La Mirada High School

2007 Suburban League Finals
The boys and girls of the Matadores Varsity and JV teams took to the concrete, asphalt, and grass of Cerritos Regional Park last Wednesday for the Suburban League's final cluster meet of 2007. Unlike the hilly courses of years past, this year's league finals meet was raced over a 3.1-mile flat course. The last time that happened, in 2000, was the last time the Varsity girls team was defeated in league.

Race #1: JV Girls
Leading off the day, the JV girls went into the league finals race with a strong hold on second place. Despite the fact that they were competing without key athletes, the girls were confident in their ability to close the gap on a tough Cerritos team. Getting out early, Aja Labasan and Valerie Wong took an early lead and were closely followed by a pack containing Monica Ramirez, Bianca Ceballos, Paulina Tapia, and Carly Clase.
 

By the end of the second mile, the girls desperately fought to maintain their position. Aja was now joined up front by Paulina as Valerie fell back due to increasing shin pain and continued the race side-by-side with Monica. In the end, the girls had closed the gap on first place, but not enough to pull out a victory. For the fourth consecutive year, they were runners up in league. Aja, Paulina, Valerie and Monica earned medals and were named to the All-League JV team. For their efforts, Aja and Paulina were added to the varsity team for CIF competition.
 

Race #2: JV Boys
Inconsistency was the story of the 2007 season for the JV boys, who entered league finals in third place. Any other year the coaches and captains would have settled for a third place finish. This year, though, the team was larger, deeper, and had more potential than ever. They knew it would take a huge effort to make up the deficit they were left with after the second cluster meet.
 

When the gun sounded, Regan Garcia set out to single handedly re-establish the team as a force in league. Mateo Cordova, Frankie Nogales, and Enrique Nava did their best to keep pace, but found themselves falling further behind.
 

Regan led the race through the first half before finally finishing in fourth place. He was the sole athlete from La Mirada to earn a medal at the race. Enrique showed his leadership as he and Frankie were the next two scorers for the Matadores. Regan and Enrique will join the varsity team for the CIF race.
 

Undefeated in league since November 2000, the last time the league finals race was held at Cerritos Regional Park, the Varsity girls team has compiled a record of 84 wins and no losses since then. Having heard all the hype, the girls made the decision last August at camp to downplay the pursuit of a league title as their main goal. They had higher objectives for the 2007 season. Their focus changed when they found out Stephanie Felix, their #1 runner, would NOT participate in the race. Suddenly, with the prospect of second place facing them, they realized they could no longer take league for granted.
 

Meeting prior to the start of the race, the girls collectively agreed that they would dedicate the race to their captain as they repeated her favorite pre-race mantra: DOMINATE. Their new goal: All seven in the top ten. It wasn't long after the gun sounded that the pieces began to fall into place. Melissa Byrd set the early pace and Lauren McIntyre was on her heels. Willing to allow Mayfair's #1 runner to get out in the front spot for the first half of the race, Lauren and Melissa settled in and formed a pack with Celinda Manzo and Ashley Casanover that proved to be impenetrable. At the first mile all seven Lady Mats were in the front ten -- four in the lead pack and three in the chase pack.
 

Entering the long, hot asphalt on the riverbed, Lauren soon chased down the #1 runner and took over the lead by the time the race entered the second mile. With Byrd, Manzo, and Casanover in the 3, 4, 5 spot, the race was essentially over at that point. They could relax. Still, there was their goal to consider. Melissa made the decision to go for it as she chased down second place for the second straight year. Clarissa Negrete, who missed last season's league finals race, and Taitana Cortes let out all the frustrations they have felt in their young running careers as they both made a frantic move over the last quarter mile of the course. Clare, running in 10th place at the second mile, moved up to the sixth spot, just seconds behind her freshman teammates Ashley and Celinda. Tatiana waited a bit longer to move, but when she did, she moved from #12 to #9 before falling just short of the #8 spot. With their strong finish, the girls earned a team record 18 points and placed six Lady Mats in the top 9. Extrapolating the 3+ mile course to 3-miles, the race earned the girls the fastest team time ever run by a La Mirada team running with Stephanie.