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La Mirada Girls Shine at Clovis (Daily News Link)
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A mid-season road trip to Fresno took the Lady Mats to Woodward Park to race in the Clovis Invitational, site of the Cross Country State Championship meet. Unlike previous seasons when they raced short-handed at Clovis, the health of this year's team is improved and the girls, lacking only maximal conditioning, are running nearly at full strength. Representing La Mirada this season were senior, Melissa Byrd, juniors, Lauren McIntyre, Paulina Tapia, Serena Kirton and Olivia Crigler, and sophomores Ashley Casanover, Celinda Manzo, and Aja Labasan. Clovis would be Olivia's first race in a varsity uniform and Aja's second.
Despite a race-time temperature in the low 50s, a fine start placed the girls just behind the leaders and within striking distance of the top 3 teams as they opened in a controlled manner and settled in over the hilly 3.1 mile course. Celinda, Lauren, and Melissa, running together in the middle of the chase pack, cruised through the first mile in 5:54. Close behind, also working side-by-side, were Aja, Ashley, and Paulina. By the end of the 2nd mile the girls were still in contention for third place. Unfortunately, what was a 36 second gap between Lauren and Paulina at the 2nd mile, ballooned to 50 seconds by the end of the race, increasing La Mirada's score too much to make them a serious threat to the front pack. In the end, the girls found themselves 6 points shy of a 3rd place finish with a team time of 1:40:06 and a scoring gap of 1:01. Their fourth place finish was the best performance the Lady Mats on the Woodward Park course. Both Melissa and Celinda earned medals for their efforts.
Next up for the La Mirada Harriers is the Suburban League Cluster Meet #2, Thursday, at Cerritos Regional Park.
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