La Mirada High School

The La Mirada Cross Country Cross Country teams raced well at the 54^th Annual Mt. SAC Invitational.  The Varsity Girls, paced by GRETCHEN WITOWICH (14^th place) and AMANDA STEPHENS, completed the 2.95 mile course with the fastest girl’s time in La Mirada HS history and placed 4^th in their race.  Amanda, Gretchen and AMBER MORRISON all finished the tough course under 21 minutes.  In very close races, both the freshmen, paced by JESSICA JORRIE (6^th place), and the sophomores, led by JACKIE MARTINEZ (15^th place), also placed 4^th.  ALISA SANCHEZ earned a medal in the J.V. girls race.  Illness and injuries to two key runners hampered the girls and prevented a stronger team showing.

The Varsity boys ran well without three of their top seven and achieved a team time faster than last years team.  ALEX FOSTER and DAG TESFAYE paced the boys in their race.

The highlight of the day came when the Freshman boys team, led by NATHANIEL MOORE and JARED BIRD, were named the “Sweepstakes Champion” by finishing as the 1^st overall team in CIF Division II.  This is only the 3^rd time in Mt. SAC history that a team from La Mirada has earned the coveted sweepstakes award and the first time for the boys!  The freshmen team consists of: Nathaniel Moore, Jared Bird, Calvin Guerrero, Belter Neill, Jake Cooley, Freddy Ramirez, Daniel Lee, Josh Barber, Jim Palmer and Mark Casas.  Congratulations gentlemen!

Frosh Boys Team Earns SWEEPSTAKES CHAMPION Award!

La Mirada Cross Country Bids Farewell to Cindy Hackler

Cindy Hackler (aka "Cini-mini"), three year Cross Country member and Varsity athlete, is leaving La Mirada High School today to attend school in Laguna Niguel.  Cindy began her running career at La Mirada as a Freshman, training minimally her first summer and earning a PR of 26:17 for a 3-mile course.  Her competitive talents became apparent during her Freshman track season, when she closed in on a 6 minute mile.  During Cindy’s Sophomore season in Cross Country she earned a spot on the Varsity team running a PR of 21:37.  A knee injury slowed her down this summer, but didn't destroy her desire to compete.  Much to the chagrin of her coaches, Cindy frequently completed tough work-outs against their advice.  In time, her coaches began every workout with, "No Cindy you cannot run 10 miles today!"

Cindy at the "Great Race of the Bay" in San Francisco and with Teammates at the 2000 awards Banquet

The entire team extends the best of wishes to Cindy.  We are all blessed to have had the opportunity to know and compete beside her.  Her bright personality and competitive nature will be missed.

La Mirada Takes on Mayfair
In the third week of Suburban League competition, both the Varsity Boys and Girls teams prevailed over Mayfair High School.  Check out all the results under Race Results.  Congratulations to the 19 La Mirada runners who set a new PR.

• The Lady Mats (7-0) outscored the young Mayfair team by a score of 15 - 50.  Leading the way for the Matadores this week was AMANDA STEPHENS with a PR of 20:09 on the 3-mile course.  Close behind were AUDREY SERRATA (20:09), GRETCHEN WITOWICH (20:17), AMBER MORRISON (20:22) and VANESSA THOMAS (20:30).  With a team time of 101:27, the La Mirada team captured the 1 through 9 spots in the race.
• DAG TESFAYE (17:28) led the way in the boy’s race, with NATHANIEL MOORE (17:48), ALEX FOSTER (18:06), NEIL FLAIZ (18:23) and JASON CABALITAN (18:25) close behind.  Final score was La Mirada 20, Mayfair 41.  The boys evened their Suburban League record at 2 - 2.
• The boy’s Frosh-Soph team (4 - 0) defeated Bellflower 15 - 50.  Congratulations to Belter Neill (18:52) on his 1^st place Frosh-Soph finish!

Next week the Matadores travel to Mt. San Antonio College for the famous Mt. SAC invitational.