La Mirada High School

              2009 Girls Varsity Squad                                                              2009 Boy's Team Leaders

Every Labor day weekend, the Matadores hold their annual team time trial and hand out varsity uniforms for the season. Sporting a new look for 2009, 34 Lady Mats and 17 boys took to the hills of La Mirada's Regional park in their quest for a starting spot. In the end, the varsity teams added two freshman to the top five on the girls side and two rookies on the boys side. In doing so, both teams bested their previous Time Trial team time records by over 5 minutes. Leading the way this season were junior, Regan Garcia, and freshman Taylor Jones. Besides Garcia, Andrew Herrick, Frankie Nogales, Moises Cuahutle, and Jake Casalou earned varsity spots. This is the rookie season for Casalou and Cuahutle. On the girl's team, a record eight Lady Mats earned varsity uniforms this year. They include: Celinda Manzo, Emily De Boer, Lauren McIntyre, Ashley Casanover, Paulina Tapia, Aja Labasan, and Nicole Hammonds. Both Jones and De Boer are freshmen and this is Hammonds rookie season. The youthful Matadores are looking forward to the start of the competitive season next week at the Bosco Tech Invite.

2009 Gahr 2-mile Summer Series
Garcia finishes #2 in HS race; Jones & Manzo both in the top 10. Jones sets new freshman course record.

As summer training comes to a close and fall races loom just ahead, the Matadores reaped the fruits of their increasingly faster paces, increased intensity, and longer workouts at the last of the annual Legg Lake races. This summer, the signature 3 x 2-mile T-pace runs they've endured since the first week of training paid off as almost every athlete earned a PR over the 2-mile course.

In what they hope will continue throughout the racing season, both the girls and the boys experienced more success than previous years at the cross country series. The boys, running short-handed, were led by Regan Garcia (10:07), who finished the race in 4th place overall. Rookie Jake Casalou was next in for the Matadores, followed by second year runners Clint Bales and Eric Wong.

Paced by La Mirada alumni Stephanie Felix (12:11), the girls were led by rookie Taylor Jones (12:08) and 2008 Suburban League Champion Celinda Manzo (12:12), who finished 1st and 2nd overall in the high school division. About a minute behind in the chase pack, the girls placed a strong pack of seven between 13 and 14 minutes. It turned out to be the largest team the Lady Mats have ever fielded at the race as well as the best team performance ever by a La Mirada girl's team. In addition to Jones and Manzo, both Aja Labasan and rookie Emily De Boer also earned medals.

2009 Summer Training Camp: Camp Tanda in Big Bear served as home base for the Matadores as they took to the hills and trails around Big Bear Lake last week in preparation for the upcoming XC season.

Imagine spending seven nights and eight days in a campground with 35 high school harriers. Now, imagine that training camp with no drama, lots of laughter, serious team work, bonding and rigorous training. It was such an amazing experience that the senior captains called this year’s camp "the most positive experience" they’ve ever had with the cross country team.

Kicking off the week, the team leaders presented Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success to the team and did an outstanding job of explaining the individual blocks of Wooden's famous pyramid. With that framework to begin with, each athlete was challenged to make each workout "their masterpiece." They did. Every athlete who completed the numerous challenges they faced will remember the time they spent at Camp Tanda as the most difficult training they’ve ever experienced in cross country.

Running the many scenic trails around the valley turned out to be the core of the training. Holcomb Valley, Castle Rock, “Stairway to Heaven,” Gray’s Peak, and the “Shack Loop” were revisited again this year and conquered by all. As a grand finale, the team attacked the traditional 13-mile run along route 2N10. This season the top five boys, with Regan Garcia in front, completed the rigorous road run in 1:40 or better. On the girl's side, led by Celinda Manzo, the seven members of the team who completed the mountainous terrain represents the largest group of girls to ever complete the entire trail. This inspired Olivia and Lauren so much that they kept right on running past the finish line so they could reach 14 miles! (Jake Casalou followed Lauren and did the same for the boys.)

Over the course of the week, the girl's team ran an average of 55+ miles while the boys averaged 70+ miles (every boy ran over 60 miles!) Leading the way for the girls were Celinda Manzo, Lauren McIntyre, Paulina Tapia and Olivia Crigler who each compiled over 70 miles (80 miles during the first 9 days of August). On the boy’s team, Regan Garcia, Andrew Herrick, and Jake Casalou covered over 80 miles each (100 miles during the first 9 days of August). Rookies stand-outs included Emily DeBoer, who kept up with the front pack over most of the miles, Taylor Jones who was in front of the front pack most of the time, and Syrena Hernandez, whose 7:20 pace over the last 10 miles of 2N10 was the fastest on the entire team. On the boys side, Jake Casalou competed for top mileage honors and Louie Lozano was one of the top five over the rugged 13-mile workout that was the culmination of the week.

Camp activities included a movie day, bowling, kayaking, ping-pong, basketball, volleyball and a few trips to the arcade to play pool and "Dance-Dance-Revolution." The many unforgettable moments included: "True Colors" skits, dancing around the campfire, a senior meeting at Denny's, close to 4 hours on Gray's Peak, running slower downhill because of the intense winds, the "Long Green Line" and lots of fun. In the end, everybody returned home a bit more tired and a lot more prepared for the upcoming season.

Congratulations to the veterans and rookies who survived the intense workouts. After this exciting experience, the Matadores will surely be ready for what promises to be another remarkable season!