North Hollywood's Ananya Balaraman wins girls' cross-country title in City
On a cool Saturday morning at Pierce College, Ananya Balaraman of North Hollywood High did something she has been dreaming about for years. She won the City Section Division I girls' cross-country title with a personal best time of 17 minutes, 38 seconds.
City DI champ Ananya Balaraman of NH. pic.twitter.com/DRScEJKt6V
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) November 23, 2024
The straight-A student who attends North Hollywood's Highly Gifted Magnet finished sixth in last year's race in 19:18. She credits her improvement to increasing her mileage workouts.
Granada Hills won the Division I girls' title.
In the boys' race, Paul Tranquilla of Venice raced to the Division I title with a time of 14:44.60. Last week he ran a personal best of 15:03 at the preliminaries, so he put together back-to-back weeks reaching peak form. He set a school record and was the 800 City champion in track.
Cross Country Division I CHAMPIONS!
Boys- Palisades Charter 🏆
Girls- Granada Hills Charter 🏆 pic.twitter.com/HK9BdGOGi6— CIF LA City Section (@CIFLACS) November 23, 2024
Palisades won the boys' Division I team title.
It was a big day for the Montenegro family. Jorge helped Monroe win the Division II boys' title and his sister, Trinidad, was a member of Granada Hills' Division I championship team.
Griffin Kushen breaks record
BREAKING: @TesoroXC senior Griffin Kushen smashes the Mt. SAC course record with a superb 14:38.5 scorcher to lead the Titans to the state meet! Top-ranked Glendora holds off major surprise La Serna to nab the Division 2 team title, 73-99! pic.twitter.com/cZR6gy0W2y
— Rich Gonzalez (@PrepCalTrack) November 23, 2024
Griffin Kushen of Tesoro, a recent Duke signee, had a memorable Saturday morning at the Southern Section championships at Mt. San Antonio College. He set a Mt. SAC course record with a time of 14:38.5 in Division 2. Glendora won the team title.
Beckman won the Division 1 boys' team title. Maximo Zavaleta of King took first in 15:00.8.
Trabuco Hills won the Division 1 girls' team title behind Holly Barker, who ran 16:40.7 to take the individual title.
In Division 2 girls, Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura won in 17:31.9. El Toro captured the team title.
Evan Noonan of Dana Hills won his Division 3 race in 14:42.9. Oak Park took the team title.
The top teams and individuals advance to the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 30.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.