Congratulations to Kelsi Tippets who for the second straight year earned All-State honors for her exceptional racing and talent. Kelsi finished the season earning 2nd-Team All Sophomore Class! She was second team All Freshman last year, and now the only King runner to earn All-State honors twice. You're awesome, Kelsi!

By all accounts, this was a magical season. It was a campaign that had many, many high notes, incredible accomplishments, school record performances.  But above all else, it was a season that produced a close-knit group of girls that truly figured out the "chemistry" of teamwork. With all the good of '07 as a backdrop, it was natural when tears flowed down their faces on Saturday as their hopes, dreams and goal of a chase to State came crashing down with a race that was out of character for this character-filled group.

Even a good day may not have been enough, as the Southern Section D1 produced the fastest race in the history of CIF Finals.  Where in 2006 it took a team time of 97:58 to qualify for State, this season was a totally different story. All seven state-qualifying teams dropped under 93:00 today. To put that in perspective, King's best time at Mt.SAC, (94:16 last week at Prelims -- a school record and a full three minutes ahead of last season's best) would have been 12th today and 2nd place in 2006! King finished 16th and last today at 96:35, ironically a time that would have put them in the state meet a year ago. What a difference a year makes! 

But this is 2007, not 2006, and despite a string of amazing performances and precipitous drops in team time over the last month, the team was not able to sustain that success in the blistering pace set by some of the best teams in the entire state. Carissa Bowman looked like she felt the strain of the pace early on (the leader went by the mile at 5:17) and getting tripped and knocked to the ground at the base of the Switchbacks was an omen of things to come. She struggled and valiantly finished 68th, far off from her projected top-10 placing. She then spent close to an hour receiving medical aid before going home to recover. Kelsi Tippets ran 18:13 and finished 22nd overall; a very good run for the sophomore.  Again, a historical contrast, she was 18:43 last season at Finals and placed 15th, missing an individual state berth by one place. Today, 15 girls had times under 18:00 and it took a 17:53 to snag the last individual ride to Fresno. Danielle Fillmore had a solid performance, just off her course best, and she was followed by Carrie Soholt, Casey Candelaria, Kasey Tippets and Rebecca Asplund.

And so the season ended somewhat abruptly. But not without another example of the character of this group. Adorned in gifts and flowers presented without prompting by the boys team, the group posed for one final photograph, tear stained smiles displaying the emotions that made up the season of 2007. Full of amazing triumphs and accomplishment worthy of the widest smiles, the group couldn't help but be disappointed at what for now, will be left for next year.

Photo album   MSAC All Time List   Team Results   Individual Results

5K Results  2007 Grad Alec Fillmore finishes 3rd overall - less than 24 hours after racing an 8K for Redlands University in Portland! 

10K Results  Charlie Alvarez finishes 7th, sandwiched between two of La Sierra's varsity runners.

For each of the last six seasons and for the seventh time in the last eight years, the King High girls cross country team is headed to CIF Finals! First in Division two and now more recently in Division one, as the competition has quickened, the girls have matched the pace for a string of six seasons. It is an accomplishment no other sport at King High can claim.  Qualification this season was no easy matter. To punch their ticket to Finals, the team had to run another school record team time (94:16, a 1:15 drop from the SR set at the Invitational in October) and fend off a ferocious Chino Hills team who was running the race of their season. But when the scores were tallied the happy and bonded team appeared hungry and motivated to storm into Finals next week and drop even more time in an effort to make the State meet.

Carissa Bowman scorched the course yet again, lowering her own SR on the course to 18:00 flat and finished second in the race. In her draft, Kelsi Tippets lowered her PR for the course to 18:10 (sophomore class best, all time) and took sixth in the race. With Dana Hills and Redlands well out front in the team race, the two girls were focused on and wedged between Chino Hills' top two, as the Mammoth camp trail partners battled for the last two qualifying spots. But the Huskies put their next two in front of King's third runner, making their pack of four a dominant force. But King's pack was running well too, with Casey Candelaria, Danielle Fillmore and Rebecca Asplund all running PR's and finishing basically where they were predicted to.  Quietly creating her own lightening just behind them was Kasey Tippets who dropped over a minute off her Mt.SAC invite time, finishing sixth for the Wolves in 19:39 and the tenth fastest time on the course in King's 9 seasons.  Stacy Yarbrough ran well too, right near her course best. 

