La Mirada High School

: Sunny Hills High School 2006 Cross Country Invitational: Girls Place 2nd
In their tune-up race for next week's first Suburban League Cluster meet, the Matadores traveled to Craig Park in Fullerton to compete in the Sunny Hills Invitational. On a course not known for its fast times, Stephanie Felix set a new course record and both the boys and girls had their best races of the season. The Craig Park course has numerous tight turns and plenty of rolling hills. The beginning and middle sections are run on thick grass and the first mile contains rolling dirt trails with a few tight hairpin turns. The last mile is concrete with lots of downhill and plenty of tightly packed dirt to the finish.

Racing by grade level, the Senior boys, Andrew Bueno & Greg Luna, and girls, Jenna Pasillas & Andrea Smith, competed first and bettered their previous times on the difficult 3-mile course. Bueno found himself in the fastest race of the day and was seconds off his PR. For her efforts, Andrea earned her first varsity uniform!

In the freshman races, both Vincent Ha and Lauren McIntyre continued their string of success, while Daisey Terriquez and Andrew Harrick both earned new PRs. Lauren's strategy was to hang back and run a controlled well-paced opening mile. In 20th place at the first mile, she steadily moved up the pack until mile two where she found herself in 12th place. Lauren finished the race with a blistering kick, a 6:01 closing mile, and a 5th place finish! Her efforts place her ahead of Destinie Martin in the number 2 spot on the La Mirada elite list of freshman runners.

Only the junior boys and girls had enough runners to field a full team in the race. The boys were led by Dennis Ly, who easily had his most consistent race of the season. Mark Gillaspy and Matt Campbell also ran strong, with Gillaspy earning himself a varsity uniform for his effort. Newcomers Jason Kim, Adrian Robles, and Aaron Cordova rounded out the scoring for the Matadores.

The girl's junior race was the fastest race of the day. The Lady Mats were pitted against a full contingent of runners from Corona del Mar HS, last year's CIF Division III State champions --- currently ranked #2 in the nation --- and Trabuco Hills, a Division I ranked team. Stephanie opened steady and at the first mile found herself just ahead of a pack of CDM runners and just behind Shelby Buckley, who placed 5th in state in 2005 and is one of the top ranked girls in state this season. Undeterred, Stephanie controlled the pace, passed Buckley and had a 40 meter lead by the end of the second mile. A 5:43 closing mile earned her first place for the day and a new course record. Sarah Jeon, Clarissa Negrete, Erica Campos, and Krystal Gomez all had their most comfortable races of the season, as they controlled their paces and finished strong. Karina Gonzalez, feeling the effects of ill health, tested her hamstring on the first mile of the course and called it a day.

As the sun emerged and heated up the course, the class of 2009 began their races. For the boys, Andrew Garza and Michael Palmer challenged themselves over the hills and trails with Palmer earning a new PR. Mateo Cordova and Miguel Franco both had their strongest races of the season.

Sophomore Melissa Byrd found the rolling hills to her liking as her PR earned the 3rd spot on the Sophomore elite list and the 6th spot on the Lady Mats list of elite runners. Caitlin Winn , Bianca Ceballos, and Valerie Wong each ran in their first invitational of the season.

At the end of the day, the Lady Mats discovered their team time of 99:38 placed them in 2nd just 20 seconds behind the 1st place team. Stephanie was crowned the female "Athlete of the Meet" by meet officials.