Pali High Cross Country Wins City Title

By the time he traversed the last switchback of the Pierce College course well ahead of the pack, senior knew victory was well in hand. Yet, he didn't let up for a single stride, seemingly picking up speed as he powered through the finishing chute in 15 minutes and 40 seconds to win the City Section large school cross country championship Thursday afternoon in Woodland Hills. 

Stromberg's race was big for him personally, but it was even bigger for his team. Three other Dolphins placed among the top 25 runners and when the final scores were tallied Palisades had its first boys title since 1977. The Dolphins' total of 68 points gave them a decisive victory over second-place Santee (94 points), which also advances to the state meet next Saturday at in Fresno. 

"It feels amazing," said Stromberg, the first Pali High boy to win City since ran 14:56 to take first place in 1994. "I've wanted this since my freshman year and I finally did it."

City Section officials moved the meet up two days, from Saturday to Thursday, when the weather forecast indicated high probability of rain Saturday morning. Due to construction at Pierce, the alternate "rain" course (which was needed at last year's City finals) cannot be used, meaning the meet would've had to have been held at an alternate location. Palisades Coach left the decision up to his runners and they voted 5-2 to run Thursday at Pierce.

"I would've preferred to run Saturday," Stromberg admitted. "The mornings are a lot better because you don't have to go to school and it's usually cooler, but a race is a race and you can't dwell on those facts."

Stromberg's winning time was not his personal best at Pierce--he ran 15:36 in his runner-up finish at last year's finals--but he entered Thursdays finals having run the course but a few times because he was competing in Invitationals instead. He also abandoned his pre-race strategy early on when it was clear there were no other runners willing to set the pace.

"My plan was to stay within five to eight seconds of the leader for the first mile, catch him in the second mile and see how things go the third mile," he said. "It didn't go as I planned, but it still worked out. It wasn't a PR, but I don't go for time, I go for place."

Stromberg may have come in first place, but he wasn't the Dolphins' only hero Thursday. Fellow senior , who came into the race off back-to-back wins in the league finals (15:33) and City prelims (15:37), was sick with the flu the night before but ran anyway and finished 12th in 16:16.

"I like to start out fast and I'm usually able to take the lead but I was too weak today," Hammer said. "I still felt we had a chance to win, but I wasn't sure how I'd hold up or how high I'd finish. From prelims to finals can be a big difference." 

Dolphins junior was ran neck and neck in the final yards with Robert Amador of Fairfax, crossing the finish line third in 15:50.63--just one hundredth of a second behind the Lions' senior. Johnston, too, wanted to run Saturday after having clocked 16:04 at last Wednesday's prelims.

"It was a tough race," Johnston said. "Robert and I were both pushing hard and he got me at the end. I wanted to conserve as much energy as possible at the beginning. I would've preferred to run Saturday, but this will give us an extra two days to recover for state. It'll be a fun time with some good team bonding."

Junior finished 22nd in 16:31, a mere 30 hundredths of a second behind Fernando Diaz of Santee. Sophomore came in 48th place in 17:15.99, was the Dolphins' sixth runner with a time of 17:35 and fellow senior was Palisades' seventh runner, covering the 2.9-mile hilly course in 17:47.  

"We were a little lucky in that it's a down year for the City and I kind of felt like with our first three being so good and Jonathon [Tewodros] coming along we had a good opportunity," said Brumel, who started coaching at Pali High in 1990 and recalls the boys team losing by two points to Garfield in 1994. "To have three gifted kids like Grant, Matt and Drake is unbelievable. All three are super smart and each has a different personality."

Brumel believes his top runner could've had an even faster time under different race conditions.

"He ran sub-15 [minutes] three times this year on flatter courses," Brumel said of Stromberg, who placed 16th in the Woodbridge sweepstakes race, eighth at Mt. SAC in the individual sweepstakes and second in the Clovis large schools race. "You need competition to run faster. It makes a huge difference."

Joining the boys team in Fresno will be Dolphins freshman , who qualified for state as an individual by finishing sixth in the girls large schools race with a time of 19:02. No one was more shocked than Williams herself.

