Runners Excel at Bell Gardens – Palisadian Post
Photos courtesy of Molly Sigworth
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Halfway through the cross country season Palisades High runners are hitting their stride. The boys finished second and the girls fifth across all divisions Saturday in the Bell Gardens Invitational at El Dorado East Regional Park in Long Beach, a meet which featured over 1,200 runners from schools across Southern California.
Max Fields won the three-mile junior boys race in 14:58.3 and 11th-grade teammate Axel Mammen was fourth in a personal-best 15:59.9. Fields beat City rival Alexander Mendoza of Granada Hills by nearly 40 seconds in the second-fastest time all day behind Walnut senior Joshua Razo (14:49.0).
Ava Baak clocked a personal-best 18:36.3 for third in the senior girls race, just edging Luciana Valencia (18:37.6) of league rival Hamilton, as Palisades tied for second place in team scoring with Granada Hills, which had the top two finishers in Jocelyn Pacheco (18:15.8) and Naima Salazar (18:29.5). Palisades’ No. 2 runner was Mollie Wittenberg in 21st place at 20:14.7. Sydney Suh (20:51.7) and Layla Adeli (20:57.5) were 32nd and 33rd, respectively, and Julia Musumeci ran a personal-best 21:08.7 to place 36th.
Omar Juarez Toby Scaduto were Palisades’ only representatives in the senior boys race and both PR’d.
The freshman boys won their race with 25 points as Zachary Cohen (15:47.0), Andrew Razo (15:57.6) and Blake Sigworth (16:31.2) all ran personal-bests to sweep the top three spots. Brian Welsh was 11th in 17:19.8, Odina Spadavecchia was 14th in 17:27.3 and Roland Becking was 15th in 17:33.7, both PRs.
Owen Lewicky (15:55.8) won the sophomore boys race and teammate Ben Barnett was seventh in 16:57.8.
Virginia O’Neill was ninth in the girls junior race in a personal-best 20:13.7 and Leena Adeli was 12th in a personal-best 20:24.9. In 33rd place was Palisades’ third runner, Eva Herndon, in 22:28.9.
Lulu Mammen took sixth in the freshman girls race in a PR 21:01;
Maribel Henderson-Maclennan was seventh in a PR of 21:05; and Maya Bhasin was eighth in a PR of 21:22.
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