To add some historical perspective, the 2006 team finished fourth in their prelim heat in a then school record of 97:17, just seven points behind Chino Hills. This year the team improved 3:01 in team time and finished six points behind the Huskies. That's keeping pace!  The Southern Section of CIF keeps getting faster, and so do the Lady Wolves! An unprecedented sixth straight trip to CIF Finals awaits this group on November 17.

The boys story was equally inspiring, even if the outcome was different. Had a spectator predicted last July that King's boys would run 83:44 and the sixth fastest team time in school history on the storied course, one would have been excused for doubting such a prognostication. There were many question marks surrounding the team in the early weeks, as youth, distracted talent and a team leader awaiting future brain surgery clouded the view of the finish line. But boy, has this group made some special things happen this season regardless of the hurdles in their way.  Today was a great last chapter to the story book.

Patrick Gonzalez confessed last August that for his first three seasons of CIF competition, he had felt that he "had let the team down." (Not true!). Last year at Prelims, while still suffering from occassional blindness caused by the brain tumor, his eyesight went out during the race, taking him from top 10 to almost last before the half way mark. This day was different. 75 days after having that tumor removed, he let no one down, leading the team and hammering a 32 second PR on the course, finishing in 16:00. The school record is at 15:59, set last season by Matt Cummins, and Patrick admitted that was a secondary goal for the day. Disappointed, he was consoled by his teammates who said "Yours can be the American  record", humorously giving heed to Cummins' Canadian citizenship and the good-natured teasing the teams of the past gave their teammate from north of the border. (If you want to drop a hello to Matt, you can reach him at Me_is_Canadian@hotmail.com. He's currently running for Harvey Mudd University) 

Charlie Alvarez finished his comeback season with a solid 16:27 effort, the 12th fastest time in school history. Lane Werley, the freshman who surprised us all back in the first meet of the season with the fastest King time of that day, put the exclamation mark on his remarkable season by shattering the 9 year old freshman-class school record at SAC with a 16:54 time. This kid, should he continue to work hard and devote himself to the sport, is destined for some really, really good things!  He was 17:28 three weeks ago in the Invitational. Derek Nelson again gave literally everything he had leaving himself wasted at the finish but content with a strong 17:06 race and PR. Andrew Huscher, another one of our great surprises this season, battled to a PR of 17:17, quite a drop from the 20:58 mark of 2006! Nick Hernandez and Jason Schupp struggled a bit in their sharpness, but still gamely battled the clock and their opponents to finish with style.

So the boys close out another season on a high note and with plenty of youth and returners to go around, could very well have used today's great effort to set the table for a party in 2008. Time, hard work, team spirit and commitment will tell. So too will such character traits mark the seven days until CIF Finals when the girls once again, take the line!

Photo Album   MSAC All Time records thru prelims   Results of all teams AND divisions combined (Boys 68th, girls 11th - 10th in D1) Overall individual times, all divisions combined

2	Carissa Bowman	18:00	24	Patrick Gonzalez	16:00
6	Kelsi Tippets	18:10	46	Charlie Alvarez	16:27
28	Casey Candelaria	19:16	69	Lane Werley	16:54
31	Danielle Fillmore	19:18	75	Derek Nelson	17:06
38	Rebecca Asplund	19:32	85	Andrew Huscher	17:17
41	Kasey Tippets	19:39	101	Nick Hernandez	17:50
70	Stacy Yarbrough	20:42	110	Jason Schupp	18:13

In what might be the final meet in the long history of the Ivy League, as the six schools will separate and head off to different leagues in '08, the girls of King made their last day in the Ivy League quite a send off. Where last year King could only manage two wins, the 2007 edition brought a dominant performance from frosh-soph to varsity, sweeping the Ivy League in it's year-ending affair.

In the frosh-soph race, the Lady Wolves took the first six places, with Carrie Soholt and Hanna Peterson forming the bookends of the group. Carrie had a good race, looking a bit like she did before a broken toe took out five weeks of her season. Lizzy Willits and Hanna, showed that they could be part of the varsity picture next year if hard work and patience follows this season. Brandi Rosenau was second, and Rebecca Trupp finished out her season with another fine performance and second-half surge that took her to fourth overall. Aubrey Bowman medaled in third.  Rene Rosales, the Gatorade winner today, rounded out the team and medaled as well with her best race of the season.

