September 25, 2025

Written by Mario Machuca

On August 23rd, the Wolves opened their season in unique fashion at the Redondo Union Relays, a meet featuring the special distance of 3000 meters. The shorter race proved to be the perfect season starter—giving rookies a chance to get their feet wet while allowing the veterans to showcase the progress they’ve made over a hard summer of training.

The freshmen kicked things off, with Hannah Palardy making a big statement in her first race as a Wolf, placing 6th overall. On the boys’ side, Abdu Alqaza led the way with a strong 4th-place finish, while teammate Caleb Lau impressed with 9th.

The girls’ open race highlighted King’s depth, as the Wolves went 2-3-4 with senior Abbey Starling clocking an impressive 11:09 in her debut. She was followed closely by Jordyn Ramirez and Betsaida Sandoval, while junior newcomer Sophia Balsells and sophomore Emma Castillo—returning strong after an injury-riddled 2024—rounded out the scoring five in 11th and 12th.

The open boys matched the energy, with Samuel Webster leading the charge in 3rd place, followed by Andrew Phillips (4th) and Caelan Shelton (5th). Junior Logan Ambos, coming from a 400m track background, turned heads with a 7th-place finish in his first-ever cross country race.

The day then shifted to the relay races, where teams of five each ran a 3k leg. The girls’ squad of Elizabeth Jacklin, Taylor Starling, Gracie Guzzetta, Jude Abu-Ghazaleh, and Natalie Drewitz faced fierce competition from Warren. After trailing through three legs, junior Abu-Ghazaleh stormed back with a stunning surge—erasing a 34-second deficit and flipping it into a 35-second lead. That effort set up junior Drewitz, who closed with a clutch 10:02 anchor leg to secure the victory for the Wolves.

In the boys’ relay, King showcased its depth by fielding two strong squads. Team A (Quezada, Stehmeier, Sosa, Gonzalez, Stewart) and Team B (Watkins, Guzzetta, Moyo, Collopy, Leiva) battled deep fields. Redondo Union ultimately grabbed the win, but the highlight came from senior Frank Stewart, who delivered a thrilling anchor, outleaning Mira Costa at the line to secure 4th place by just one second.

Coach Ibarra reflected on the meet, sharing that while the format is unconventional, he was proud to see the team’s progress and excited for what’s ahead. The Wolves will be back in action next weekend under the lights at the Cool Breeze Invitational at the Pomona Fairplex.