TOP BOYS STORYLINE
Cardinals Continue to Crush It! - Lowell's boys won the San Francisco City Section title for the 15th time in a row, the 31st time in 35 seasons. It is the Cardinals' 41st section title and 40th outright title dating to 1944.
San Francisco All-Section Boys Team
Bruno Bartalos (Lowell/Sr.) - (pictured above) Won the section title, running the 5K Golden Gate Park course in 17:19.45, a 14-second improvement from 2021 when he place fifth. He won three of four section-specific races and dropped his 5K PR of 17:03.68 at the State Final.
Griffin Santa (Lowell/Jr.) - Section runner-up in 17:24.73, his best placing of the season. He ran his 5K PR of 17:10.78 at the State Final.
Mathias Camilli (Galileo Academy/Sr.) - Placed third at the section final in 17:33.50 as the only non-Lowell runner among the top six. Won two of four section-specific races.
Graham Witt (Lowell/Jr.) - Placed fourth in the section final, running No. 3 for the champions in 17:34.00. Placed either fourth or fifth in four section-specific races.
Faaris Mirza (Lowell/Jr.) - Ran No. 4 for the champions, placing fifth in the section final in 17:37.65. He won the FS race as a sophomore and also the FS 3200m at the section track and field final.
Malcolm Barry-Kao (Lowell/Fr.) - No. 5 scorer for the team champions placed sixth in the section final running the 5K Golden Gate Park course in 17:39.15. Placed among the top 10 in six of seven races, including two third-place finishes in varsity league races.
Nicolas Rivas (Galileo Academy/So.) - No. 2 runner for the section runners-up, placing seventh in the section final in 17:40.46. Placed top-seven in four of five league-specific meets, and eighth in the other. Ran 5K PR at the section final.
San Francisco Section Boys Team of the Year
Lowell - The perennial champions had only two seniors among the seven who took the line at the section final in a lineup that dropped 18 points with a 19-second split in the 24-point victory over Galileo. Furthermore, Lowell went 1-2-3 and put up 21 points as the top team in the section FS final.
TOP GIRLS STORYLINE
Washington Narrows the Gap - While Lowell extended its All-City Championships winning streak to 11, it was far from a walk in the park. George Washington, a distant runner-up in 2021 (by 35 points), narrowed the gap significantly at the '22 All-City Finals on the 5K Golden Gate Park Polo Fields course. With sophomore Luisa Martin, juniors Anne Madole and Kiera Stauber, and senior Wren Swazo-Caton going 3-5-7-9, the Eagles put four across before Lowell's final two. However, the Cardinals' back-end made the difference in the 32-38 victory.
San Francisco All-Section Girls Team
Jacqueline Holman (Lowell/Sr.) - (pictured above) Two-time All-City Section champion was a 62-second winner at the '22 finals. She went on to place 12th overall in the Division III race at the CIF-State Championships, running her 5K PR of 18:23.38 on the State Meet course.
Noelle Kimotsuki (Galileo/Jr.) - Runner-up at the section final in 20:06.88, she also ranked second in the section for both 3-miles (19:07.60) and 5K (19:36.00).
Luisa Martin (Washington/So.) - Placed third in the section final in leading Washington to a runner-up finish in the team scoring. Martin ran 20:18.36 on the 5K Polo Fields course, her PR for that distance. She also won two of four section-specific races.
Lois McTrang (Lowell/Jr.) - Placed fourth at the section race as Lowell's No. 2, running her 5K PR of 20:19.73. She was the meet's FS race winner in '21.
Anne Madole (Washington/Jr.) - Placed fifth overall as the No. 2 for team runner-up Washington. She also had two seconds and a fourth in three AAA league meets.
Connie Wu (Lowell/Jr.) - FS race runner-up as a sophomore, stepped up to place sixth in the varsity championship as Lowell's No. 3. She had two seconds and two sixth-place finishes in four section-specific races and ran her 5K PR of 20:54.24 at the State Meet.
Kiera Stauber (Washington/Jr.) - The section's 3-mile leader at 18:03.60 for a sixth-place finish at the P. Wilder Mariner meet, she placed seventh in the section final (21:39.84) as Washington's No. 3.
San Francisco Section Girls Team of the Year
Lowell - The Cardinals put four seniors and three juniors on the line and, despite some pressure from a young Washington lineup, pulled of a six-point victory for their 11th consecutive section title and 42nd in 44 years dating to 1977. Washington had four across before Lowell, but seniors Devon Szalva (22:28.02) and Reese Jardiniano (22:34.61) crossed in succession ninth and 10th to seal another title for Lowell.
Photos by DeAnna Turner and Daniel Hernandez