Prokopovych-Shchepetkin ran 19:07.3 and was a seven-second winner over Bravo Medical Magnet freshman Brynn Bogue for the individual title.
Senior Celeste Corrigan placed third (19:17.7) and senior Keely Miyamoto (19:36.0) placed fifth in leading Eagle Rock to its second team title in three seasons.
Junior Marielle Williamson (21:33.1), sophomore Tory Yetter (21:34.4), and sophomore Elizabeth Corrigan (21:48.5) also scored for Eagle Rock, which beat Bravo by 16 points.
DIVISION 3
Boys
Junior Franciso Rodriguez (15:48.1) and senior David Martinez (15:50.4) went 1-2 for team runner-up Franklin.
Verdugo Hills went 5-6-8-10-15 to win the team title by five points. Sophomore Evan Ellersieck (16:44.6), senior Jeremiah Galloway (16:47.9), sophomore Dustin Harzmann (16:55.6), senior Fabrizio Valdivia (17:09.7), and junior Jonathan Castro (17:42.6) scored for Verdugo Hills, which also won the D-3 title in 2019.
Reseda sophomore Jude Sandridge ran 15:56.0 to place third and Helen Bernstein junior Ferbin Orellana placed fourth (16:39.4).
Girls
Canoga Park senior Dulce Gonzalez ran the Pierce College course in 18:52.0 to win the individual title while leading three other teammates to top-10 finishes as part of a team championship. It was the fourth title in five seasons for Canoga Park.
Gonzalez was fourth in this race as a sophomore in 2019.
Sophomore Angelina Valladares (19:47.1), freshman Angelina Lopez (20:12.0), and sophomore Karina Perez (21:08.0) placed third, fifth, and ninth, respectively, for Canoga Park, which edged Reseda by four points.
Junior Ashley Pineda placed 20th in securing the title for Canoga Park. Junior Montano Yanilette placed second (19:41.2), junior Molly Sandridge placed fourth (20:06.), and junior Angela Jimenez Zepada placed seventh (20:56.9) for Reseda.
DIVISION 4
Boys
Rancho Dominguez Prep sophomore Alan Sotelo (17:53.5) edged Animo Ralph Bunche sophomore Kevin Flores Nava (17:59.2) for the division title. Senior Alexis Ramirez (17:59.2) placed third in leading team champion East Valley.
Senior Cristian Cortez (18:50.7), freshman Ernesto Hernandez (19:02.3), senior Gabriel Herrera (19:39.5), and senior Samuel Membreno (21:19.0) scored for East Valley, which won its first LAC title.
Girls
Northridge Academy freshman Hannah Carlson was a runaway winner for the individual title (20:59.8) and senior Jasmine Garcia was more than 100 seconds back in second place while leading Mendez LC to the team title.
Mendez, which also won in 2019, was a four-point winner over Maywood CES.
Mendez got a 5-10-23-26 finish from junior Lucia Bautista-Flores, freshman Magaly Garcia-Sanchez, senior Eridyan Uvera, and freshman Destheny Solano.
Junior Valeria Benitez placed fourth (22;49.9) to lead Maywood.
DIVISION 5
Boys
New West Charter senior Brandon Adreani beat junior teammate William Bujake by 47.3 for the section title and sophomore Cristian Alvarado Ortiz placed third overall in leading Stern to its first section title since 2012.
Adreani placed third in this race as a sophomore in 2019.
New West went 1-2-4 but didn't have the depth to match Stern, which won by 22 points.
Sophomore Jonathan Machic (17:50.4), senior Angel Garcia (18:20.2), freshman Juan Pablo Morales (18:57.7), and senior Alberto Hernandez (19:14.3) scored for Stern.
Girls
Sophomore Gabriela Nascimento was a runaway winner in 19:37.6 while leading New West Charter to an 18-point win for its first LAC team title.
Senior Nelly Garnica was a distant second in 21:05.3 and senior Esmeralda Flores (21:59.6) placed fifth for team runner-up Oscar De La Hoya. Garnica won the Division 4 title as a sophomore in 2019.
Freshman Kahri Sivkov placed sixth (22:23.6), and junior Isabel Brenninkmeijer placed eighth (23:03.3) for New West.
Other top-five finishers were Academia Avance junior Saray Cortez, who placed third (21:27.3), and Lakeview Charter sophomore Tessa Solano, who placed fourth (21:38.9).
File photos from Mt. SAC Invitational by Raymond Tran
Palisades Charter sophomore Max Fields, pictured competing at the Mt. SAC Invitational, won the Division 1 title at the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Championships at Pierce College. (Raymond Tran, file)
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