Pali High Cross Country Excels at Woodbridge

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The annual Woodbridge Classic on Saturday was another chance for Palisades High’s boys cross country team to show it can run with the best teams around.

Entered in the Doug Speck Sweepstakes race against schools from throughout Southern California as well as Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Texas, the Dolphins placed 15th in the elite 26-team field with a score of 373.

Ben Hamer, who won the junior race the week before at the Seaside Invitational in Ventura, was 30th overall in 14:57.4, sophomore Brent Smith was 47th in 15:07.4 and senior Jakob Pollack was 59th  in 15:18.5. Senior Ben Hansen (15:39.9) was the Dolphins’ fourth runner and junior Jake Greanias (15:50.5) was the fifth runner. Rounding out the team were seniors Jack Hockley (16:11.4) and Hunter Parker (16:49.9).

Mountain Vista of Colorado won with 99 points, followed by Palmer Ridge (also of Colorado) with 111 and Temecula Great Oak (151). Reed Brown of Southlake Carroll (Texas) clocked the fastest time (14:11.7) at Silverlakes Sports Complex in Norco.

In the girls’ A Gold division, Palisades finished eighth with 262 points. Junior Kimia Samandi led the way in 19:13.7 (22nd overall), followed by sophomore Brittany Darrow (34th overall in 19:40.0), seniors Shannon Lee (19:59.2) and Ariel Pollack (21:12.1) and junior Lulu Takei (21:21.8). Junior Ilaria Stewart ran 21:26.9 and sophomore Skylar Smith clocked 21:40.9.

Sarah Bentley was second out of 180 runners in the freshman girls Gold division in 19:32.3, beaten only by Redondo Union’s Molly Hastings (19:16.9). Elisa Kim was 43rd in 21:41.0, Casandra Hernandez was 53rd in 22:01.2, Kiara Bremner was 64th in 22:11.0 and Quincy Timmerman clocked 22:51.7.

Ellie Schultz was 40th in the sophomore girls Gold division in 21:41.0 and Julia Klotz ran in the JV girls Gold division.

Galaan Abdissa was 46th in 18:45.5 in the senior boys Gold division, Mark Barboza (19:17.7) was 64th in the freshman boys Gold division and Emmett Kallmeyer was 69th in 18:43.0 in the sophomore boys Gold race.