"It was scary and I'm really surprised," she said. "I didn't think I could do it. I knew there were a lot of people older than than me here. I'm sure state will be even more scary. I'm just glad I made it."

Williams ran her personal best at Pierce a week before, clocking 18:58 to place second at prelims. Peyton Cline of El Camino Real overtook San Pedro's Evelyn Gonzalez in the final yards to win in 18:15.71. Palisades finished third with 91 points and just missed qualifying for the state meet.

Freshman (20:09) and sophomore (20:15) were the Dolphins' second and third finishers, sophomore was 26th overall in 20:27, was 34th in 20:38, freshman came in 68th in 22:12 and sophomore was Palisades' seventh runner in 23:12. 

Palisades' , who didn't run in this year's finals, captured the individual title in 18:46 as a sophomore last season, beating Gonzalez by nearly five seconds on Pierce's slightly shorter rain course. Palisades' girls last won the team title in 1994.

"You just never know how it's going to turn out," Brumel said. "Our girls had a good cluster, all within 30 seconds of each other, we just didn't have anyone in the top 10 other than Marissa."

CITY SECTION CROSS COUNTRY FINALS

Boys Team Scores (Large School)

1. Palisades, 68. 2. Santee, 94. 3. San Pedro, 106. 4. Marshall, 109. 5. Taft, 136. 6. Monroe, 138. 7. Birmingham, 155. 8. Belmont, 168. 9. Venice, 200. 10. Granada Hills, 206. 11. Reseda, 234.

Top 15 Individual Results

1. Grant Stromberg, Palisades, 15:40.77. 2. Robert Amador, Fairfax, 15:50.63. 3. Drake Johnston, Palisades, 15:50.64. 4. Steban Aviles, Taft, 15:54.28. 5. Oscar Contreras, Huntington Park, 15:55.59. 6. Edwin Morales, Santee, 15:59.85. 7. Edgar Gonzales, Santee, 16:04.62. 8. Steve Correa, San Pedro, 16:06.78. 9. Jacob Cuellar, Marshall, 16:10.63. 10. Ryan Alexander, Birmingham, 16:14.78. 11. Ezra Soriano, El Camino Real, 16:15.64. 12. Matt Hammer, Palisades, 16:16.23. 13. Andy Santos, Venice, 16:18.53. 14. Cesar Marquez, San Fernando, 16:23.78. 15. Jose Martinez, Granada Hills, 16:25.12. Other Palisades finishers: 22. Jonathon Tewodros, 16:31.65. 48. Matt Kato, 17:15.99. 61. Austin Gelber, 17:35.24. 68. Nick Wong, 17:47.54.

Girls Team Scores (Large School)

1. San Pedro, 48. 2. Birmingham, 85. 3. Palisades, 91. 4. Santee, 140. 5. El Camino Real, 146. 6. Granada Hills, 148. 7. Monroe, 159. 8. Marshall, 169. 9. South East, 205. 10. Polytechnic, 210. 11. Taft, 223.

Top 15 Individual Results

1. Peyton Cline, El Camino Real, 18:15.71. 2. Evelyn Gonzalez, San Pedro, 18:17.59. 3. Vanessa Herrera, Marshall, 18:24.85. 4. Lorena Garcia, San Pedro, 18:45.59. 5. Ashley Carrera, San Pedro, 19:00.54. 6. Marissa Williams, Palisades, 19:02.02. 7. Giovanna Romo, San Fernando, 19:04.57. 8. Giselle Masedo, Chatsworth, 19:09.81. 9. Pamela Pelayo, South East, 19:10.72. 10. Stacy Macias, Birmingham, 19:12.32. 11. Danielle Nunez, San Pedro, 19:12.84. 12. Crystal Morales, Santee, 19:14.98. 13. Asiah Melville, Granada Hills, 19:30.46. 14. Cindy Balderas, Santee, 19:34.44. 15. Jassmine Macon, Birmingham, 19:42.94. Other Palisades runners: 22. Elizabeth Goodman, 20:09.46. 23. McKenzie Gray, 20:15.28. 26. Kylie Rawn, 20:27.73. 34. Hannah DeSilva, 20:38.73. 68. Natalie Marsh, 22:12.44. 79. Katelyn Frankel, 23:12.47.