La Mirada High School

Jenna, Destinie, Karina, Stephanie, Adele, Clarissa & Sarah Celebrate their 1st Place Finish and Team Time Record of 95:53
This race establishes them as the #1 All-time team from La Mirada High School!

Since the last Suburban League cluster meet on October 13, the Lady Mats have been hampered by injuries and slowed by illnesses. Compounding their already glum mood was the disappointment they felt when those illnesses and injuries forced them to sit out the sweepstakes race at the 58th annual Mt. SAC invitational last Saturday. Realizing they might need another race to tune-up for the upcoming League Finals meet, the girls traveled to Arcadia High School's Apache Invite at Arcadia County Park for a Thursday afternoon race. Their performance was anything but disappointing!

Stephanie Felix, still suffering the aftereffects of last week's illness, took an early lead and opened up a 20 meter gap by the time the front pack reached the 1/2 mile point of the 3-mile race. Karina Gonzalez, forced to sit out her 2nd Mt. SAC Invitational last week, took her frustrations out on the course as she cruised to a 3rd place finish in a time of 19:00. Destinie Martin, the only varsity runner to compete at Mt. SAC, struggled to keep pace with Karina, and fell back into 5th place overall with a time of 19:33. But the biggest surprise of the day was yet to come! Adele Mata, whose feet, shins and legs demand that she do the bulk of her running on soft grass or dirt, had been sidelined after practicing on the cement-laden league finals course. Her solution to the leg pain on this day was to throw off her shoes after the start and run the entire race barefoot! Surprisingly, Adele raced to an 8th place finish with a PR of 19:41. With her effort, Adele moves into the #1 spot on La Mirada's elite list of Junior runners. Clarissa Negrete, who has responded positively to the recent trips to 24 Hour fitness, was the Lady Mat's 5th scorer with a time of 20:15. Sarah Jeon, who seems to be recovering nicely from a turned ankle, and Jenna Pasillas, whose groin injury was strained at cluster meet #2, rounded out the varsity team, all of whom completed the race in under 20:31. The total team time for the race was 95:53---another school record---and the 4th time this season the 2005 team has bettered their team time record.

Over all, the girls outpaced the host Arcadia team by a score of 28 to 36 and took home the 1st place awards. Even though they were told to treat the race as if it were a workout, the girls came home with a number of new records: Karina moves into the 3rd spot on the elite list of Lady Mats, Adele Mata earns the #1 Junior spot, Clarissa Negrete moves into the 4th spot on the sophomore list, and Sarah Jeon moves into the 10th spot on the sophomore list. The 2005 sophomore team now owns four out of the top 10 times on the elite list of La Mirada sophomores! And Stephanie, who was the subject of a feature story in the October 26th edition of the Whittier Daily News, completed the course in a time of 17:23, setting a new course record for the Arcadia Park course.

The Lady Mats will now train through league finals as they prepare for the upcoming CIF-SS competition. Watch them defend their Suburban League title next Thursday at La Mirada Regional Park.