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2005: Stephanie Felix Advances to CIF-SS Finals

Posted by Ralph Casas on Nov 11 2005 at 04:00PM PST

CIF-SS Division II Prelims


Kevyn Murphy, Stephanie Felix & Kauren Tarver
Tarver was the #1 girl in Division II in 2004


Stephanie finished with a school record time of 18:06
Doug Speck Photo

For only the second time in La Mirada High School history, an athlete has advanced to the CIF-SS Finals meet for Cross Country. Stephanie Felix, running on the Mt. SAC course for the first time, ran an opening mile of 5:22 as she challenged Kauren Tarver of Serrano High School and Kevyn Murphy of Mira Costa High School for the top spot. Stephanie fell off pace coming out of the switchbacks and reached the second mile 12 minutes into the 2.91 mile race. She ultimately completed the course in third place with a time of 18:05.

Overall, Felix was the sixth fastest girl in Division II and the 13th fastest girl of the day. The last athlete to race at CIF-SS finals for the Matadores was Emily Maldonado, in 1993, who raced in the Division III race.

Stephanie will compete Saturday morning at 9:45 a.m. in the CIF-SS Division II Finals race as she attempts to become the first athlete from La Mirada High School to advance to the State Championship race in Fresno.

Girls fall short of their goal for the day
Destinie Martin, Karina Gonzalez, Adele Mata, and Jenna Pasillas were convinced things would be different this time. As seasoned runners, they had experienced competition at this level many times and were determined to take the next step this season and advance to CIF-SS Finals.

When Heat #4 of the Division II races began, the Lady Mats found themselves in good position with a nice pack of four runners placing themselves behind the front pack at opening mile paces between 6:04 and 6:10.

Unfortunately, the girls were unable to maintain their positions on the switchbacks and ultimately fell back into 7th place with a team time of 1:42:06 (a school record for the Mt. SAC course.)

GV_start_CIF
Division II Heat 4 --- Beginning of the Race with Stephanie, Destinie, Sarah, Karina & Adele in the front pack

This year's trip to the championship meet represents the 20th consecutive year the Lady Mats have advanced to the CIF-SS prelims race only to be turned away. Adele Mata and Andrea Smith ran their PRs for the difficult course with times of 20:42 and 22:50 respectively.

For the young Matadores team, it was a disheartening way to end what was the best season in school history. But, with the loss of only one varsity member, the girls are confident they will remember the many valuable lessons they learned over the course of the 2005 season and are united in their quest to achieve their goal of getting to the State meet with Stephanie in 2006.

Boys Climb out of the Cellar as they Learn About CIF Competition
The boys team raced in the Division II heat that turned out to be the fastest heat of the day. Senior, Andrew Diaz, challenged the front pack early but fell off pace and finished with a time of 16:42. For a moment, it appeared that the boys place last in their race, but they were able to move up together as a pack and earn a higher spot as they finished 13th in their race.

For rookies Andrew Bueno, Dennis Ly and Daniel Diaz, and Freshmen, Michael Palmer and Jason Kim, CIF was a valuable lesson they hope translates into a more successful 2006 season. With Mark Gillaspy and Matthew Campbell healed and ready to run, the boys are confident they will be faster and stronger in 2006.

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