Pali Runners First at League Finals

Everything seems to be rounding into form for the Palisades High cross country team as it heads down the home stretch of the season. Both the boys and girls varsity teams took first place in the Western League finals meet last Wednesday at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. The Dolphin boys won with a low score of 29, distancing themselves from the rest of the league by a decisive margin. Venice was second with 61 points, followed by University (75), Hamilton (78), Westchester (165) and LACES (172). Five of the top 10 finishers were from Palisades. Leading the way was Marco Tringali, who ran the hilly three-mile course in 16:56. Teammates Jann Stavro (17:37), Muhanad Elias (17:40), Jason Kil (17:56) and Jeff Boone (18:09) placed 5-8, respectively. ‘I’m happy we won league and I was happy with our spacing but our times are going to have to drop significantly to compete for the City,’ Pali Head Coach Ron Brumel said. The varsity girls race featured the first of three potential head-to-head meetings between the City’s two fastest runners’Kristabel Doebel-Hickok of Palisades and Katja Goldring of Hamilton. Goldring won in a record time of 17:06 while Doebel-Hickok, running easily, crossed the finish line in 17:20’the fourth fastest City time ever at Pierce. ‘Kristabel ran very smart’ Brumel said. ‘Her goal is to medal at the state meet. Winning City would be nice and she has never beaten Katja so that would be a feather in her cap. I think she can do both of those things. But Kristabel’s sights are set on state.’ Palisades’ girls won by an even greater margin than the boys. totaling 30 points. University finished second with 64, followed by Hamilton (68), Venice (103) and Fairfax (131). Sarah Shores was fourth overall in 20:22, Angela Perry-Spahn was fifth in 20:38, Natalie Farnham was ninth in 21:53 and Cecelia McGaughran was 10th in 22:13. The City prelims were Wednesday (results unavailable at press time) and the City Finals are Saturday, November 18.