The JV girls got lost a bit in the back loop, but still managed to run away with the victory, unpushed. Larissa Davis ran in front the entire way, looking good and comfortable in locking up the title. Sara Strasbaugh and Tatiana Balcazar took 2-3, and in that La Sierra was the only other squad with a full, scoring team, the League Championship turned into a dual meet, thereby making  the 1-2-3 finish a mathmaticaly certainty for King. But Haley Hammar, Bekah Fairly and Jenna Kordic still showed a gamer mentality, each racing well and finishing in the top 10.

Carissa Bowman locked up her third-straight league title by racing quickly to the lead and looking strong in doing it. (As a frosh,  she was one-step from the victory at Finals).  Today she led a great group racing to a fine team effort. Kelsi Tippets was runner-up, Rebecca Asplund had a very strong race to finish fifth. When Casey Candelaria, Kasey Tippets, Danielle Fillmore and Stacy Yarbrough crossed the line, all seven girls had "patched" in the first or second team all-league groupings!  The championship was King's fourth straight Ivy League title and the 8th in a row going back to the Sunkist League days.

Results: Frosh Soph Girls   JV Girls   Varsity Girls

Since coming into the Ivy League back in 2004, La Sierra and King have exchanged jabs, victories and defeats, making the last four seasons a spirited time of competition. In the last head-to-head match up at the league level, this 2007 edition of the Ivy League finals was no different, leaving both squads with victories and defeats to take home after three hard-fought races.

The frosh-soph team gave up the first three places to the Eagles and were quickly served up a big dose of teamwork as the order of the day. They did not disappoint. Sean Lee, running his best race of the year, finished in fourth and led a wave of red, white and blue (King's colors) that consumed the next six places. Brandon Rogers, Craig Aguilar, Austin McKell, Jarod Nocella, Rafi Perez and Nick Rini all came across before La Sierra's fourth. Even King's number 8 man (and therefore not factored in the score) was in before La Sierra's fifth man. Despite such a great pack, the team would find overcoming the threesome at the front a tall order and they came in ultimately one point behind. Still, it turned out to be one of the more exciting moments of the day.

Three weeks ago, the JV team won  the  La Sierra dual  meet by five points, but on this day two of the scorers from 22 days past were racing at different levels. Needless to say,  the challenge was set. However, led by two strong races up front by Chris Salas and Nick Hernandez who were giving great chase to Poly's front man, the two seniors led a group of upper classmen who came to show the first matchup with La Sierra was no fluke. Greg Romandetti and Ethan Park finished in the top six, and Chris Power finished the scoring with an 11th place finish. Hayden Traver took  home the last medal on the day in 14th. Michael Gardner and Zaid Yousef had good races; Michael finishing out his senior season in style.

After a five point loss to La Sierra in the dual, the varsity team was excited to give it a go again and make up the difference. But La Sierra ran much better and King suffered from an "off-day" and the gap opened considerably with La Sierra taking home their second-straight title, 26-48. A highlight of the team effort came in Patrick Gonzalez's amazing third place finish. Just seven weeks from a hospital, a bandaged head and a stapled scar in the shape of a question mark tatooing the back of his scalp, his season at that time seemed to resemble the shape of his scar. But all questions were answered, as Patrick appeared to float over the course, looking as if a scalpel had never been taken to his brain. It was a special performance and day for the senior.

Jason Schupp had just as strong of a race, dropping some 31 seconds off his time from the dual in weeks past to finish in 13th and second team all-league. Charlie Alvarez, not having his best day was just in front of him while Andrew Huscher again put out a gutty performance running just one second off his course PR. Derek Nelson struggled and needed medical attention following the race, and Daniel Balcazar was King's 7th man.

So it was a day for battling and scrapping for every point. An impressive day for the Wolves, matched against one of Riverside's finest, they held their own and left a lasting impression on the Ivy League.

Results: Boys Frosh Soph   Boys JV   Boys Varsity

As a freshman, Carissa's gift for running was quickly and obviously on display. She pushed our top senior varsity runners that year and was one step away from being the Ivy League individual champion that season as just a 9th grader.

Her commitment level and work ethic has grown over the years, as has her list of running accomplishments. It seems that she has grown into the sport of distance running just as much as the sport has grown into her.

Recruited early and often and from schools as far away as Miami Florida, in recent months she narrowed her choices down, and after a strong sense of peace with her decision, she signed her "letter of intent" last week to compete for Biola University.

