Best at Bell Gardens

Pali High Cross Country Teams Sweep Varsty Races at El Dorado Park

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Palisades High’s boys amd girls cross country teams have their sights set on the City Section Championships in November and both seem to be hitting their stride at the right time. The Dolphins tuned up for this weekend’s 76th annual Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut by competing in the 37th edition of the Bell Gardens Invitational last Saturday morning at El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach and they dominated the two varsity races, winning them by convincing margins.

The boys tested the flat three-mile course in the first race of the day and six Dolphins finished in the top 20, paced by junior Blake Sigworth, who clocked 15:18.9 to take third overall behind Glendora senior Kevin Sandoval (15:08.2) and San Pedro senior Christopher Frelix (15:17.0)  in a field of 272 runners. Junior Zachary Cohen was the second Dolphin across the line, taking sixth in 15:27.2. Senior Owen Lewicky was ninth in 15:37.9 and junior Anthony Razo was 11th in 15:39 flat. Sophomore Mako Holt was Palisades’ last scorer, placing 14th in 15:45.0—exactly six seconds behind Razo. Triplets Ethan Funk (16:02.9), Sebastian Funk (16:24.9) and Justin Funk (16:25.4) were 17th, 30th and 31st, respectively, and fellow freshman Theo Mayeda was 28th in 16:20.8. Rounding out the Dolphins contingent was senior Basel Thierry, who was 43rd in  16:43.1.

In team scoring, Palisades was first out of 25 schools with 37 points, way ahead of Glendora (96), San Pedro (97), Bonita (166) and Bravo (193).

The varsity girls race went off half an hour after the boys and the Dolphins posted an even lower score—35 points—to outdistance Santa Monica (65), Cleveland (137), Bravo (140) and Glendora (142) in the 17-team field. Santa Monica senior Phoebe Benun was the individual winner in a time of 17:43.1.

In a duel between the last two City individual champions, Palisades sophomore Zoey Morris, last year’s section winner, clocked 18:18.7 to hold off Cleveland senior Meztli Velazquez (18:29.8) for second Saturday. Velasquez won City as a sophomore when she ran for Granada Hills. Junior Louisa Mammen (18:46.3) was the Dolphins’ No. 2 runner, coming in sixth, and their No. 3 placer was her freshman sister Eleanor (ninth in 19:02.2). Junior Daila Harinck (19:43.3) and sophomore Kendal Shaver (19:43.9) were 20th and 21st, respectively, and counted towards the team total. Cecilia Tierney was 34th in 20:34.7, fellow senior Casey Scaduto was 89th in 23:22.1 and Leena Adeli, another 12th-grader, was 99th out of 197 runners in 23:41.4.

Palisades won the junior girls division with 80 points paced by junior Mar Henderson-Maclennan (20:04.1) and took sixth in the junior boys race with 228 points, led by freshman Alex Graham (31st in 16:48.3).