Four of a Kind: Lila Copeland Wins the Girls Race and Palisades High Claims Another City Cross Country Championship

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

A new star has risen on the City Section cross country scene. Her name is Lila Copeland.

The Palisades High freshman  made that announcement loud and clear without speaking a word Saturday morning at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, where she blazed her way to the Division I title by over 17 seconds and led the Dolphins to their fourth consecutive team title.

Copeland ran the twisting 2.91-mile course in 18:45.88 and became the second Palisades girl in three years to claim the individual crown, joining three-time City champion Marissa Williams, who set the City and course record of 16:33.11 as a senior in 2014.   

Though she still has plenty of work ahead to supplant Williams (now a sophomore cross country and track standout at California) as the greatest distance runner in section history, Copeland has already accomplished one feat her Palisades predecessor could not: finishing first as a ninth grader in a field full of juniors and seniors. Williams ran 19:02 to place sixth at finals her freshman year.

Saturday’s resounding victory came in only the second race at Pierce this fall for Copeland, who transferred from Wildwood, a Southern Section school in Los Angeles, to join a loaded lineup that established Palisades as the favorite to keep its dynasty alive.

The Dolphins not only had the fastest runner, they also proved to have the most depth, placing five girls in the top 10 on their way to a low score of 28, leaving runner-up Granada Hills (82) and third-place San Pedro (87) far behind. The winning margin almost doubled the comfortable 29-point gap that Palisades enjoyed over San Pedro last season when the Dolphins had only three runners in the top 10 and none in the top five.

Copeland was smiling ear to ear as she was awarded her medal on the podium. And why not?

Copeland ran the same course in 19:47.99 to place second in her heat behind Granada Hills’ Tanya Larbaoui at City prelims the week before, but went all-out Saturday to earn the individual title.

Among those pacing the pack behind Copeland was Palisades junior Kimia Samandi, whose late surge earned her the second-place medal in 19:03.55, followed by Larbaoui (19:06.55), Jicel Fernandez-Ramirez (19:10.37) of El Camino Real and Maya Richardson (19:13.96) of San Pedro.

Samandi dyed her hair aqua blue for Halloween in a water fall/mermaid motif and picked up speed on the switchbacks to hold off Larbaoui by slightly over three seconds.

“I used to feel a lot more pressure but we showed up today with the idea to try as hard as we can  no matter how much we’re hurting and live with the results,” said Samandi, who was 10th last year. “All the training has really paid off. My PR is 18:55 at Seaside [in Ventura] and league finals  [at Elyian Park], so I’m happy with my time. This was all about place for me. I picked off two girls on the last hill. The main goal was to keep the team streak going and I’m proud to say we did.”

Sophomore Brittany Darrow was the Dolphins’ third finisher, clocking 19:16.27 for seventh and freshman teammate Sarah Bentley was eighth in 19:18.84. It was yet another freshman, Elisa Kim, who finished 10th in 19:24.21, over five seconds ahead of Granada Hills’ second runner Lauren Delgado.

Although their scores weren’t  among the five counted towards the team total, seniors Shannon Lee and Ariel Pollack also played a role in the Dolphins’ resounding  victory as each beat out a Granada Hills runner in the last half-mile to  widen the points gap.

Lee placed 20th in 20:07.88, three positions better than Highlanders senior Jazmine Macias (20:19.14) while Pollack was 29th in 20:28.61, three spots ahead of Granada Hills’ fifth scorer, Maya Martinez (20:44.61).

Palisades’ varsity boys were also seeking to repeat as Division I champions after clipping Santee by five points in the finals last fall for their first title since 2011.

To win, Coach Bob Macias thought his team needed at least three of the 10 fastest times. Sophomore Brent Smith was fifth in 15:33.25 and junior Ben Hamer was eighth in 15:43.46, but the Dolphins ultimately finished third with 98 points behind El Camino Real (59) and Granada Hills (82).

Justin Hazell from El Camino Real won the race by over 32 seconds in 14:57.87.

Jakob Pollack was 11th in 15:56.79 and fellow senior Jack Hockley (16:52.23) was 36th for the Dolphins. Senior Ben Hansen (16:55.66) was 40th, followed by junior teammates Finn Cawley (16:58.16) and Jake Greanias (16:58.60), who rounded out Palisades’ runners.

“The conditions were good and it wasn’t a crazy pace, they (ECR) just ran super strong today,” Pollack said. “We all went as hard as we could and I’m glad I pushed  it as much as I did.”

Smith and Hamer qualified as individuals and will make the trip north with the girls team for the CIF state championships Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno, where Palisades was 22nd out of 23 Division I girls teams last fall.