Biola University is celebrating their 100th anniversary next year. The school is located in La Mirada which is about an hour's drive from Riverside, toward Los Angeles. It is a Christian school, which was the main attraction to Carissa. "I'm excited to go to a school where the Bible is integrated into the classes" she said recently, reflecting her commitment to the Christian faith.

Jonathan Zimmerman, the head coach at Biola is equally excited to have Carissa join his team, which is currently ranked 7th in the nation at the NAIA level. She'll join a group of athletes that comes from seven different states and Canada.

Congratulations, Carissa! You've come a long way!

From one side of the country to the other, King's cross country teams proved it doesn't matter which time zone they're in, they can run with the best of them. On a day that started cool and warmed by the later races, the King Kids battled triumphantly, earning hardware, PR's and plaques in the biggest invitational (13,000 runners finished the race) and on one of the toughest courses in America.

Larissa Davis led a group of four to a non-scoring, yet strong JV team effort. The senior finished second overall with a fine 20:55 after a long time off to injury. Tatiana Balcazar hammered the course with a lifetime best of 21:14. Rebekah Fairley ran well too as did Jenna Kordic at 23:08.

The varsity boys took the line with only five harriers, their normal lineup depleted by academics - the PSAT took many of King's top runners from the meet. But "battle" was the operative word today, and led by Nick Hernandez's PR of 17:27, the group of Chris Salas, Ethan Park, Chris Power and Michael Gardner all ran well. Park, Power and Gardner all came through the line with PR's as well. A strong effort!

Carissa Bowman and Kelsi Tippets were out front for the Lady Wolves in the Sweepstakes race, both racing in their usual positions, but the group of Danielle Fillmore, Casey Candelaria and  Rebecca Asplund epitomized the "pack attack", each coming across the line inside 7 places and 8 seconds of each other. For Casey, it was her first time on the storied hills and dales, and she put forth a remarkable effort and the 9th fastest time at Mt.SAC in King history! Kelsi ran King's #2 all time sophomore time, Danielle the #4 soph time and Rebecca the #6 soph time. Carissa set a senior class best for King. Not missing out on any of the party, Stacy Yarbrough and Kasey Tippets finished things out for the team, both well under 21:00 and in doing so made this the first team in school history to put all seven runners under 21:00!  Their team time of 95:31 was 1:46 faster than the previous school record team time, and their third place finish in a very deep and talented pool of teams was simply amazing! This race was one for the history books!

With such momentum, the remaining races saw great performances as well, despite the fact that a number of the teams lacked the required five runners for scoring. In the freshman boys race, Daniel Balcazar and Lane Werley scorched the course despite warming temps. Daniel finished 3rd overall and ran 17:19, just nine seconds off the 9th grade school record set way back in 1999, our school's first season. Werley was just behind him at 17:28 with the #3 all time 9th grade mark! Nicholas Rini, Rafi Perez and Josh Montegna combined to finish sixth overall. Aubrey Bowman led the 9th grade girls with a solid 21:00, while Hanna Peterson ran the race of her season with an incredible effort, finishing 19th at 21:58. Liz Willits ran 22:47.

The sophomore boys had a race not unlike the varsity girls, finishing third and doing it with fine frontrunning and pack scoring. Derek Nelson dropped his PR from 19:14 last season to 17:10 today! Amazing!! A gap opened to the number-two man, but once Brad Sheets crossed, he was shadowed by Brandon Rogers, Craig Aguilar and Sean Lee, all three within 12 spots of each other. Todd Cullen and Anthony Fraijo finished sixth and seventh for the squad, collecting their third-place medals for the effort.

Brandi Rosenau was up front in the sophomore girls race for almost two miles before relinquishing a couple of spots, but she still finished an admirable third place. Rebecca Trupp amazed for the second time in the week with a big 21:56 PR. Ariel Alonso and Krystal Reyes completed the course for the first time with solid efforts.

So it was a very good day. Battling, racing hard, staying mentally focused ... it all came together today for many, many of the King runners.  

Full results   dyestatcal.com coverage     King Results

Coming off a huge weekend at the Great American meet in Alabama, King ran the risk of perhaps coming in a bit flat and letting a meet get away from them. Fortunately, the Wolves came ready to continue the battle and found the Bears of Poly a weaker group than in years' past when they've posed a serious threat in dual meets.

