La Mirada High School

Jones adds another 1st place finish to her resume
In their first trip to the Woodbridge Invite since 1998, the Matadores responded with a slew of PRs, a 6th place finish for the Lady Mats in the "Ranked" Race, a new Team Time record, and fine performances from Regan Garcia, Jake Casalou, Nicole Hammonds, and Taylor Jones. Racing by grade level in the early races, Garcia and Casalou found themselves in front of the pack on the blazing fast 3-mile course. Ultimately, Garcia finished 2nd and Casalou 11th. Eric Wong also earned a PR on the course.

All Rated races took place under the lights. With an 8:40 p.m. starting time, the varsity girls were challenged to focus and take their performances to another level. Jones responded by taking the early lead and holding on to finish in 17:25. A wrong turn in the last mile cost her a few seconds, but she was able to recover and finish 1 second ahead of 2nd place. Celinda Manzo (18:14) was the 2nd Matadore to cross the finish line. Emily De Boer (18:35) continued her streak of PRs and now owns the 5th spot on the elite list of Lady Mats, a few seconds behind Melissa Byrd. Ashley Casanover (19:20), Lauren McIntyre (19:21), Aja Labasan (19:31), and Paulina Tapia (19:31) raced in a pack this week and finished within 11 seconds of each other. With Hammonds clocked at 19:58 during the morning races, this represents the first time more than 7 girl's earned times faster than 20 minutes in the same race. Unfortunately, their 6th place finish -- 3 points behind 5th place Serrano -- dropped the Lady Mats from the #7 spot in the CIF-SS Division II Rankings to the #10 spot. Next up for the team: the Dana Hills Invitational at Dana Hills High School.

DANA HILLS INVITATIONAL (Invitational Web Site)
Race Schedule is...
10:00 am - Boys Senior
10:15 am - Girls Junior/Senior
10:30 am - Boys Junior
10:45 am - Girls Sophomore
11:00 am - Boys Sophomore
11:15 am - Girls Freshmen
11:30 am - Boys Freshmen

Dana Hills High School is located at 33333 Golden Lantern, Dana Point CA 92629
DIRECTIONS: - Coming from L.A. - Interstate 5 South to Camino Capistrano exit. Turn left and go two stoplights and turn right on Stonehill. Go all the way up the hill to Golden Lantern. The school is on the right.