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:

This Year's Freshman girls are led by Katrina, Erica, Krystal & Karina

SUNNY HILLS INVITE
On a perfect day for racing, the Matadores of La Mirada put forth a valiant effort at the Sunny Hills Invitational at Craig Park. Over all, 16 runners earned new PRs at Sunny Hills and many more earned medals. The first race of the day started exactly at 8:00 a.m. with Sonia Linares, Ana Poblet, Destinie Martin, Adele Mata and Erica Sandoval lining up for the blue clad Lady Mats. Erica, who has not raced yet this season, was counseled to stay with the front pack for the first mile and evaluate her knee pain. Happy that she was able to stay with the leaders, Erica thought of completing the race, but reluctantly dropped out after an opening mile of 6 minutes. Sonia (20:39) took over from there and was again the Lady's top runner of the day as she earned another PR. Ana followed close behind, disappointed that she was unable to complete the 3-mile course in under 21 minutes. The surprise finisher was once again Adele Mata (20:24) who returned to action for only the second time after suffering a broken foot during the 2003 campaign. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Mats were Destinie (22:12) and Megan (23:44).

In the Boys race, Jared Bird wasn't able to maintain the opening pace and fell back to a disappointing 16:47. Jared, coming off of his first Varsity win against a strong La Habra team on Thursday, has been the #1 scorer in each of La Mirada's first three races this season. Nathaniel Moore, apparently fully recovered from an illness that hindered his performance during the 2004 track season, really picked up the pace this week as he closed out the race with a sub 5:30 closing mile. Nate did not seem to be affected by the injury that forced him out of Thursday's race against La Habra and Cal High. Andrew Diaz displayed his importance to the team with a huge improvement to 17:45, and Jarod Winn (18:03) is quickly closing in on the 17 minute territory. Rounding out the scoring for the Matadores were Jim Palmer (19:59) and Elijah De Rojas (21:25).

In the lower divisions, with the exception of Jenna and David, each freshman and sophomore runner earned a new PR. The girls were led by PR performances from freshmen Katrina Drake (22:43) and Karina Gonzales (22:55), who were the numbers 5 and 6 scorers for the Lady Mats. The boys were led again this week by David Gonzales (18:32).

The next competition takes place at La Mirada Regional Park this Saturday when the Matadores take part in the Roadrunner Classic sponsored by St. John Bosco High School.