The JV's almost completely ran away with the meet to get things rolling. Larissa Davis led a string of nine teammates that would be broken up by only one Poly runner. Rebekah Fairley had a good day, as did Rebecca Trupp both of whom dropped under 22:00. Hannah Peterson got in the mix too with her best race of the season, running 21:50. Krystal Reyes also ran a PR for the year. 19-44 was the final score.

On the boys side, Nick Hernandez had a very fine race to win. Jarod Nocella broke 18:00 for the first time and Ethan Park had a lifetime best. Michael Gardner followed suit with a career best as well at 18:08.  Sean Lee and Leon Wang took advantage of the flatter course to run their best times as well. The boys wond by a perfect 15-49 score.

The Poly girls Varsity team was the closest one of the four to King, losing by a 23-35 margin. Two groups of Lady Wolves did all the damage, as Carissa Bowman and Kelsi Tippets were 2-3  while Rebecca Asplund, Casey Candelaria, Danielle Fillmore and Kasey Tippets went 5-6-7-8.  (Kelsi and Rebecca recorded the third and sixth fastest soph times in school history, respectively.) The team ran a team time of 97:03, which was the fourth fastest in school history. Not bad for a day in which there could have been some mental jet lag!  Stacy Yarbrough was 7th for the team and ran a lifetime best at 21:07.

The boys were almost the same story, winning easily 20-35. Charlie Alvarez and Patrick Gonzalez were the first to close the door on the Bears and Derek Nelson, Andrew Huscher and Lane Werley locked things up by placing ahead of Poly's 4th runner. Lane's time of 17:26 was the sixth-fastest freshman time for three miles in school history! Great job, Lane!

Results   Photo Album

Click here to read Coach Peters' blog with reflections on the race, the sights, the history and the entire trip. 

Sweet home Alabama, Where the skies are so blue; Sweet home Alabama, Lord I'm coming home to you...

Thus sang Lynyrd Skynyrd back in the 1970's, but here in 2007, the skies were still blue and the hospitality of the native sons and daughters made Martin Luther King High of California feel like they were right at home. It was a spectacular setting and festival, everything that a cross country meet should be, and the King Kid's didn't let the opportunity pass them by.

The boys and girls varsity teams were entered in the headliner events of the day, the "Nike Race of Champions." The boys were a bit misplaced and at this point in our development, significantly outgunned in a race that included numerous Nationally ranked squads and individuals experienced at the highest levels of the sport, but just as they did on Wednesday's dual against La Sierra, these guys didn't blink and didn't wince. They took the line bravely and ran their hearts out, with five of the seven notching personal records for the distance. Charlie Alvarez led the way for the group and showed again that he's getting comfortable with the pace setting. He ran 16:54 for the 5K. Patrick Gonzalez was a few seconds behind him with his best race of the season. He's running so well, it's easy to forget that just about a month ago he was having brain surgery! Derek Nelson, Andrew Huscher and Jason Schupp put down their second amazing effort of the week to finish the scoring. Jarod Nocella and Ethan Park were 6th and 7th for the team. The boys finished 18th of 19 teams in the loaded field.

The girls admittedly weren't feeling their "a-game" and struggled a bit.  Perhaps it was the pace being set by the leaders, as the announcer called the race "the fastest field assembled in the nation this season." There were Footlocker Nationalists in the race, including the defending National Champion (who finished second!) and seven teams that earned State Championships in 2006! To say the field was stacked would be an understatement! Carrisa Bowman gave chase early, trying to keep up with a pace setter from Florida who would eventually cover the 5K course in a record time of 17:05! (That was just 9 seconds behind our fastest male runner!). Kelsi Tippets was second for King, followed by Rebecca Asplund and Danielle Fillmore at 66th and 67th. Danielle looked really strong throughout the race!  Freshman Kasey Tippets, in her first-ever varsity invitational (talk about trial by fire!) held her own against the stiff competition and looked like she belonged there! She ran 21:20 for 5K, about 20:30 or so for three miles! Nice! Brandi Rosenau and Stacy Yarbrough rounded out the team, with Stacy running her best ever time despite a lingering week-long cold. An encouraging result given the physical circumstances that developed among some of them after the gun, was the result after the race: The girls finished 8th out of 16! 

