The freshman started the day off looking like an experienced crew, previewing the course together and later, forming tight racing packs throughout the race. Steven Suarez led our 20 freshman starters with a 9th place finish and making the top 10 freshman list for this course! Diego Baiza, Irvin Rubio, Kent Woodling, Chris Meneses, George Ngo and Josh Rangel rounded out the top 7 scoring positions.

The sophomores improved their freshman team time from last year by 11 minutes, from 1:39 to 1:28! Jose Gutierrez led the sophomores with a fine, 16:03 time and 3rd place in a very close and exciting race. Luis Avellaneda was also a top ten finisher in 9th and a personal record, 17:07. Luis and Jose both make the top ten sophomore list! Alex Torres, Paul Goslin, Daniel Aldama, Jeremy White and Brian Tsu were the other improved scorers for this group. Jose, Luis, Jeremy, Brian and Ian Chen all recorded PR's!

The juniors were led by Angel Aguirre and Talal Khan who paced the race at the front for most of the event and finished in 2nd and 3rd place with fine first race of the year times of 15:59 and 16:01. Angel and Talal both make the top ten list for the Laguna Hills Invite!Erick Pacheco battled a painful sideache the entire race and still finished in 13th place. Brett Miller, My Nguyen, Jesse Escalante and Juan Juaregui were the other top 7 scoring members. My, Jesse and Juan start the year earning PR's!

The senior race featured Josh Linen running the fastest time of the day, 15:36, looking relaxed and strong for the win. Nick Hariri, Joe Perez, Saurin Gandhi, Miguel Diaz, Chris White and Adnan Aldwir combined to improve their junior team time by 1 minute!

Runner of the Meet: Josh Linen, fastest time of the day.
Most Improved: Jose Gutierrez, Luis Avellanda, Joe Perez.
Biggest Surprise: Irvin Rubio, #3 freshman for the Tigers!

Way to go Tigers, 24 all-time PR's (personal records) were recorded at the Sunny Hills Invite! The team combined for a record setting team time of 78:51 and placed first in the very competitive Division I division.

Josh Linen again led the way with an outstanding performance in the senior boys race, out legging Victor Bonilla of St John Bosco, with a 15:11 time to set a new course record! Joe Perez improved his PR again this week! Nick Hariri, Miguel Diaz, Saurin Gandhi, Chris White and Adnan Aldwir all ran their fastest times of the year so far in the senior race.

Angel Aguirre had a breakout run, setting his new personal record at 15:37 and placing 2nd overall in the junior race. Talal Khan also ran a great race placing fourth in 15:48 with Erick Pacheco running to a new PR as well, 16:17, good for 11th place. Abraham Pina also ran a PR in the junior race.

Jose Gutierrez ran a very tough race placing 2nd in the sophomore race, 16:06. Jeremy White, Jesus Ventura, Brian Tsu, Daniel Mika, Ian Chen, Thomas Dong and Andrew Bishtawi also recorded PR's!

The freshman continue to improve and were led once again by Steven Suarez placing 35th with an 18:44 time. Kent Woodling was close behind in 37th running a PR 18:47, followed by new comer, Sean Krinik in 18:53! Diego Baiza finished strong with a PR as did Chris Meneses, Emmanuel Ventura-Crues, Josh Rangel, Michael Turner, Ian Merna, Manuel Delacruz, Connor McCullough, Evan Lu, Daniel McGuigan, Mathias Riegg, and Ryan Pipkin!

Josh, Angel, Talal, Jose and Erick set a new best team time of 78:51 on the challenging course, great effort!

Athlete of the Meet: Angel Aguirre
Most Improved: Kent Woodling, Jesus Ventura, Erick Pacheco
Biggest Surprise: Sean Krinik
Funniest Moment: Misuse of Tiger Balm!

The Tigers had great weather, a beautiful park, and the Empire League Title up for grabs on Tuesday at the Challenge Meet! The League Title is decided in two meets, the Challenge and the Finals with the Empire League Challenge counting for 1/3 and the Finals counting 2/3 of the Championship.

The frosh/soph team got things rolling in an exciting race with Cypress as the main competitor in the six team Empire League. Alex Torres and Steven Suarez led the Tigers unchallenged from start to finish, with Alex finishing first with a new PR, 17:32! Steven was second in 17:52 also a PR. Paul Goslin put in a great kick at the end to finish in 4th place. Daniel Aldama, Sean Krinick and Kent Woodling sealed the deal with 10th, 11th and 12th place overall. The top 5 Tigers all ran best times! Also improving their times and racing skills in the frosh/soph race were: Chris Meneses, Josh Rangel, Henry Marquez, Michael Turner, Alex Kawashima, Daniel Mika, Ruben Aguilar, Andrew Bishtawi and Shawn Fadakar.

The Varsity boys were very impressive packing it up well throughout most of the race. Josh Linen once again led the Tigers with a strong 15:36 time (he ran in trainers too!). Right behind came Talal Khan in 15:39, Angel Aguirre in 15:43, and Jose Gutierrez in 15:56. Erick Pacheco finished 7th, Luis Avellaneda was 15th in a PR time for him, 16:56, and Nick Hariri finished in 17th place.

The JV team was inspired by the efforts of the varsity and frosh/soph and were not to be outdone! Saurin Gandhi, Joe Perez, Miguel Diaz and Brett Miller also packed it up and finished top 4 overall in the race! It was Saurin's first win and he credited the support of Joe and his teammates for his breakthrough. My Nguyen was the fifth scorer in 10th place.

Athlete of the Meet: Luis Avellaneda (first varsity race and he did great!) and Alex Torres (fantastic win in the frosh/soph race).
Most Impressive PR: Michael Turner, Josh Rangel, Daniel Aldama
Biggest Surprise: Saurin Gandhi, JV winner

Hot, dry and dusty described the racing conditions at Mt SAC on Saturday! It was the toughest course the Tigers have raced on this year with three featured hills. Despite the challenges and 87 degree temps, the Tigers had some shining moments!

Congratulations to the Varsity team who won their Division I race, scoring 64 points. Our top three Tigers placed in the top 20, with Josh placing 3rd, Talal Khan 9th, Angel Aguirre 10th and Erick Pacheco 18th. Jose Gutierrez was 28th as the 5th scorer. The varsity opted to not compete in the sweepstakes division this weekend in favor of de-emphasizing this Invite and to continue to work on team goals without pressure. The varsity team also ran in their training shoes to help prevent injuries.

Kent Woodling, a super hard worker, led our freshman to a 5th place finish in their Division I race! We had some great scoring packs with Kent in 14th, Sean Krinik in 21st, Steven Suarez in 22nd, and Diego Baiza in 27th. Irvin Rubio and Josh Rangel worked together finishing in 45th and 48th place. George Ngo and Henry Marquez finished together in 50th and 51st place with Bryan Escalante was within sight of the pair as he finished in 59th place. There were 161 runners in this race!

The sophomore race was highlighted by a ninth place finish by Alex Torres and a fine run by Paul Goslin who finished in 27th place. Jeremy White also was strong in 56th place as was Brian Tsu in 80th place. There were 191 runners in this race!

The JV runners were really inspiring as they had to wait around all day for their event and as usual gave their best efforts! Miguel Diaz and Joe Perez finished together to lead the group in 21st and 22nd place, Saurin in 34th, Brett Miller in 61st and My Nguyen in 70th place. A pleasant surprise was newcomer, Freddie Lopez who made Mt SAC his first cross country race and finished right behind My!

Athlete of the Meet: Kent Woodling, dedication and hard work pays off, our only medal winner in the freshman race!

Check out the photos and click on the headline for more results.