This website is dedicated to the hardworking athletes and parents of the Corona High Cross Country program!

GIRLS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

GIRLS CIF FINALISTS
1991, 1992, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011

GIRLS CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
1993, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011

BOYS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
1961, 1962, 1963, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1984, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

BOYS CIF FINALISTS
1993, 1994, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

BOYS CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
1994, 2009, 2010

2012 Corona Cross Country Information

Freshman Orientation Meeting:  Monday, June 4th in Room P-8.  6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

First Official Day of Training: Thursday, June 21st @ 8:00-10:00 am

Our 2011 Awards Banquet was truly a special night as we want to send our heartfelt thankfulness to all of the athletes and parents!   No tears that night, but definitely some at home in reflecting upon some old and new emails along with some of the great memories our 16 four-year seniors provided us over the years!   Thank you so much to Mrs. Cochran was putting together the 2011 Season PhotoBooks.......while Mr. Cochran produced another great slideshow.  You can still purchase a copy of the slideshow for $5 if you want. 

GIRLS
Most Valuable Athlete - Venus Shabgahi
Most Valuable Athlete - Alicia Williams
Most Positive Athlete - Amber Withrow
Most Improved Athlete - Suzanna Aguilar
Coaches Award - Haley Brzycki
Most Valuable Freshman - Haley Smart

BOYS
Most Valuable Athlete - Garrett Williams
Most Positive Athlete - David Aguilar
Most Improved Athlete - Eric George
Coaches Award - Jimmy Gauger
Coaches Award - Julian Hernandez
Most Valuable Freshman - Liam Brooks

Venus Shabgahi and Alicia Williams were both named to the 1st Team All-Riverside County Squad.  This was Alicia's 2nd year in a row.  Venus was named to the all-senior team while Alicia was named to the all-sophomore team.  Meanwhile, Liam Brooks was named to the all-freshman all-county team.

Garrett Williams and David Aguilar were 1st Team All-Big VIII League along with Venus and Alicia was well.   

For the first time since the early 1990's, Corona High qualified more than one person for the California State Meet.  Also, in rare fashion, we were only the 2nd school over the past 15 seasons to qualify two girls individuals in Division I to the state meet.  For sophomore Alicia Williams, she became our 2nd girl in school history to qualify to two state meets.  And considering how this was only Venus Shabgahi's 2nd season of doing the sport, it was incredible to imagine that she has developed so well, so fast. 

Running against some of the best athletes in the nation, both got out well in placed themselves right around 20th-25th place after the first mile.  A little slower than planned but well within range of the top groups.  Throughout most of the race, Venus ran within sight behind Alicia with the plan of passing the competition over the last mile.  With less than a mile to go, Alicia had moved up to 18th place and seemed stuck in a group of girls.  But, with that awesome leg speed, Alicia was able to motor past over half of the remaining field over that last 1200, working her way up to an impressive 8th place!  Her 18:11 clocking is the 2nd fastest in school history as she has some work to do in going after the 17:33 that Alma Escobar put out in her 2004 state championship run.  Venus, fighting a cold, was unable to make her traditional moves past the competition but hung on for a solid 24th place in a stellar time of 18:38.  Now the 3rd fastest girl in school history for the Mt. SAC course, she is now the 4th fastest girl in school history on the Woodward Park course.  Disappointed in her effort, we rest assured that she will use this as extra motivation for the upcoming 2012 Track & Field season! 

Alicia was the 4th fastest in Riverside County here while Venus was the 7th fastest! 

Having the rare pleasure of training two squads this past week, we laced our shoes under perfect skies on the ever so tough Mt. SAC course to take on even tougher competition.  Despite it being the same course our athletes competed on four weeks ago, the CIF Divisional Finals can bring out the best in some while also witnessing so many more succumbing to the pressure. 