A two-hour break separated the varsity races from the JV's. The boys looked very good, finishing 6th overall in a field that had 20 teams racing. Daniel Balcazar is in the process of perfecting "the hunt" as he starts slowly, giving the coaches ulcers and grey hairs, but then kicking it into overdrive by mid-way and passing!  His strategy paid off again as he moved well up the line, ultimately finishing 10th! Brad Sheets kicked in ferociously to snag 25th place (and the final medal of the race he proudly proclaimed). Greg Romandetti was third for King at 28th, Sean Lee was 43rd, and Rafi Perez and Zach Severance finished together at 50 and 51 while Dylan Gallagher ran well with a time of 24:12. 

On the girls side, the team had the highest finish of any King squad on the day, as they took second place out of 13 teams assembled. Sara Strasbaugh ran really well after an extended time off to injury. Larissa Davis was behind her, and Haley Hammer, Tatiana Balcazar and Jenna Kordic rounded out the scoring five. All five girls medaled. Jordan Vanderhoof was the sixth runner for King.

Aubrey Bowman led three freshmen girls through their race, a group too few to score. Regardless, the threesome ran really well. Lizzy Willits, learning the art of racing and strategically trying to employ the advice of the coaches ran really aggressively for the first time this season, a nice development to witness! Carrie Soholt made her return from five weeks off after breaking her toe back in September. It was fun watching these three girls with very bright futures in the sport run well!

So it was a great, American race. With the colors and banners of teams from a couple-dozen states represented, King took it's rightful place on the line and conducted their struggle on the "high plane of dignity and discipline" as Martin Luther King once said. A great experience, a great set of races, a great American cross country festival under the blues skies of Alabama.

Dyestat's coverage and results   King Photo Album of the whole trip (in process of uploading) King Results   King XC Blog posts

Racing against strong competitors can have one of two outcomes. One either rises to the occasion, or one caves. Well, on a windswept plateau in Riverside’s Greenbelt area, the Wolves of King waged a tremendous battle against La Sierra’s strong boys team. “Caving” wasn’t an option for the previously untested King kids. By the time the final scores were tallied, a slim five points separated the boys from a stunning upset and sweep.

The JV team set the stage with their finest hour of the season. Jason Schupp nailed his strongest race of his career, leading nearly wire to wire while being hawked the entire three miles of hill and dale by a trio of determined Eagles. He finished with a victory,  but behind him in the final mile, the hunters became the hunted. Daniel Balcazar moved from mid-pack at 1.5 miles to third overall at the line, and in his pursuit, he pulled along Greg Romandetti, Craig Aguilar and Ethan Park all of whom passed aggressively and pulled the team across the line for a five point victory. For a team that couldn’t remember the last time they had  lost a JV race, it was a thrilling upset and an example of strong team racing.

On paper, La Sierra’s varsity squad entered the day one of the Inland Empire’s finest. Ranked highly in the county, just last Saturday they were only 8 points out of second place overall in the IE Championships, an annual Riverside-San Bernardino county clash. With the graduation of the talented Knight twins last Spring, the Eagles have barely missed a beat this Fall. But their hearts skipped a beat or two by the middle of Wednesday’s race against the inexperienced, unranked and untested King squad who wasn’t going to go away and hide from the fear of reputation alone. Led by Charlie Alvarez and Patrick Gonzalez’s smart and aggressive first mile of racing, King had put themselves into two groups by the loud hill that announces the last mile. La Sierra had done the same; two Eagles, two Wolves, then two groups of three within an arms reach of one another. Dropping into the final descent the race was truly on, as only a handful of meters and one big push by Andrew Huscher, Derek Nelson and Lane Werley would make up the difference. But heading into the finish line, despite a screaming throng and six runners giving literally everything they had, La Sierra managed to hold off the charge and escaped with a five-point win. Hugs and high fives were liberally applied though as the King Seven knew they had given their all and made one of Riverside’s best sweat out a narrow win. Rising to.

As exciting and heart pounding as the boys’ contests were, the girls had a completely opposite experience. Able to cruise a bit from start to finish, the girls JV won handily, taking the first six places.   the varsity squad also won by a large margin while resting some key runners and preparing for bigger battles ahead in which their opponents will face the same question: Rise or cave.

Full Results of King runners

North traveled to the southern edge of Riverside to compete in the first Ivy League race of the season for both the Huskies and the Wolves of King. King found the going fairly easy on their home course, the Ben Clark Sheriff's Training facility and won all three races contested.

The JV boys were led from start to finish by Nick Hernandez and Chris Salas, both of whom ran good races. Chis Power snuck by Salas in the closing meters of the race to finish second, one of his best races of the season. A train of 5 more King athletes came through after Salas before the first North runner crossed the line, making it a complete shut out for the Wolf Pack, 15-50.

