Way to go Tigers! Congratulations on winning the first CIF Championship since 1977 and the first as a Division II team!  It was not an easy victory as the weather was harsh (hot, dry and dusty) and the team was not at full strength (missing Josh in the lineup). It makes the victory all the sweeter knowing our athletes overcame doubts and disappointments and prevailed by believing in each other and running with heart.

Roman Pena led the way with solid front running finishing in 6th place with a great time of 15:34 considering the high temperatures. Geo Popoca and Talal Khan regrouped near the end finishing together in 21st and 22nd place. Angel Aguirre had a tough time with the dust starting in the middle of the pack but hung in there, coming across the line in 46th place with freshman, Jose Gutierrez, not far behind in 49th place! Jose ran his Mt SAC pr today showing he is in great shape and ready for the State Meet. Erick Pacheco was our #6 runner and suffered a bit from too much "pasta power", still feeling a little full from the night before, lesson learned! Erik Miranda gave everything he had and finished near Erick, later joining the "hurl club" as evidence of an all out effort.

The team will travel to Fresno on the Friday after Thanksgiving to compete at the State Meet.

Click on the heading for complete results and check out the "photos" section for more pictures from the meet.

Thanks to all the Super Fans who came and cheered, it does make a big difference!

Roman Pena is coming into form at just the right time for the Tigers! His 15:01 win at the Empire League Finals led a sweep of the first four positions and helping the team run a 77:41 team time! Josh Linen was 2nd in 15:27, Talal Khan and Geovanni Popoca ran great together finishing in 3rd and 4th (15:37 and 15:40), Angel Aguirre was 7th as our 5th runner in 15:56. Erik Miranda ran to 12th place just before joining the "hurl club" (it was liver for breakfast that did him in) and freshman, Jose Gutierrez finished in 14th place running a fine 16:20.

Erick Pacheco ran with courage and panache leading the frosh soph to victory in a very close one with Orange Lutheran. Erick won the race in 16:21, Juan Valadez was 4th in 16:42, Brett Miller 10th, Alex Torres 11th and Eduardo Casio with another big PR came in 12th. Luis Avellaneda, Raj Patel, Noah Davisson, Jordan Lo, Jose Catalan, and Juan Juaregui all ran Personal Records to end their season.

The JV race was a battle between Nick Hariri and a Cypress runner from start to finish with Nick taking it in the end running 16:55 (I think it was the shaved legs that gave him the advantage). Adrian Meza stepped up and finished 3rd, Brian Sturgis 4th, Christian Franco 5th, and Saurin Gandhi 6th for a low score of 19 points.  Sammy Vazquez, Omar Arellano, Adnan Aldwir, and Chris White ran season best times.

Athlete of the Meet: Roman Pena, Erick Pacheco, Nick Hariri
Most Impressive PR: Roman Pena, Raj Patel, Sammy Vazquez
Biggest Surprise: FS victory over Orange Lutheran
Best Picture: Talal jumping at the start of varsity race!
Funniest Moment: Nick Hariri shaved his legs!

Click on the heading for complete results and check the "photo" section for more pictures. Thank you Mrs Linen for taking pictures!

Congratulations to the varsity boys who surprised some teams at the Orange County Championships by nearly winning the whole thing! The team ran a fine 77:44 to El Toro's 77:43! The Tigers were led by Josh Linen who fought for the victory with the Santa Margarita runner, Julian de Rubira, and finished 2nd with a 15:02 personal record. Roman Pena was 7th with his season best time of 15:20, Geovanni Popoca was 14th in a season best 15:34, Talal Khan was 23rd running 15:51, Angel Aguirre finished 29th in 15:57, Erik Miranda was our #6 runner in 16:21 and a great kick and Christian Franco in 100th place.

Earning All County honors were: Jose Gutierrez as the 4th fastest freshman; Talal Khan and Angel Aguirre as 5th and 6th fastest sophomores; Josh Linen, the fastest junior in Orange County and Roman Pena, 4th fastest senior!

