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.

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.

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

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.