Only 8 North girls were in uniform, leading to a combined JV/Varsity race. Mila Alvarez, North's fine front-runner, gave good battle to Carissa Bowman and Kelsi Tippets for two miles before relinquishing the top two places to the talented duo from King. Rebecca Fairley and Rebecca Trupp both had good outings, as did Danielle Fillmore, who remarked after the race, "I was just trying to focus on having fun!"  Good idea! The girls won easily, 20-40.

Charlie Alvarez led the varsity boys, running pretty-much alone after the half-way mark. Patrick Gonzalez and Lane Werley were a few dozen meters back and steadily moving their way through the North pack which had started strong. By the second mile though, King had moved into positions that would take them to victory, 17-44. All seven runners finished in the top 10, including Jarod Nocella, who was racing his first-ever varsity race. Unchallenged and in warm temperatures, the times were slow in all three races, certainly reflecting the conditions of the day.

Results:  JV Boys  All Girls  Varsity Boys  
Photo Album

On a spectacular bluff overlooking the vast Pacific Ocean, the 1^st Annual Pepperdine Invitational got started under an unseasonal downpour that lashed out at the grassy course turning it from green to brown with uncountable mud hazards across it's three mile layout. Though the rain had subsided by the time King arrived, the damage had been done and so the races were on. Some kids started the race with two shoes and finished with one, while some started with two and finished with none.  By the meet’s end, there were harriers spotted at the line with no shoes at all, not wishing for their Asics or Nikes to fall victim to a muddy course that grew deeper and stickier throughout the day. The slop sucked off shoes and stained jerseys, but in the end most agreed all that brown ooze had added an unexpected dose of fun to a meet that in terms of course layout, beauty and hospitality would have done just fine by itself.

Despite the tough conditions, the King kids came to do battle in greater measure than the season’s previous meets generated. The girls’ varsity got off the line first and was quickly covered in mud and battling for footing on some precipitously slippery descents and turns. Following a pre-meet strategy, Carissa Bowman and Kelsi Tippets surged to the fore, while the pack of five stuck together through the first mile. From there they strung out while Bowman and Tippets clung to 3^rd and 4^th overall, separated by about 40 meters. Rebecca Asplund moved well after the mile, chipping steadily away at the field in front, while Casey Candelaria battled very strong in her first ever varsity race. Brandi Rosenau became “One Shoe Rosenau” for a couple miles as six-inch-thick mud at the mile marker claimed her left shoe as its own. Danielle Fillmore and Stacy Yarbrough rounded out the seven, which finished 2^nd overall behind highly ranked Esperanza.  

The boys’ varsity slid into the course next. Six of the seven who toed the line were experiencing their first ever varsity race, and two of those were 9^th graders. Charlie Alvarez got out well and held a top-five position through the halfway mark. A gap formed to the pack, but Lane Werley, Daniel Balcazar, Andrew Huscher and Nick Hernandez ran within an arm’s reach of one another before splintering a bit in the last mile. That splintering was in part due to some great movement on the part of the freshmen, Balcazar and Werley, who each passed 19 and 14 opponents respectively in the final mile. Jason Schupp was the seventh man on the day. The team wound up in 7^th, a good performance for a bunch of varsity neophytes!  

Aubrey Bowman and Kasey Tippets took the pace setting duties seriously for the frosh soph girls, and both of the talented 9^th graders led their team to a 4^th place finish, just missing one of the plaques. Aubrey finished in the top 6 overall. Hanna Peterson and Liz Willits showed great racing improvement in their third race of the season, showing an increased sense of urgency in their pacing throughout the three miles. In the boys’ version of the race, Jarod Nocella was King’s top finisher at 37^th overall, after running by the second mile in 44th place. Rafi Perez had a good outing, as did Sean Lee, who turned his brand-new, all white racing flats into a fine “partially used” shade of dark brown. At least he had shoes at the finish, Nick Rini and Rafi Perez had to go back on the course as theirs were jacked by the same mud thug that stole Brandi’s.  