Jose Gutierrez led the 6th place freshman team with a 16:22 2nd place effort, supported by 19th place Alex Torres running a 17:47 PR, Paul Goslin in 28th, also running a PR, Luis Avellaneda ran 18:20 for his first race ever (!), and Eduardo Casio and Daniel Aldama rounded out the scoring with best times as well. Also recording PR's were for the freshman were: Noah Davisson, Jesus Ventura, Brian Tsu, Angelo Lopez and Jose Catalan.

The Sophomores were led by Erick Pacheco in 5th place with a best time of 16:32! Juan Valadez was 13th, Brett Miller 26th, Anthony Hernandez 87th, and Trevor Macauley in 107th place. Running all-time personal records were: Erick, Brett, Trevor, Jesse Escalante and Jordan Lo.

The JV Tigers finished 8th and were paced by Nick Hariri who ran one second off his all time best, 16:44, good for 10th place. Brian Sturgis was 25th in 17:03, Adrian Meza 38th in 17:18, Saurin Gandhi 51st in 17:42 and Ignacio Lopez 63rd in 17:50. Running 2005 PR's in the JV race were: Nick, Brian, Adrian, Saurin, Ignacio, Joe Perez, Omar Reyes, Christian Montanez, Osvaldo Garcia, Sithu Zaw, Omar Arellano, Adnan Aldwir, and David Stack.

At the Laguna Hills Invite, El Toro was 2 minutes ahead of us in team time, today, only 1 second! We are still getting faster, keep up the hard work and dedication, it is paying off!

Making the Top Ten List for the Orange County Championships:
Josh Linen #2 All time, #1 junior
Roman Pena #5 All time
Geovanni Popoca #7 All time
Talal Khan #12 All time, #2 sophomore
Angel Aguirre #16 All time, #5 sophomore
Erick Pacheco #9 sophomore
Jose Gutierrez #1 freshman

Athlete of the Meet: Josh Linen, Jose Gutierrez, Erick Pacheco
Most Impressive PR: Luis Avellaneda, Daniel Aldama, Paul Goslin
Biggest Surprise: Erik Miranda's kick (it took 4 years to develop!)
Funniest Moment: Geo nearly flying off the course!
Best Picture: Roman's finish (shows a very determined, never give up run to the finish!)

Congratulations to this years group of Tigers who placed first at the Sunny Hills Invite for the first time since we have attended the meet! The team was led by Roman Pena who ran the fastest time of the day on the new course, 15:45. Our top 5 runners contributing to the 80:30 team time were: Roman, Josh Linen 15:55, Geovanni Popoca 16:14, Talal Khan 16:15, and Angel Aguirre 16:29. The course was tough as it was hilly and on wet, dense grass but still 9 athletes ran personal records.

Roman, Geovanni Popoca and Erik Miranda finished 1st, 3rd and 5th in the senior race. Martin Nguyen and David Stack ran PR's in the senior race while Adrian Meza, Ignacio Lopez, and Craig Wojciak all improved their times from last week.

The freshman race was won by Jose Gutierrez who took the lead at the base of the big grassy climb and never looked back! He ran a fine 17:16 effort. Alex Torres improved his time again this week to 18:42 to earn 11th place in the freshman race. Personal records were run by Jose, Alex, Jeremy White and Brian Tsu in the freshman race. Ian Chen and Deep Kahlon challenged each other the whole race and sprinted in with Deep edging Ian at the end! Angelo Lopez finished his first race with a smile.

The juniors were led by Josh Linen's 15:55 performance to win his race and run the second fastest time of the day for the Tigers. Miguel Diaz, Chris White improved their times from last week while Adnan Aldwir ran a PR along with Brian Sturgis.

The last race of the day was an exciting showdown with between a pack of 5 runners emerging after the mile. Talal Khan, Angel Aguirre and a Whittier runner then separated from the pack with Talal and Angel finishing 2nd and 3rd with very fast times for this course, 16:15 and 16:29! Talal and Matt Grismer both PR'd for the sophomores and Angel ran his best time of the year. Great run for newcomer, My Nguyen as well in this race!

Athlete of the Meet: Roman Pena, sets new course record.
Impressive PR: Talal Khan, 16:15!
Biggest Surprise: Angel Aguirre, runs with guts and passion.
Funniest Moment: Sithu Zaw (off-course again this week!)
Best Picture: Chris Savinon, shows the intensity of racing!

See the photos section for more pictures.