La Mirada High School

Suburban League Finals

Varsity Girls: Sweet 3-Peat!

Amanda Stephens: 2003 Suburban League Champ

Led by Suburban League Champ Amanda Stephens (19:16), the undefeated Lady Mats (12 - 0) scored 37 points as they raced to their third consecutive League title and seventh in the past 10 years.  The Matadores almost saw their string of titles come to a crushing end when Amanda collided with Glenn's Eneida Hernandez, fell to the ground and lost her shoe only 600 meters into the race. Racing from fifth place, Amanda finally caught Norwalk's Jazmine Naranjo shortly after the first mile and never looked back.  The last time La Mirada High School produced an individual league champ on the girl's team was in 1994.  Ana Poblet (19:58) and Desitinie Martin (20:18) ran their best races of the season as they finished in 3^rd place and 4^th place overall.  Freshman, Jenna Pasillas (21:58), stepped-up to the challenge and earned a PR and 12^th place.  Erica Sandoval (22:45), raced for the first time since the Warren-Stauffer Invitational.  She has been slowed by a serious knee injury but was capable of pacing Jenna through the early part of the race and encouraging her to pick it up.  Megan Burbidge (23:09) battled an illness all week; she never thought of sitting out the race, though, and came through right behind Erica.  Senior, Jackie Serrata (23:39), ran her first league finals race at the varsity level and finished 19^th to round out this season's varsity squad.  Kelly Wilson and Vaniah De Rojas will join the team as they make their 18^th consecutive trip to the CIF-SS prelims on November 15^th.  The girls own a record of 97 wins and only 5 losses over the last 9 seasons.

2003 Suburban League Champions: Ana Poblet, Erica Sandoval, Destinie Martin, Jenna Pasillas, Megan Burbidge, Jackie Serrata & Amanda Stephens

J.V. Girls Keep the Streak Alive as they Go for Five!

Girls J.V.: 2003 Suburban League Champions

Suburban League champs since 1998, the J.V. girls went into League Finals in 2^nd place with a 4 - 1 record while the Cerritos Dons were in first place at 5 - 0.  Senior, Tara Palmer, let the girls know early in the week that the winning team won the championship.  Behind her inspirational leadership, each girl stepped-up her effort and came out ahead as they captured the first three spots in the race.  Vaniah De Rojas was crowned new league champion with April Soto and Kelly Wilson right behind.  With the victory, the Lady Mats earned their fifth consecutive league title! Kyla Hon, Kendal Van Wuyckhuyse, Andrea Smith and Kristen Kimball make up the remainder of the 2003 J.V. team.

The Top 3: Kelly Wilson (3rd), April Soto (2nd) & Vaniah De Rojas (1st)

Boys Make it a Close Race!

The Varsity boys knew they had to give their best effort of the season to be crowned league champs.  And, even though the Matadores captured three of the top six places, they lost a closely contested race and finished 2^nd to Norwalk, 41 to 45.  Led by Nathaniel Moore (16:34), Jared Bird (16:41) and Ryan Holash (16:52), the boys needed to beat both John Glenn and Norwalk in order to achieve their goal of a league title.  Because they lost to Glenn in their dual meet, they finished the season in 3^rd place with a 9 - 3 record. Freddy Ramirez, Kevin Osborn, Taylor Siemens and Elijah De Rojas round out the varsity seven.

Nathaniel Moore, Jared Bird, Ryan Holash, Kevin Osborn, Freddy Ramirez, Elijah De Rojas & Taylor Siemens

In the boys JV race, Jorge Granado (18:08) captured 2^nd place as the team finished 2^nd to Norwalk.  Overall, the J.V. team finished in 3^rd place with a 8 - 4 record.  This is the best finish for the J.V. team in many years. Andrew Diaz, racing for the first time for the Matadores, was a surprise 2^nd finisher for the team.  He was closely followed by Jarod Winn, Justin Lewis and Jim Palmer.

2003 J.V. Team