La Mirada High School

Garcia, Jones, De Boer re-write the record Books at Season Opener
La Mirada girls shine at invitational (Whittier Daily News) (Full Results) (Dyestatcal.com: 125 pix of all Top 10 finishes)
La Mirada's harriers opened the 2009 season with a trip to the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area, site of the Don Bosco Tech Invite. Despite a last minute change to the course, and heat and humidity that increased steadily as the Invite progressed, the Matadores returned home satisfied with the outcome. Of the fifty-two athletes who participated, thirty-nine earned a PR, over twenty-five earned medals, 3 broke school records, 3 earned a varsity uniform, and both the boy's and the girl's teams finally realized that when "positive change happens, great things follow."

This year's boys team has been struggling all summer to find their identity. They were challenged by their coaches to step up and improve on last seasons team time mark of 85:50 at the invite. One by one, they responded: of the boys who raced, all except one earned a new PR. Their final team time of 83:48 represents the best ever opening day team time for the Matadores. The girl's, anchored by the deepest team in school history, ran well enough to earn 2nd place overall, finishing behind only Foothill High School, the 8th ranked team in the State. This marks the first time the girl's placed more than the top 5 under 20 minutes this early in the season.

Racing by grade level, the senior class of 2010 set the tone for the day when every senior either earned a medal or a PR on the 3-mile course. In the girl's race, Tanya Ibarra and Rhea Santiago, recently named captains of the 40+ member girl's JV crew, dropped almost 3 minutes off of their previous PRs with outstanding performances. Their improvement might have something to do with their new found commitment to training that saw them each increase their summer mileage by over 200 miles! Lauren McIntyre, Paulina Tapia, Sejin Chung, and Olivia Crigler earned medals in the race. Moreover, McIntyre entered the elite list of La Mirada seniors in the #5 spot, while Tapia now holds on to the #7 spot. On the boys side, Andrew Herrick saw his PR dip into the 16 minute range for the first time in his career and Joey Ballesteros put forth his finest effort as a Matadore.

In the junior races, team leader Regan Garcia achieved one of his goals for the season when he broke the previous school and Junior class records for a 3-mile course. Racing in one of the deepest fields of the day, Garcia was 2nd going into the final mile, struggled a little, but was able to hold onto the 5th spot in the race. He completed the course in 15:30. Frankie Nogales and newcomer Louie Lozano also earned PRs on the course. By the time the Lady Mats reached the starting line for the junior race, the temperature and humidity was rising. Undeterred, Celinda Manzo made a valiant attempt to get to the front. Ultimately, she was runner up, but her effort places her #2 on La Mirada's elite list of juniors. In addition, Ashley Casanover climbed into the 8th position on the list, and Aja Labasan now shares the #12 spot with alumni Audrey Serrata. Charlene Gantan, Andrea Landeros, Justine Ceballos, Ivy Nquyen, Chelsea Eubanks, and Mallory Patton all earned new PRs at the race.

In the sophomore race, rookie Jake Casalou made a huge statement by earning the #4 spot on La Mirada's elite list of sophomores, just ahead of alumni Jared Bird. Clint Bales, who earned a varsity uniform, Jai Labasan, and Gonzalo Gallegos also earned PRs in the race. Racing in the final and hottest race of the day, Nicole Hammonds finished 10th overall, moved into the #12 spot on the elite list of La Mirada sophomores and solidified her position as a varsity level athlete. Following close behind were Amber Hickman and Liana Chavarria, whose performances earned them a varsity uniform. A huge group of sophomores completed their first race with the Lady Mats.

Leading the way for the frosh boys were two young men with strong ties to the team. Fernando Tapia and Riley Garcia made huge strides toward stepping out of the large shadow cast by their older siblings. At the end of the day, Fernie bested his sisters PR by 3 seconds and Riley's first appearance in a Matadores uniform was one second faster than his brother's inaugural race! Ryan Haro, Ricardo De Anda, and Mauricio Pavano also appeared in their first race.

Perhaps the best performances of the day were seen in the freshman girl's race. Listening to her teammates state their goals for the day Taylor Jones boldly proclaimed that she intended to set a new course record. At her coach's instruction, she was to open the first mile no faster than 5:50. She easily achieved that and decided to push the pace. Soon, running alone and ahead of the entire girls field, Taylor had only the cyclist guiding her through the course. At 2-miles she was clocked under 12 minutes. With no one else to push her, she decided to "race the guy on the bike." Finally, 300 meters from the finish, Taylor picked up the pace and sprinted to a new freshman course record.

Both Taylor and Emily De Boer led the largest group of freshman girls ever to don a Lady Mat uniform at an opening day race. Together, they smashed the previous freshman record set by Lauren McIntyre in 2006. In the process, Taylor was the overall third fastest girl of the day with a time of 17:57 and Emily finished 3rd in the freshman race. Now alone at #1 and #2 on the elite list of freshman girls, it was arguably the best debut by a rookie duo in school history. Syrena Hernandez, Alyssa Hernandez, and Amy Sotelo also earned medals in the race.

Sub 20 minutes: Top 6 finishers at Bosco Tech Invite