Announcement
2007 Season Week Six: Suburban League Cluster Meet #2 -- Boys fall back, girls sweep
On a day with near perfect conditions, the Matadores took to the hills of La Mirada Regional Park for the 2nd Suburban League cluster meet. Matched against all six other league teams, the race began with the JV girls race at 1:45 pm, followed by the JV boys at 2:30 pm. On the varsity side, the girl's race began at 3:20 pm and the boys at 3:50 pm.
back in action after two weeks of restDespite missing close to ten days of training, senior Clarissa Negrete used her experience over the hills of La Mirada Regional park to pace herself to a fairly easy first place finish on the hilly 3-mile course. Clarissa was over a minute ahead of the second place runner from Cerritos High School. Next in line for the JV Lady Mats was Aja Labasan, whose 3rd place finish could not overcome a tough Cerritos pack of four who finished ahead of La Mirada's 3rd runner, Paulina Tapia. Carly Clase and Bianca Ceballos rounded out the top five scoring for the JV team.
Unlike the first cluster meet where they were outscored 15-50, the girls closed the gap on the front runners from Cerritos and narrowed their deficit to a respectable score of 24-34. In the end they still came away from the meet with a second place finish. They enter the league finals race in second place, where, under Suburban League rules, it is still possible to win the league title.
Girls Varsity: Felix sets pace; McIntyre, byrd, Casanover, manzo, cortes & wong keep lady mats a leg up in league
The week leading up to the 2nd cluster meet was filled with surprises for the Lady Mats. First Clarissa came down with an illness that sidelined her for 10 days, then Sarah Jeon suffered a pull to a hip flexor that kept her out of action for a week. Both girls skipped the road trip to Clovis in hopes of being ready for the League Meet. By race time there were only six girls prepared to compete. Melissa Byrd, who has been hobbled by mysterious aches and pains since the trip to Clovis, was a last minute addition to the lineup. To make matters worse, Stephanie Felix was feeling less than her best. Before the race started, the girls were instructed by their coaches to settle in and run a controlled race. "No surprises, just keep it steady, get the job done, and let's go home."
So how did they handle the news? In typical Lady Mat style, the girls went out and swept the race, finishing in first through fifth place on the difficult course. Running in a strong pack with her teammates for the first mile, Stephanie picked up the pace on the hilly 2nd mile and opened up a 60 second gap over the rest of the field. This week it was Lauren McIntyre who claimed her spot in second place behind Stephanie. Running close behind were Byrd, Ashley Casanover, and Celinda Manzo. Significantly, the gap between Lauren and Celinda (2 through 5) was only 39 seconds and the gap between one and five was 1:41 -- the closest ever during the Felix years. Tatiana Cortes and Valerie Wong rounded out the scoring for the girls who enter League Finals in first place with their 6-year winning streak intact.
Boys varsity: Ly leads; boys in 3rd place going into league finals
Balance and strength training, form and technique drills, and miles of hills were added to the boys workout regimen this summer. Even their attitude took on a different tenor as the boys entered the season believing they were ready to race with the top teams in league. A second place finish at the first cluster meet did nothing to make them take their competitors for granted and they continued to train seriously. Unfortunately they were unable to sustain their 2nd place position at the 2nd cluster meet and were defeated by Cerritos and Norwalk by a score of 23-34.
Led by Dennis Ly, La Mirada's Runner of the Meet, the Matadores fought hard for position early in the race. Dennis' race was easily his best of the season, but, unlike the first cluster meet where the boys finished in a tight pack of four, only Michael Palmer was close enough behind to crack the top 10.
Andrew Garza fought bravely to hold on, but the time off he took last week worked against him. That, and a huge gap between their numbers 4, 5, and 6 runners, left the boys shy of their goal for the day. On any other day, Mark Gillsapy would not have raced. On this day he refused to quit. Despite his valiant efforts, for the first time this season he finished behind Andrew Herrick and was the Matadores 5th scorer. Richard Marquez and Brett Berger rounded out the team. The boys enter league finals in 3rd place.
JV BOYs enter league finals in 3rd place
Some years the JV boys are lucky simply to field a complete team. This season, they've handed out all their uniforms and the team still continues to grow! More importantly, they continue to improve and are serious contenders for a top three spot in league. Led by Regan Garcia, the boys finished in 5th place at the second cluster meet. Mateo Cordova took the lead for the first mile before dropping back. Enrique Nava and Frankie Nogales finished ahead of Cordova, while Aaron Cordova, Miguel Franco, Fernando Velasco, Brett Pierce, William Gomez and Jorge Medrano also finished the race for the Matadores. The JV boys enter League Finals in 3rd place overall.
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