Our varsity girls truly put together their best performance of the season.  As a matter of fact, we argue that it was the best performance in school history!  They shattered our school record for the Mt. SAC course and ran to the 19th fastest team time in the entire Southern Section.  Seeded 18th last week and predicted to miss the CIF Finals, the girls took 10th place!  Meanwhile, in unprecedented fashion, we qualified TWO girls onward to next weekend's California State Meet.   Sophomore Alicia Williams and senior Venus Shabgahi BOTH move on, defying the Division I individual rankings posted two weeks ago where neither were mentioned.  In being only the 2nd girl in school history to qualify for two state meets, Williams got out strong and was towards the front for most of the race.  Falling back to 6th with 400m to go, she used that outstanding leg speed to move up to 4th, recording an outstanding 17:43, breaking Alma Escobar's sophomore course record.  Venus patiently went through the first mile around 20th place and secured herself into the chase pack.  But, moving up Poop Out, she left that pack and recorded some history.  Her 17:50 shatters the previous senior course record and in the first time in Riverside County history, two girls from the same team went 17:50 or below in the same race!  Securing the school record, the incredible valiant effort by Haley Brzycki, competing on a torn ACL and scheduled for surgery at the end of the month, led the late charge.  Our #3 through #6 finished only 13 seconds apart!  We witnessed huge personal bests from Amber Withrow (19:35) and Suzanna Aguilar (19:38) along with a great 19:45 effort from Marisa Boren.  These seniors rewrote our senior class course record list!  Hurting but giving her all, Carly Lee finished a fine season as she was a huge reason why our girls got this opportunity to set the new school record and end the season so well.  Most of our girls will escort our two young women up to Fresno next Friday!  Meanwhile, our girls varsity group end the season ranked #3 in Riverside County, which is our highest ranking since 2006. 

For the boys, this was our 5th straight trip to the Division I CIF Finals.  A feat only accomplished by five other schools.  But, this ended as one of the most frustrating of those five with our boys fading dramatically to 14th place in the race.  The boys were aggressive and well within range of the top seven teams at the top of the Switchbacks but as the race unfolded, our boys just could not keep pace.  Garrett Williams ended a fine senior season as our #1 the last five races while junior David Aguilar gained the much needed experience for next year.  Even though we will not be mentioned in any preseason polls or rankings in 2012, Aguilar will help lead our boys to the goal of bringing back our boys for a 6th straight opportunity.  Senior Jimmy Gauger ended one of the strongest careers of any CXC athlete in school history.  Junior Josh Soler was right up there for most of the race and will be ready to roll to higher goals in 2012.  Meanwhile John Spatter also ended an impressive season with another effort in the 16:30's.  Junior Glenn Cochran truly stepped up his game here in 2011 and was one of the more pleasant surprises.  So, it was great to see him do well in a highly competitive situation, abeit quite to the time he was seeking.  Unfortunately, all of the hard luck and misfortune the past five weeks to senior Julian Hernandez all boiled to a head and emotionally, he was simply spent.   But, after a long, deserved break, he will be back in the Spring of 2012 as evidenced from his 1:58 / 4:23 / 9:41 credentials from the track.  Frustrated, bitter, disappointed and simply spent, this group will rebound and persevere from one of the toughest Cross Country seasons in recent memory.  They still go down as one of the best teams in school history and end the season ranked #4 in all of Riverside County.  Next year's group is already talking and laying down the mental framework for a successful 2012 season and we could not ask for more.    

Both Squads Qualify for CIF Finals
For the first time in school history, BOTH of our varsity squads qualified for the CIF Finals for the 2nd year in a row!   We were only one of six schools (out of over 105) to move both squads forward....great job!

In a tribute to the hard working athletes, we proved again that we are one of the best programs in Division I for the Southern Section.  Due to the rain, CIF decided to move the race onto the Mt. SAC rain course and then proceded to shorten it to a ridiculous 2.91 miles!  So, training all season long for the hills of Mt. SAC found us in an elongated track / road race.  In the end, it was another example of our kids rebounding from disappointment and loss while overcoming adversity!

Our boys were seeded to move on and did so in very workmanship fashion.  Having goals set before them regarding places, the veteran group of boys did what they had to in moving on for the 5th year in a row!  We are only one of five boys' squads in the entire division to move on for five years straight.  In a race that went out very methodical and conservative, Garrett Williams actually led the race for most of the first mile.  At the mile mark, top ranked Arcadia and El Toro moved forward with ease while our guys settled into their scripted places.  With Williams finishing 9th, David Aguilar eased into the third group of runners and finished 17th.  Still nursing some severe blisters from competing bare footed at the Big VIII League Finals and had not run for seven days, Julian Hernandez performed admirably and stay with teammate Jimmy Gauger the entire race to finish right around 25th.  Ensuring us qualifying was Josh Soler, who was predicted to finish around 40th, but rather stayed right there around 30th the entire race to close out our scoring.  Glenn Cochran and John Spatter completed our team with some solid efforts inside the top 50.  Looking at the overall times, do not be fooled as our heat went out very conservative and was the slowest of the morning.  Our boys achieved their goal of moving on and for the 5th year in a row, will be looking to unleash at the Division I CIF Finals.

After a three year hiatus that featured our girls finishing 5th in their qualifying heat three years in a row, our girls clawed their way back into the Division I CIF Finals for the 2nd year in a row.  We went in ranked #18 and not expected to qualify.  But in commanding fashion, Alicia Williams and Venus Shabgahi put behind frustrating efforts from the league finals to finished 2nd and 4th in their heat and automatically moved on.  Williams looked like the same person that qualified for the California State Meet in 2010 while Venus continues to gain more confidence that she can compete with some of the best in the state!  But, that's where it got interesting as Haley Brzcyki, in unprecedented fashion and competing with a torn ACL, was struggling to keep up with our prerace goal of finishing in the 30's along with Amber Withrow.   But, both regathered themselves over the last 800m, passing girls for those ever so important points.  Meanwhile, after only competing in one varsity race the entire season, Carly Lee truly stepped up when we needed her most.  She was our #5 and closed out our scoring that saw us finish a mere 4 points ahead of Capistrano Valley for that last automatic qualifying spot to CIF.  Suzanna Aguilar and Marisa Boren performed very well to round out the squad that created some history on this morning.  This is 10th in a row that the girls have finished in the Top 20 for CIF which is truly a testament to our consistency to consistently performed well in November.  This season has been one of the most frustrating in quite sometime but our girls regathered themselves to run well here! 

On a personal note, we am so proud to know that we are only one of a handful of coaches that is still working with both varsity squads at this point in the season.  Most are only working with one team or with one individual - thank you so much to our varsity groups for regrouping after a bitter and tough Big VIII League Finals and believing that we still can continue to accomplish goals. 

These groups truly have their work cut out for them next Saturday.  They will be competing against some of the best squads in the nation and looking to achieve some serious goals.  We, again, will have a rooter bus and would love to see as many of our athletes as possible there to cheer them on.  Based on the weather forcast, the CIF Finals will be contested back on the regular Mt. SAC course. 

The bus will leave at 7:00 am.  The girls race will be at 9:05 am and the boys race will be at 10:05 am. 

We want to thank all of the supporters out there!

After a great day of racing on Thursday, we made the long trek out into the desert wilderness near Joshua Tree National Forest!  For the first time, we attended the Yucca Valley Hi-Desert Classic.  While attending a much smaller meet than we normally do, this was a great opportunity for our JV and F/S kids to medal and earn team plaques. 

OVERALL RESULTS: http://rise.espn.go.com/track-and-xc/california/2011-xc/Results/September/Week-5/24-High-Desert.aspx?pursuit=TrackAndXC

With much nicer conditions than we endured on Thursday, the afternoon began with our Girls JV team triumphing with a solid victory.  Taking the lead after a half mile into the race, freshman Haley Smart ran like a seasoned veteran and ran away with a solid 33 second victory.  Fighting injuries for most of the last year and loaded with potential, we witnessed a great effort by junior Valerie Flores for 4th place while new sophomore Xenia Alas continues to improve with her 5th place finish.  New senior Bianca Gonzalez ran an incredible race, sitting around 12th place around the halfway point only to move all the way up to 8th place by the finish.   We were also impressed by the effort of freshman Jessica Mieczkowski.  After not consistently training until two weeks ago, she will be one moving up in the ranks as the months go by.  

The next race featured our Boys F/S group.  Placing most of our 9th graders into this race, we would have won if we had also placed more sophomores in there.  By the end, we took 3rd place as a team.  Only a freshman, Nick Lee went into "no man's land" in 2nd place but emerged from the desert fauna with a solid lead 11 second lead that he never relinguished.  By far, his most solid effort to date.  Fellow Class of 2015 classmate, Chris Morales, looks like he performs better on the tougher courses and he came in 15th place.  With solid, consistent training, sophomore Michael Mendenhall continues to improve as well.  

The Boys JV was already leaning in our direction before the gun went off.  With several boys rushing back to Corona to attend the Homecoming Dance, we put three in the top four, led by a cruising Josh Soler.  Blake Smart contines to string together some very fine efforts while after a very conservative first mile and bloodied leg, Brandon Smithson kicked it into gear for a 3rd place finish.   Tony Gonzalez put together his best to date as well with his nice 6th place finish here.  This was also the 2nd weekend in a row of nice racing by Brandon Massaro and Andrew Ramirez, 8th and 9th place respectively.  

More to come with the "varsity races."   

With this course being the most difficult we will run on this season, many found their times to be disappointing.  But, nevertheless, when you consider the immense sand that the course featured along with some challenging hills - the kids will run much faster on every course from here on out!  The meet director even admitted that there much more sand on the course this year than ever before...  all in all, a great way to end a busy Saturday (we began by training the rest of the team at 7 am) seeing most of our new proud faces earn medals for the first time.

One of the greatest experiences as a coach is to not only see your athletes continue onward towards receiving a degree from college, but to also see them continue running and improving in the sport that brought you together!

We are proud to announce that Alan Cuevas (Class of '10) performed brilliantly as his Chico State "Running of the 'Cats" five-mile time trial.   After red-shirting (no competing, but training) last year as a freshman, he roared to a 24:55 time (under 5 minute pace for 5 miles) and into his squad's Top 7!  Chico State has been THE most successful Division II Cross Country program in the US for over a decade now.  Great job Alan!

We are also proud to announce that freshman Michael Gauger (Class of '11) rolled to 11th place overall finish and was 3rd for his UC Riverside squad up in Reno Twilight Invite.  Featuring UCLA as well, this was a nice opening collegiate effort for Michael!  We suspect that the 8k and 10k longer race distances will work into Michael's favor...

While also watching Chase Williams (Class of '09) break 1:52 in the 800 meters for Cal Baptist this past Spring and having Raul Arcos (Class of '08) back training with us after three successful seasons with Long Beach State, it's awesome watching these boys transform into successful young men! 

As has become a treasured tradition with the Corona High Cross Country team, we took 30 of our athletes up to Big Bear for a five day trip where incredible team bonding and seasonal goal setting takes place.  Getting away from the distractions that usually surround our daily lives, the kids were able to focus on getting to know one another better while putting in some great training.  Surrounded by the beauty and tranquility of the mountains and clear air, we had one of our most successful camps yet!  Several alumni came up to help motivate our current athletes while the thunder storms and rain helped get us away from the humidity and heat of Corona!

With the arrival of TJ Gardner coming in several weeks, we had to move the camp up a month earlier this summer.  Despite our best athletes still improving their strength and fitness going, we were very impressed with the amount of training they were able to put in.  We want to thank all of you for your understanding on why we had to have it so early this summer. 

For the third year in a row, the Waner family opened their lakefront home to the kids, providing us with an incredible bar-b-que dinner, some great matches of volleyball and allowing the kids the opportunity to venture out into the lake.   Along with the Cochran family, we want to thank them once again for the incredible opportunity.  We also need to thank Mr. Smithson for organizing most of the trip, including the spacious cabins that we stayed in.

We ended the camp with some emotional and great goal setting sessions (girls met for five hours!) which will help further our abilities to achieve our goals, as individuals and as a team!  We have the more depth and talent than ever before, and this was a perfect way to begin the 2011 season. 

Athletes - simply click onto the title and go to the map of Corona. Follow the directions and you'll be able to map out how far you've run through the streets of Corona!  Enjoy and have fun! It will all make you more aware of all of your runs!

You can also click onto Running Routes in the land hand column to see previously marked out runs.