The JV boys and girls teams were the last to take the line, but there were still ample amounts of mud to go around. Patrick Gonzalez, still on the comeback trail played a game of catch up after a conservative, back of the pack start. He ultimately finished eighth, a nice showing. Ethan Park and Bradley Sheets  were a tandem operation  through much of the mud and finished in the top 40. Hayden Traver was right there as well, putting together his second strong race of the season. Chris Power also finished well, consistently moving up in the  pack. Bekah Fairly had another good race to lead the JV girls, but the nicely bunched pack of Tatiana Balcazar, Rebecca Trupp, Haley Hammar and Larissa Davis helped to score low points, putting the team in the top of the field. Jenna  Kordic was sixth for the team. 

So it was a real cross country day. Mud, spills, hills, thrills and a few lost shoes to boot. It was everything you’d want from a cross country race and a stunning view of the Pacific thrown in for no extra charge.

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On a typically sunny San Diego September day, the Wolves competed once again in the Mt. Carmel Invitational held at Morley Field on much of the same course that the Footlocker National Championships will be run come December. The results were somewhat atypical however, as the youth of this year’s squad rose to the challenge to produce some quality results.

Lane Werley proved that his first race 10 days ago was no fluke as he once again set the pace for the pack, running a smartly paced effort over the 2.95 mile layout, ultimately notching King’s 9^th fastest time on the course all time. This time out he was shadowed by fellow frosh, Daniel Balcazar who got off to a great start and held position. Derek Nelson is showing great improvement in his sophomore season and ran King’s 3^rd Man.  Nick Hernandez led the senior group, and an encouraging sight in that race was Patrick Gonzalez’s return to action with a conservative effort after brain surgery one month ago. Brad Sheets had a good race in the sophomore set, and Andrew Huscher was King’s top 11^th grade runner in 54^th place overall. The boys combined times placed them 22nd of the 30 schools in D1.

The girls also had the young-uns doing a lot of the pace-setting in their 2.7 mile races, with ultimately 5 of the top 7 King times owned by rookies or sophomores.  The sophomore team brought home the victory in their race. The group of Kelsi Tippets, Rebecca Asplund, Brandi Rosenau, Danielle Fillmore and Rebecca Trupp all finished in the top 50 overall; Tippets and Asplund notched top 10 finishes.

Overall, the girls team would have finished 8^th out of 28 schools had all the D1 races been scored and combined (13th out of all 64 teams, both divisions combined) . Carissa Bowman led once again for the Lady Wolves, while Casey Candelaria in the junior race raced to King’s 5^th fastest on the day. Tatiana Balcazar followed her younger brother’s good day with a fine day of her own, running 20:05 and passing 25 runners in the last three-quarters of a mile! Jenna Kordic did likewise in the same race. Great movers!

So in all it was a telling day; a day to show the talent and moxie of those who are yet to be upperclassmen (or women!) and a day for King to make further progress toward the heart of the season and the bigger races that lay ahead.

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Check out how you were positioned at 2 miles and where you finished.

The Wolfpack got things rolling for 2007 with a very low-key 2 mile race hosted by Woodcrest Christian. Set at the AB Brown fields in Riverside, despite a pancake-flat, double-loop course, the tall grass added a measure of difficulty to the layout.

Racing by grade level, King purposefully "trained through" the meet, with training shoes on and extra mileage tacked onto the day. But, it was still a race and butterflies were present and solid performances were turned in.

Perhaps the biggest (and most pleasant) surprise of all was watching freshman Lane Werley find his stride and his competitive fire to race second in his race, but, by the time the seniors had finished an hour later, Lane's time of 11:28 was the fastest time for King's boys on the day! Though Lane had been "showing up on the radar" last week (earning Runner of the Week honors), most didn't see this coming. A very, very impressive start! Carrie Soholt on the girls side was equally impressive in her 9th grade race with a commanding victory, steadily pulling away from her closest competitors. Aubrey Bowman and Kasey Tippets also had strong performances.  Samantha Enriquez was close behind those two.

"Running our best at the end" has been a daily mantra this season, and with Sam Anich doing the place counting and recording at a mile to go, we were able to gauge just how competitive we were by the finish line. Of the 46 racers on the day, 34 of them were able to hold their position or pass by the finish line. That's 74% of our squads showing competitive mettle! Daniel Balcazar, in only his first race went from 20th to 6th -- either a rookie mistake or a very patient racer! Craig Aguilar was also an impressive mover, going 12-6 in the last mile. Greg Romandetti halved the field in front of him as well. So in all, a good first go of it. Much bigger stages and races are ahead of us; no sooner than the 15th of September with a trip to San Diego for a meet that draws 75 schools from two states. But for starters, this was a good one. 

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