L.A. City Section
Rankings 11/4/05
By Bruce Thomson
These are the final rankings for the year.
In two weeks, it will all be settled. These final rankings are based
on the team times from all of the league finals, and for the two leagues
at Peck Park (Marine and Coliseum), we subtracted 1:00 from each of
the girl’s times, so 5:00 from each team, and :45 from each of
the boy’s individuals times, so 3:45 from each of the teams.
LA City Boys:
1. Monroe (81:41): Monroe has best depth in city, and top two are tough
duo, including individual favorite, Guzman. May need next three to drop
10-20 seconds each to grab first title in over 30 years.
2. Birmingham (82:06): Also has tough duo, and solid soph in Tellez,
but unless they close up 5th position, they may not have enough to capture
first title in school history.
3. San Pedro (82:53): Arguably top duo in city, and next three have
made significant improvements over last month. Will they have enough
to capture 4th in a row?
4. Taft (83:26): Nice young team, may be team to watch next year, appears
to not have quite enough to battle for a Fresno bus ticket, but on home
course…..
5. Garfield (84:25): As usual, major improvements during year, but no
one up front. Will probably have to settle for a top 5 place this year.
6. Poly (84:55): Nice drop throughout year, would like to go home from
city with some hardware.
7. Los Angeles (85:11): Good strength up front , but big drop off to
#5. If they can’t close that time gap, will have to struggle just
to place top 5.
8. Venice (86:44): Nice progress throughout year has them looking for
another trip to City Finals. With some more drops, could be fighting
for top 5 spot.
9. Narbonne (86:50): Dropped a couple runners to frosh/soph, but still
a solid team. Coming from tougher Peck Park course. Ramon Hernandez
has chance to place top 10 to lead them.
10. El Camino Real (87:18): This also may be a team to watch over next
couple of years. Boys are trying to match ECR girls’ success of
last few years.
Others to watch: Roosevelt (87:25), South Gate (87:45), and Sylmar (87:51).
Individuals: Guzman (Monroe) is returning champion,
with Soto (San Pedro) 2nd and 3rd last two years. Calise (San Pedro),
Aguilar and Hernandez (Birmingham), and Samano (Monroe) all appear capable
of top 5 performances, and factor in team battle. Zeidler (Taft), Baez
(LA), Salg (Grant) and Hernandez (Narbonne) could all be in top 5.
LA City Girls:
1. Birmingham (96:18): They’re back, and after
seasonal bests by top 5 at league finals, and defeating ECR, they move
back to the #1 spot they were favored for in the beginning of the season.
May need to drop some more time from each of 3, 4, and 5 runners, but
big difference from last month.
2. El Camino Real (97:18): Defeated Birmingham in dual meet, but couldn’t
make it two in a row at league finals. With Grigorian back, definitely
in hunt for top two and ride to Fresno.
3. San Pedro (98:24): Took top 7 spots in league handily on tough Peck
Park course. Will have good comp this week with ECR in heats. Looking
for 5th title in a row.
4. Taft (1:03:45): Potter has been big help to good team, but probably
no chance to place any higher than 4th. Young team, may hear more out
of them next couple of years.
5. South Gate (1:03:51): Upset Garfield to win league title, Partida
running well to lead them. Should be tough battle for #4 spot.
6. Garfield (1:04:11): Used to winning league titles, may have enough
for 4th in city. Always ready for finals.
7. Belmont (1:06:40): Won tough Northern league battle, where 6 points
separated 2nd place from 5th. Nice job rebuilding girls’ program.
8. Kennedy (1:06:43): Ramos and Senteno lead the always solid program,
but without nice drop from #5 position, will have battle just to qualify
for finals.
9. Los Angeles (1:08:10): Cruz doing good job up front, needs rest of
pack up about 30 seconds to do any damage at city.
10. Eagle Rock (1:08:11): Barely qualified for City in awesome Northern
League battle. Raspa leads this resurging team, but if no one else steps
up, could be watching finals from sidelines.
Others to watch: Poly (1:08:21), Roosevelt (1:08:52), Bravo (1:09:28).
Individuals: Goldring (Hamilton) has the fastest time
by far this year, how will she do in finals this year? Hartel and Hernandez
(Birmingham) appear to be back on track, while Rubi and Megan Adams
(San Pedro) get to run on faster Pierce course this week, Doebel-Hickok
(Palisades) and Sanchez (San Fernando) have looked good all year. Roth
(ECR) has yet to break 19:00 at Pierce, but could have breakthrough
in big meet atmosphere and Garcia (Garfield) qualified for State last
year in 3200 meters during track season.
Good luck to everyone during the championship
season!
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