La Mirada High School

Girls Race Past Cerritos & Norwalk, Boys Split the Day

On a cool, overcast day at Cerritos High School, the Lady Mats raced to victory over both Suburban League opponents. Led by Senior Amanda Stephens (17:53), the varsity team prevailed on the 2.96-mile course by scores of 22 to 39 over Norwalk and 19 to 36 over Cerritos. Amanda, who fought off repeated surges by Norwalk’s #1 runner, finished 19 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. She continues to dominate the Suburban League this season. Ana Poblet (18:44), after taking off last Saturday’s invitational, stayed between Norwalk’s #1 and #2 runner as she cruised to a 3^rd place finish . Ana was followed by Carly Cram (19:24), racing for the first time in a Matadore uniform and Destinie Martin (19:28), in her first race since the Roadrunner Classic. Megan Burbidge (20:08) held off both Cerritos’ and Norwalk’s third runner as she rounded out the scoring for the defending champion Matadores.

The boys were prepared for a tough race against a tough competitor. They knew the Norwalk team did not want to lose two weeks in a row. Unfortunately, an extremely fast opening mile took its toll on the Matadores as they fell behind in the 3^rd mile and were unable to make up ground on the defending champion Norwalk team. Nathaniel Moore (15:27) made a valiant effort to catch Norwalk's #1 runner but finished 2^nd. Jared Bird (15:40) led the race for the first 2 miles but faded to the 4^th spot in the final 800 meters. Ryan Holash (16:08), Kevin Osborn (16:25) and Freddy Ramirez (16:34) rounded out the scoring for the Matadores.

In the J.V. races, Jorge Granado (17:40) was the first Matador finisher for the boys and Vaniah De Rojas (23:02) was the first finisher for the girls. The week the Matadores take on Artesia and John Glenn High Schools at La Mirada Regional Park.