La Mirada High School

Clovis Invitational @ Fresno's Woodward Park
The Lady Mats took a road trip to Fresno the weekend of October 7th to race at Woodward Park, site of the 2006 Cross Country State Championship meet.  Even though they ran with only six runners in the varsity race, their sixth place finish was encouraging.  In fact, with their top two runners finishing in 1st and 5th place, the girls look forward to proving themselves at CIF this season.

A last minute change in plans caused Sarah Jeon and Lauren McIntyre to take the day off, so the Matadores were represented by Stephanie Felix, Melissa Byrd, Jenna Pasillas, Karina Gonzalez, Clarissa Negrete, and Andrea Smith.  Erica Campos and Krystal Gomez competed in the JV race.

As has been her habit, Stephanie opened up the first mile in a controlled manner with a time of 5:37, just a little ahead of a large pack that included teammate Melissa Byrd.  Unchallenged over the rolling hills on the 2nd mile, Stephanie slowed somewhat before cruising to another first place finish in a time of 18:22.  Close behind, Melissa was unable to shake off a pack of runners until her blazing finish secured 5th place for the first year athlete.

An uncharacteristically large gap between Melissa and La Mirada's 3rd runner, Jenna Pasillas, pushed the Matadores out of contention for a top 3 spot.  Jenna was closely followed by Karina and Clarissa.  Unfortunately, they fell 2 points short of a 5th place finish.  Andrea Smith rounded out the scoring for the team.

In the JV race, Erica and Krystal paced themselves to strong positions and fine finishes.  Overall, the trip was a great learning experience for the team and they anticipate returning to Fresno in the near future!