Sondheimer: City Section cross-country produces stories of a lifetime
“We got to make a TikTok video.”
That was overheard on Friday morning as two City Section cross-country runners walked together in the rain at Pierce College at the cross-country prelims.
TikTok didn’t exist 50 years ago when I went to my first City Section cross-country meet. My annual pilgrimage to the City prelims or finals always leads me to discover a story for readers to enjoy. It’s like a squirrel looking for a nut — it’s certain to be found. Since cross-country was one of the first sports I covered, I always want to return because it is so indicative of what high school sports is supposed to be about: Athletes competing for the love of their sport.
City cross-country also gives you an added insight into what Los Angeles looks like with the many different nationalities represented. There were athletes from 77 Los Angeles Unified School District schools who were transported by 34 buses. Rival athletes (Carson and Banning, among others) shared buses because of cutbacks to transportation dispatchers and holding the event on a Friday. When you add charter schools, there were close to 140 schools’ athletes participating in the prelims.
All it takes to find a story is show up and ask a coach.
In particular, Monroe coach Leo Hernandez always has a story to provide. In 2024, I wrote about love brewing at Monroe. In 2016, I wrote about the accidental cross-country star at Monroe. In 2022, I wrote about the Monroe athlete using running to help him cope.
This year’s feel-good story is about 16-year-old junior Miguel Mora of Carson. He had never run cross-country in his life until this winter. He was a soccer player for 10 years, playing junior varsity at Carson. He was always leading the soccer team when it came to running.
“I ran a 4:42 mile, and I had no training,” Mora said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, I want to see what I can do.’”
He gave up soccer, which his soccer-fan father initially didn’t like. After Mora won the Marine League 1,600 title last spring, he remembers visiting his father in the bleachers and seeing him smile.
“He said, “Congrats. You made the right choice.’”
Ethan Funk (right) of Palisades and Miguel Mora of Carson finished one-two at the City Section Division I cross country prelims. They will face off in Saturday’s finals at Pierce College.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Despite his limited cross-country experience, Mora is one of the favorites to win the City Division I championship on Nov. 21 at Pierce College. He finished second at Friday’s prelims with a time of 15:26.30. The winner was another junior, Ethan Funk of Palisades who ran 15:23.70.
Funk and Mora were friendly with each other before the race. Again, these cross-country athletes are different. There’s no trash talking, no disrespect. Their task is grueling, and they understand what an accomplishment it is to train by running 16 miles in a week and three miles in a race.
“It makes me push myself to the max,” said Mora, who’s an A student and takes calculus.
As for switching sports, Mora said, “I feel like I was wasting my potential. So I decided to stick to track.”
Welcome to the world of high school cross-country, where there are stories to tell at every race if you ask.
