La Mirada High School

Roadrunner Classic at La Mirada Regional Park
The Matadores raced at "home" this week as they took to the hills of La Mirada Regional Park for the 11th Annual Roadrunner Classic. Grade level records fell all around as both the boys and girls teams ran their fastest team times of the young season.

Just after sunrise, the Varsity Girls team jumped out to a quick start and a much improved performance compared to the last two weeks. Led through the first mile by sophomore, Erica Sandoval, the Lady Mats cruised to a team time of 103:48. Fifty-two seconds slower than last season's team (102:56), this year's team was led by a trio of Matadore runners. Sonia Linares (19:53), Ana Poblet (20:28) and Erica (20:20) were able to race together until Erica lost her right shoe just after the first mile. At the finish, the gap between the top three was only 36 seconds with Erica ultimately "jogging" the last mile with no shoes! The big surprise for the Lady Mats came in the form of the smallest member of the team, Karina Gonzales (21:16), who raced in place of Destinie Martin and filled her shoes quite nicely! In the process, Karina moved into 8th place on the "Elite" list of Freshman runners. Sonia, feeling stronger and getting faster every day, became the latest Matadore to break the 20-minute mental barrier. She now owns 4th place on the Elite list of Senior runners and has her eyes set on moving towards the top as the season progresses. Ana's time moved her to the 10th spot on the senior list and Erica's performance tied her with Destinie for the number 2 spot on the sophomore list. Jenna Pasillas (22:18) appears to be fully recovered from her recent bout with bad health as she and senior Megan Burbidge (23:03) closed out the scoring for the varsity girls, 2nd place finishers in the small schools division.

Still competing under cloudy skies, the boys varsity race was expected to produce some fast times. Jared Bird (16:14) was able to keep pace with the leaders for the first half of the race, but struggled with a 5:44 closing mile to finish slower than his goal time for the day. Nathaniel Moore (16:44), raced to his best time of the season and helped assure that this season's team time (85:27) was faster than last season's (86:47). Nate's time moves him into the 9th spot on the Elite list of senior runners. Andrew Diaz (17:25), still working himself into shape, staked his claim to the number 3 varsity spot and a new PR. Close in Andrew's heels this week were Kevin Osborn (17:26), racing for the first time this season and Jarod Winn (17: 38), who earned another new PR and closed out scoring for the top 5 Matadores. Jim Palmer (19:48) braved his way to his best time ever on the Roadrunner course. When it was all over, the Matadores captured 3rd place in their division.

In the Frosh-Soph and JV levels, Clarissa Negrete (23:43) and Matthew Campbell (24:58) competed for the first time this season and came away with fine results. Andrea Smith (24:42), completed an awesome week of training with a fine performance and, for the second week in a row, a new PR. Mark Gillaspy, Krystal Gomez and Erica Campos also earned PR's for the Matadores. Congratulations on all the great performances!

Next Wednesday, the Matadores travel to Cerritos Regional Park for the inaugural Suburban League Cluster Meet. Unlike past years, the league championship will be decided by three league meets that include all teams from the Suburban League. The first meet, next Wednesday, will count for 25% of the final standings and be scored as an invitational; the second cluster meet, at La Mirada Regional on October 13th, will count as 25% of the final standings and be scored head-to-head; and the third cluster meet, at Mt. SAC on November 3rd or 4th, will count as 50% of the final standings and will provide the basis for any tie-breaker. The schedule of races for next Wednesday is as follows: