The El Modena girls overcame the flu threat and ran a new team time school record as they place 8th in the California State Meet. With two girls out of commission due to the flu, El Modena rose to the challenge and went out aggresively in the Division II race.  When it was all done Emily Haithcoat (20th), Heather Hisgen (26th), Elle Pace (40th), Morgan Gage (70th) and Lindsey Montoya (77th) combined to run 97:12 and shatter the old record of 98:08 set in 1996. This brings to conclusion another great year of El Modena Cross Country.

Looking forward to celebrating the season at our Cross Country Banquet, the evening of December 4th.

The girls cross country team earned a return trip to Fresno as they placed 7th at CIF Finals. The girls ran to a new school record for team time on the course as they took almost another full minute off their prelim time to run 95:55. The key to the girls qualifying was the trio pack of Emily Haithcoat (18:46), Heather Hisgen (18:51) and Elle Pace (18:52) strong finish. Rounding out the scoring for the girls were Lindsey Montoya and D J Rhoads.

The boys team finished out their season at CIF Finals as they ran much better than the previous week to combine for a 82:46 team time. Brian Aukshunas led our boys with another sub 16 minute performance. But the key was that El Mo put 6 runners under 17 minutes this week. The boys did a great job this year!!

Quite a crowd was at MT SAC this Saturday to watch some of the best cross country teams in California race for qualifying spots to next Saturday's CIF Southern Section Finals.

Our girls team ran exceptionally well as the girls finished second in their heat and qualified. Emily Haithcoat broke 19 minutes and led the girls with her 7th place finish. The key to the girls success was that El Mo took 12th, 13th and 14th in the race as Elle Pace, Heather Hisgen and Lindsey Montoya keyed off each other and packed in at the low 19 minute range. Our fifth scorer was DJ Rhoads who ran in the 19:40s and was 19th in the race. Our goal was to break 60 points and we ended up scoring 59. Another key accomplishment was that the girls team time was 96:47. This time broke our previous El Modena Team Time School Record of 97:56.

The boys team had a tougher time qualifying but even with the off day of racing for some of our key runners the boys did earn the right to run next Saturday. Brian Aukshunas broke the 16 minute barrier as he finished 7th in the race. Then came the remarkable Billy Vetter who was our only other runner under 17 minutes. Steve Lawrence, Mitchell Paur and Kyle Aukshunas were right together just over 17 minutes to round out our scoring. 

Next Saturday the girls will compete at 9:05 am in the Girls CIF Southern Section Division II Finals. The boys will compete at 10:05 am in the Boys CIF Southern Section Division II Finals. The first 7 teams in the divisional finals will qualify to run in the Calfornia State Finals 11/24 in Fresno.

In an exciting race where the last 1/4 mile saw some key gut checking, the El Mo boys pulled out a tight 41 to 42 victory. Brian Aukshunas, Billy Vetter and Mitchell Paur all earned First Team All League Honors as they finished 2nd, 5th and 9th places. Kyle Aukshunas and Anthony Katsivalis finished 12th and 13th to firm up the varsity score. Now it is on to CIF Prelims for these League Champions.

The Girls Varsity team finished second and will also be moving on to CIF prelims. Emily Haithcoat led the way finished 5th with Elle Pace 7th, Lindsey Montoya 9th and Heather Hisgen 10th also earning First Team All League Honors. Our fifth scorer was freshman DJ Rhoads who finished 16th in the race.

The Boys and Girls Junior Varsity both finished in second. Medalist in these races were Chris Lim who won the Boys JV race, Patrick Imfeld 3rd in the same race, Morgan Gage who finished 3rd on the girls side, Stacy LaBounty in 5th and Dana Eshelman in 9th place. The Boys Frosh Soph finished fourth with Neil Deshetler and Tyler Shandra medalling as they finished 7th and 8th.

Due to the terrible fires and the subsequent air quality, the cross country meet with Brea and Canyon has been cancelled. It will not be rescheduled.

Instead the League Finals meet next Wednesday 10/31 will be used in two capacities. One will be as the dual meet (utilizing dual meet scoring) the other will be as the scheduled league meet (utilizing invitational scoring).

This weeks pivotal double dual meet Century League cross country meet will be on Wednesday this week at Irvine Park. We will be hosting Brea Olinda and Canyon on the Orange County Cross Country Course. All three teams are undefeated in the league in both boys and girls varsities. The first race will start at 2:30 (JV Boys), 3:00 (JV Girls), 3:30 (FS Boys), 4:00 (Varsity Girls) and 4:30 (Varsity Boys).

Hope to see you there supporting El Mo Cross Country on Wednesday.

PS Thursday at El Modena we will be taking our 2007 Team Picture 

Well the meet was even larger than expected. It was reported that over 12,000 runners "toed the line" and represented over 785 boys and girls teams.

If you would like to see a video of the race - here is the link

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137806244/bclid1150778091/bctid1250573747 

Our top finish of the day was our Girls Varsity second place in the Fred Dwyer Race. Heather Hisgen and Emily Haithcoat finished 12th and 13th (close to 300 varsity athletes from 42 schools race) with sub existing El Modena school course record times of 15:44 and 15:48 (previous record Jessica Dahlberg 1994). D J Rhoads and Elle Pace finished 21st and 25th with 16:08 and 16:10 times respectively. Lindsey Montoyas was our fifth scorer in 39th with a time of 16:31. Great to see us under one minute for our packing. Also running great varsity races were Sarah Harold, 43rd in 16:34 and Lindsay Bramel 49th in 16:49.

The boys varsity ran in the Pater Walters Varsity Race and finished in 8th place out of 48 schools (over 300 runners). Brian Aukshunas led our boys as he finished 13th place in 13:20. Kyle Aukshunas (36th) and Anthony Katsivalis (47th) both were under 14 minutes while Steve Lawrence (63rd) was just barely over. Mitchell Paur rounded out our scoring at 112th in 14:35 for the course.

Both Junior Varsity teams finished 6th in their races. The boys JV had 72 teams on the line with over 450 runners in the race. Corey Flores led our boys squad in that race by finishing 11th in 14:26. In the girls there were 68 teams and again over 450 runners. We had a strong senior punch up front as Liz Pianalto and Lisa Hardebeck placed 19th and 22nd in the race with mid 17 minute runs.

Overall it was quite an experience as thousands of spectators were out in the park watching some of the best teams from the East Coast and Canada compete. Now we need to figure out how to get this trophy home without exceeding air line restrictions. See you Tuesday.

The Boys New York Squad:

Anthony Katsivalis, Kyle Aukshunas, Steve Lawrence, Brian Aukshunas, Mitchell Paur, Chris Lim, Andrew Ostrow, Patrick Imfeld, Bobby Konoske, Jake Konoske, Neil DeShetler, Joe Salling, Corey Flores and Steven Chalmers.

The Girls New York Squad:

Emily Haithcoat, Elle Pace, Lindsey Montoya, Lindsay Bramel, Sarah Harold, Heather Hisgen, D J Rhoads, Liz Pianalto, Kelly Gross, Dana Eshelman, Lisa Hardebeck, Stephanie Eldridge, Josephine Tran and Rachel Will

Packets were handed out to each of these athletes on Friday.

Congrats El Mo New Yorkers.

It was rather crowded up at Irvine Park as we faced Villa Park for our third Century League meet of the year.

The boys jv started us off with a strong victory. Chris Lim, Patty Imfeld, Corey Flores and Landon Sidler took the first four places as they weaved through the course dodging Sea View league runners and cars. Jake Konoske was our fifth scorer as the boys logged a 16 to 42 point victory. The boys Junior Varsity is now 3 - 0 in league

The girls jv had a similar style victory as Lindsay Bramel, Stacy LaBounty, Lisa Hardebeck, Kelly Gross and Liz Pianalto swept the first five places. This race was also a dodge game as the girls often were avoiding cars and runners. The final score was El Mo 15 and VP 48. The girls Junior Varsity is also 3 - 0 in league

The boys frosh soph suffered their first loss of the year. One of our highlights for the race was Tyler Shandra big move over the second half of the course to move up to third place. Tyler also had a big PR day as he broke 18 minutes for the first time. Rounding out our scoring for the Frosh Soph were Neil DeShetler, Bobby Konoske, Steven Chalmers and Adam Christensen. The boys Frosh Soph is 2 - 1 in league.

The girls varsity would be a big test since the VP girls had won the Lowell Invitational this year. At the mile mark our girls had taken control of the race. Emily Haithcoat went on to run the course in 18:27. She was followed by Heather Hisgen and Elle Pace who finished second and third in the race. D J was our fourth finisher with Lindsey Montoya as our fifth. The girls score ended at El Mo  20  Villa Park  39 taking their season record to 3 - 0 in league.

The boys varsity team was led by Brian Aukshunas and Anthony Katsivalis who finished 1 2 in the race with two PRs. Kyle Aukshunas, Billy Vetter and Andrew Ostrow rounded out our scoring to help the team to a 19 to 42 point victory. The boys Varsity is now 3 - 0 for the Century League Season.

There is a strong possibility that there will be some congestion at Irvine Park on Thursday. It appears that the Sea View League will be holding a league meet with all six of their schools at the same time we are running against Villa Park.

I have contacted the Dave White (VP Coach) about this possible conflict since he is the host of this meet. As of our last contact he was not aware of any conflict. My only concern is the course issues when there are slight variations in where to go on the course.

Well hopefully everything will work out! See you tomorrow at Irvine Park

With the final race cutoff this week when we face Villa Park it is time to update the point totals

Boys - (1) Anthony Katsivalis  284,  (2) Kyle Aukshunas  283,  (3)  Steve Lawrence  280,  (4)  Brian Aukshunas  274,  (5)  Mitchell Paur  256,  (6)  Chris Lim  255,  (7)  Andrew Ostrow  248,  (8)  Patrick Imfeld  244,  (9)  Bobby Konoske  224,  (10) Jake Konoske  222,  (11)  Neil Deshetler  219,  (12)  Joe Salling  215,  (13)  Stephen Chalmers  213,  (14)  Corey Flores  208,  (15)  Landon Sidler  201,  (16)  Tyler Shandra  190,  (17)  Steven Hurst  167,  (18)  Sean Laguna  160,  (19)  Ben Minsky  158,  (20)  Joseph Mascardo  156.

Girls - (1)  Emily Haithcoat  287,  (2)  Elle Pace  283,  (3)  Lindsay Bramel  265,  (4)  Lindsey Montoya  264,  (5)  Morgan Gage  262,  (6)  Sarah Harold  254,  (7)  Heather Hisgen  244,  (8)  Liz Pianalto  240,  (9)  Dana Eshelman  239,  (10)  D J Rhoads  238,  (11) Kelly Gross  230,  (12)  Lisa Hardebeck  218,  (13)  Rachel Will  212,  (14)  Josephine Tran  211,  (15)  Stephanie Eldridge  210,  (16)  Stacy LaBounty  201,  (17)  Katie Will  176,  (18)  Kristen Pagnan and Mary Haithcoat 142, (20) Brittany Metoyer 139

 We will have two morning practices next week and the race with Villa Park for the remainder of points this season.

El Mo performs well at Tustin High School. All five divisions remained undefeated in Century League and I just finished writing out over 30 PR cards.

We started the meet with the Boys Junior Varsity race. Corey Flores and Patrick Imfeld led the squad with their 1 - 2 finish at 17:09. Landon Sidler and Chris Lim also toured the course at under 18 minutes in third and fourth. Jake Konoske and Joe Salling finished fifth and sixth before the first Tustin runner crossed the line. The final score was El Modena 15 and Tustin NS (did not finish 5 runners).

The Girls Junior Varsity was next and El Mo had the first twelve runners across the line. Leading the charge were Dana Eshelman, Stacy LaBounty and Kelly Gross who all finished under 21 minutes . Liz Pianalto and Josephine Tran rounded out our scoring as we defeated Tustin 15 to 50.

The Boys Frosh Soph also had a El Modena 15 Tustin 50 score as we took the first seven places. Neil DeShetler won the race as he led from start to finish and recorded a 17:30 time. Running together for most of the race were Tyler Shandra and Bobby Konoske who finished second and third. Close behind in 4th and 5th place were our Stephen and Steven combo (Stephen Chalmers and Steven Hurst).

The El Mo 15 to 50 score continued as the girls varsity swept the races first seven places. Finishing in a tie were Elle Pace, DJ Rhoads, Emily Haithcoat, Morgan Gage and Lindsey Montoya who packed up and ran 19:10 for the course. Close behind in sixth and seventh were Sara Harold and Lindsay Bramel who ran well under twenty minutes.

The last race was our most impressive race of the day and we saw some great leadership as Brian Aukshunas led all our varsity boys under 16:30. Brian ran all over the place in encouraging the pack to stay together. The pack that followed Brian's lead were co-leader Anthony Katsivalis, Kyle Aukshunas, Mitchell Paur, Billy Vetter, Steve Lawrence and Andrew Ostrow. This entire squad finished 2nd through 8th place to score a victory by a 20 to 43 score.

Our next race will be in one week as we will return to Irvine Park to run against Villa Park. That will be the final race in the New York qualification.

Now that the Street Fair monies are all in and we have finished with the vancards, Coach Weber has a clearer idea of what the athlete portion of the New York Trip will be. The athlete portion will be approximately (but no higher than) $500. This is about seventy five dollars more than the trip cost in 2004. The increase is due to a slower, less profitable street fair and more expensive costs for airline tickets and hotel rooms.

It is our intention that all athletes that qualify make the trip. If there is a financial constraint please contact Coach Weber (he is in charge of all the finances for the trip). Again we will do whatever we can to have all qualifying athletes make this trip.

September 24th Ranking

Boys

  1.  Loyola

  2.  Ventura

  3.  St John Bosco

  4.  Newport Harbor

  5.  Mira Costa

  6.  Brea Olinda

  7.  Ayala

  8.  Foothill

  9.  Granite Hills

10.  Redondo & El Modena

Girls

  1.  Foothill

  2.  Mira Costa

  3.  Newport Harbor

  4.  Canyon

  5.  South Hills

  6.  Woodbridge

  7.  Penninsula

  8.  El Modena

  9.  Northwood

10.  West Torrance

After a difficult trip to Griffith Park, we finally arrived at the meet. Unfortunately, it was a little too late to run in the Frosh Soph races. So we decided to run the Varsity races and two JV races at the meet.

Our first race was the Boys Varsity race. We were in Division 2/3 with a couple highly regarded teams (Cypress boys are ranked in the top 10 for Orange County last week). The course was muddy but otherwise proved to be just to our liking as we won the division with a mere 43 points. Second place was Simi Valley with 73 and Cypress was third at 78. Brian Aukshunas finished in second place as he ran 14:50 for the race. Seventh and eighth in the race were Anthony Katsivalis and Kyle Aukshunas at 15:34 and 15:35. Also breaking 16 minutes were Steve Lawrence and Mitchell Paur who finished 12th and 14th. It was also great to have Billy Vetter back on varsity as he ran just a little over 16 minutes in his return.

Before the boys finished their race the girls varsity passed them heading out into the hill portion of the course. The girls were in with some highly regarded CIF teams (Simi Valley & Moorpark). But as they headed out into the hills they moved well into contention. At the end the girls repeated the boys success in winning the race with a score of 29. Second place was Simi Valley at 45 and Moorpark at 66. Heather Hisgen and Emily Haithcoat finished second and third in the race with outstanding times of 17:40 and 17:41. Then breaking 19 minutes for the course were Elle Pace and DJ Rhoads who finished sixth and seventh. Rounding out our scoring after a hard fall coming off the asphalt was Lindsey Montoya in eleventh place.

After a break our Boys Junior Varsity headed to the starting line. We had quite a crowd on the line and somewhat overwhelmed the area. The boys then hit the girls varsity score right on the money as they too won with a mere 29 points. Andrew Ostrow and Corey Flores finished second and third in the mid 16 minute range. Then came Neil DeShetler and Tyler Shandra also under 17 minutes in sixth and eighth. Patrick Imfeld was our fifth runner in and tenth overall to seal our score at just two ticks over 17 minutes.

Just like in the varsity races there was a cross over with our Girls Junior Varsity race. Then ended up being our most dominating performance. We scored only 16 points in this race to earn the victory. Second place was Simi Valley at 52 and third was Moorpark at 127 points. Sarah Harold won the race in 19:17 and lead Dana Eshelman, Stacy LaBounty and Liz Pianalto to the top four places and sub twenty minute performances. Kelly Gross finished just a little over twenty minutes as she was sixth in the race.

When we were all done racing and loading up on the buses the rain returned to Griffith Park. So lets see we drove up in a little rain, a flooded freeway; then we rain on a muddy course but in perfect weather conditions; to then end and leave when the rains returned. Yeah it was a rather good day for El Modena - I proceeded to go out and buy a lottery ticket after the meet. Perhaps that El Mo good fortune of the day will rub off.

See you Thursday at Tustin High School for our second Century League dual meet of the season. At present we are tied with Brea and Canyon at the top of the standings.

What an opening to the Century League. My hand is sore from writing out over 35 PR cards. We were not looking for a big PR meet, especially with Saturday's meet right around the corner. But the team ran the Orange County Championship course in blistering times.

We started out with the Boys JV where Billy Vetter, Patty Imfeld and Corey Flores all ran under 18 minutes for the course. Rounding out the scoring for El Mo was Joe Salling and Jake Konoske. El Dorado did not run anyone in this race so therefore El Mo won with a score of 15 to 50.

Then it broke loose even more in the JV Girls as Lindsay Bramel churned out a big PR as she led Dana Eshelman and Stacy LaBounty to all break 21 minutes. Rounding out the scoring for El Mo were Liz Pianalto and Lisa Hardebeck. The final score was El Modena 15 El Dorado 49

Shortly after the girls JV was our Boys Frosh Soph race. Neil DeShetler led the way as he broke the 18 minute barrier in winning. Then came Tyler Shandra and Bobby Konoske in second and third to help the team clinch with that deadly 1, 2 and 3 finish. Adding to that finish were Steven Chalmers and Steven Hurst who ran PRs in 6th and 8th place. The final score for the frosh soph was El Modena 20 El Dorado 39.

The girls varsity race continued the wild ride on the course. Heather Hisgen and Emily Haithcoat pulled away early and ran incredibly fast for the day as they finished in the mid 18s. Then in a battle with two El Dorado girls Elle Pace pulled away to secure the third place. Then breaking 20 minutes for the first time were Morgan Gage and D J Rhoads as the finished 6th and 7th in the race. Our winning score in this race was El Modena 19 El Dorado 39

The last race of the day was the boy's varsity. As the pack moved through the first mile it was obvious this was not to be a race that would not match the intensity of the previous races. Brian Aukshunas pulled away from the lead pack in the last mile as he went on to win with another sub 16 minute performance. Next were Kyle Aukshunas and Anthony Katsivalis with sub 16:30 times in second and third. Then came the wild Steve Lawrence kick as he placed 4th and then Mitchell Paur had a great PR to finish 6th in the race. The final score was El Modena 16 El Dorado 47.

Now it is on to Bell Jeff Invitational this Saturday. Hope to see you there!

While attending the Coaches Alliance Meeting a guest speaker, Chris Koutores, M.D., spoke on some health issues with young runners. It was quite interesting and here are some key points to think about.

1. There is new evidence that one of the key contributors to stress fractures in runners is family medical history. They are finding that if there is a history of Osteoporosis then there is a higher chance of stress fracture. In those families the new theory is to start the children on calcium suppliments.

2. A recent Southern California High School program had all there female high school athletes tested for iron deficiency. The results showed that 50% of them did have a problem with iron.

It was then discussed about female cross country runners needing to be above average in their iron counts. What was fascinating was that one of the key problems with girls retaining the iron supplements or dietary nutrients is that calcium deters the retention of iron. Therefore, iron and calcium should not be taken within the same 6 hour window. For example, having an iron rich dinner with a glass of calcium rich milk will not help the athlete retain the iron. but have that same iron rich dinner with a glass of vitamin C rich juice will help the athlete retain the iron. If one is taking and iron and calcium supplement they should not take them both at the same time. One should be taken in the morning while the other should be taken at evening time.

3. Weight training was not discussed due to time but the following information was handed out. "Two high school based studies indicate a resistance training program could decrease the number and severity of injuries, and also reduce the rehabilitation time once an injury has occured. These benefits may be due to stronger supporting joint structures, muscle absorbing more energy before tiring out, and greater muscle balance around a specific joint". This information supports the principle of "core strength". Several athletes that are presently seeing a physical trainer are finding that most of the problems are "core strength" related. Simply, just running is not enough. To be a better athlete one must work to increase their core strength. Having a strong runner's body will reduce the chance of injury.

I do not know if this helps but I felt it was important to share. Hope to see you next Thursday at Irvine Park.

PS We will be running the County Championship Course not our home course this season.

Central Park was the location for an exciting opening meet. We started the day off with the Girls Frosh Soph. And what a start it was! Dana Eshelman broke the 21 minute barrier to win the race. She was closely followed by Stacy LaBounty who also ran a PR (personal record). The girls squad was also led by Lindsay Bramel, Kelly Gross and Josephine Tran who were our first five across the line.

The Boys Frosh Soph was our next race and like the girls Mitch Paur led the race to an eventual victory. Our next runner across the line was Neil DeShetler who was in quite a mix with the St John Bosco runners. The remainder of our top five were Bobby Konoske, Tyler Shandra and Stephen Chalmers.

The girls varsity was our first scoring event. Emily Haithcoat, Heather Hisgen and Elle Pace led the team with their 2, 3 and 4 finish. Rounding out our scoring were D J Rhoads and Lindsey Montoya. It was quite an impressive debut for the girls.

The boys varsity was a barn burner and saw Brian Aukshunas break the 16 minute barrier. The  remainder of the scoring was done by Anthony Katsivalis, Kyle Aukshunas, Steve Lawrence and Chris Lim.

Overall it was a good day. Now it is on to our first Century League Meet with El Dorado next Thursday.

Now that we are back from this year's running camp it is time to report on our team's progress. What a week we had up in Idyllwild. From Points of Rock to up Humber and across the field in our 800s we had some solid performances.

Winning their races for Points of Rock were Brian Aukshunas and Emily Haithcoat for the 8 mile version, Andrew Ostrow and Elle Pace at the 6 1/2 mile version and Heather Hisgen and Jason Pianalto in the 4 1/3 mile version.

The first up Humber from camp were Brian Aukshunas and Emily Haithcoat from camp and Tyler Shandra and D J Rhoads from the drop off point.

The winning team for the eight 800s were Steve Lawrence and Corey Flores, for the six 800s were Andrew Ostrow and Kyle Mayer, and for the four 800s were Caleb Hughes and Jessie Crews.

On the second to last day of camp, the team voted for the following award winners. The Best Newcomers are Corey Flores and Dana Eshelman, Most Improved are Joe Salling and Lyndsay Bramel, lastly our Most Improved were Brian Aukshunas and Emily Haithcoat.

The team also voted for captains. Our 2007 boys' captains are Brian Aukshunas, Chris Lim, Jake Konoske and Anthony Katsivalis. The 2007 girls' captains are Rachel Will, Liz Pianalto, Heather Hisgen and Stephanie Eldridge.

We finished up camp with our Camp Race. Winning the boys race was Anthony Katsivalis who is having a breakthrough summer. Anthony's varsity teammates based on the race results are Brian Aukshunas, Steve Lawrence, Kyle Aukshunas, Chris Lim, Andrew Ostrow and Corey Flores.

Breaking the Girls course record of 19:01 by Jennifer Gross in 2004 was Emily Haithcoat who ran a blistering 18:48. Joining Emily on varsity are Elle Pace, D J Rhoads, Heather Hisgen, Sara Harold, Morgan Gage and Lindsey Montoya.

Special thanks to the many people that helped transport the kids to and from camp. We also would like to thank our wives who supported our camp efforts for another year. It was great to have Asst Coach David Manell with us along with Mr. Eldridge to pitch in when needed.

Sign ups for the Street Fair will be on Tuesday. All members of the team are required to work one shift. Points will be given based on shifts worked by parents and athletes.

Emily Haithcoat and Heather Hisgen are both listed in the Top Forty California returnees for Division II. Congratulations to both Emily and Heather.

Now it is off to running camp!!

Our yearly Allen's Challenge is now complete. From El Mo up into East Orange then through the Canyon to North Tustin and eventually back into Vanguard land the cross country team prevailed Friday morning.

Leading the boys was our pack of three Brian Aukshunas, Anthony Katsivalis and Kyle Aukshunas who ran the Challenge in 64:27. This pack was just a mere 25 seconds off of Matt Miller's time for last year. What was really the highlight in boys was that we had 6 runners under 70 minutes for the run as opposed to last year when we only had 3 runners under 70 minutes.

On the girls side Emily Haithcoat shattered the course record set last year by Kim Maginnis. Emily ran 76:30 for the Challenge which was over 3 minutes faster than Kim's previous record of 79:57. Just off that previous record were Morgan Gage and Lindsey Montoya who were just 5 ticks over 80 minutes. This year we had 6 girls under 85 minutes as opposed to only two girls under 80 minutes last year.

For the seven mile version our first boy finisher was 9th grader Tyler Shandra who ran 58:28. Dana Eshelman was our first girl finisher for the seven as she ran 61:43 up through the hills of East Orange.

It was a great weather day and many of our runners ran their farthest run of the summer, great preparation for running camp as they all ran up Canyon View today.  

Irvine Park was the scene for our annual Alumni Race. It was great to see the great turnout of runners, parents, alums and friends for the three mile main event. With over 250 people in attendance we had quite a crowd near the starting line. When the race started over 130 began the race. Oh wait, that was 130 runners and 1 dog.

The race had quite a range of runners as we had alums from the seventies, eighties, nineties and of course these last years weaving their way through the park. When the race was over the winner finished in 15:41, with our last finisher in at a little over 20 minutes later.

The top El Mo runner was Anthony Katisivalis at a little over 16 minutes. His time was just a mere couple seconds off of Matt Miller's time from last year. The boys team time was over 25 seconds faster than last year.

The top El Mo girls runner was Emily Haithcoat at a little over 19:20 with Elle Pace also finishing under 20 minutes. These two along with Lindsey Montoya, Morgan Gage and Lindsay Bramel combining to run the third fastest team time in El Mo history. This time was over 2 and a half minutes faster than last year's team time.

On the freshman scene 3 runners earned their way onto the All Time 9th grade list. Tyler Shandra ran just over 20 minutes to make it onto the boys list. D J Rhoads and Stacy LaBounty ran in the 22 minute range to earn their way onto the girls list.

Overall it was a great night at Irvine Park!!