City Cross-Country Championships : Birmingham, Granada Hills Are 3rd, 4th in City Final

Birmingham and Granada Hills, two preseason favorites, finished third and fourth Saturday morning at Pierce College in the City high school cross-country championships.

Belmont won the title for the fifth straight year and Wilson was second for the third straight. It marked the eighth season in a row that a Valley-area team has not finished first. Ian Alsen of Granada Hills also fell short in his quest to become the first boys individual champion from the Valley area in five years. He finished second to Belmont’s Teferi Gebre.

Kennedy turned in the best effort by a Valley team in the girls race. The Golden Cougars, led by the sixth-place finish of junior Sheri Lawson, received personal-best efforts from four of their top five runners and placed second to Wilson, 39-69. El Camino Real was third with 100 points.

In the boys race, Alsen and Gebre ran together in a pack until they took a big lead.

Gebre, however, pulled away on the downhill portion of the final switchbacks and won by 60 meters. His time of 15:10 was a personal best. Alsen finished in 15:21.

Eduardo Solorzano of Kennedy was third with a personal best of 15:28 and was followed by Jeff Korn of Birmingham at 15:29.

Solorzano was third with a personal best of 15:28 and was followed by Korn at 15:29.

In the girls race, Lawson ran a personal best of 18:29 but finished sixth after sharing the early lead with winner Sandra Rodriguez of Wilson.