LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: 1978, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010
CIF-SS FINALS QUALIFIERS:  1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010
CIF-SS CHAMPIONS: 2001, 2002
CALIFORNIA STATE MEET TEAM QUALIFIERS: 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002
2001 CALIFORNIA STATE DIVISION 2 CHAMPIONS

2010 Boys and Girls Mountain Valley League Champions

On thursday the Falcons traveled to Prospect Park in Redlands for the 2nd Mountain Valley League meet of the 2011 season hosted by Citrus Valley.

The hot weather, it was 103 when we arrived, delayed the start of the races by a half hour but the team was ready.  The JV girls, second at the first league meet, came away with victory as Freshman Elicia Montes pulled away from the lead pack to claim the individual victory.  The Falcons executed the plan for the day, start off conservatively and then move up after the first mile, to perfection as the heat and hilly course seemed to take its toll on the other squads.

Next up, the JV boys absolutely dominated the race taking 8 of the first 9 positions!  Juan Salas ran alone for most of the race up front but was only the beginning of the Rubidoux group as he led more Falcons across the line in spots 2,3,5,6,7and 8.

The Varsity girls race was a big question mark as Citrus Valley had a convincing victory at the first MVL meet but the Falcons expected to move closer this time.  The Lady Falcons have been improving in the past few weeks but were showing quite a few nagging injuries during the week leading up to the race.  At the mile mark the Falcons were in 4th place behind Citrus Valley, Rim and Jurupa Hills.  After that point though, the girls dramatically improved their positions and at 2 miles there seemed to be a 3 way battle shaping up between Citrus Valley, Rim and Rubidoux.  At the finish line there was a major surprise as our defending league champion Fernanda Rodriguez was not the first girl in.  Fernanda had fallen out on the course and injured her leg but still managed to finish 2nd.  After that, RIm had 2 runners in before Rubidoux and Citrus Valley seemed to alternate finishers.  In the end The Lady Falcons came up just 2 points short of victory.  Incredible improvement over the course of just 3 weeks.  What will 3 weeks from now bring?!?! If we win the League Finals race and Citrus valley finishes 2nd, we will be co-champions with Citrus Valley.

The boys Varsity race played out much the same as the JV races.  At the mile mark, the Falcons were behind both Citrus Valley and Jurupa Hills.  By the 2 mile mark, the Falcons improved their position and it seemed to be a race between Jurupa Hills and the Falcons.  Junior Raymundo Rodriguez led the Falcons with his 2nd place finish as Rubidoux scored 33 points, to Jurupa Hills' 48, for their 2nd league victory of the year.

All of the teams are in a position to win the league championship with victories at League Finals in 3 weeks, hosted by Banning on November 2nd.

A terrific team effort yesterday showing the hard work has been paying off.  Citrus Valley will certainly be ready at league finals to remain undefeated in the girls Varsity races but we are in a position to take a part of Championship with a victory.

The 2011 version of the Rockin' Rubidoux Invitational is just around the corner.  The meet will again be held on the weekend before Mt. SAC Invitational to give schools a chance at a low-key fun event before the craziness that is Mt. SAC!  Click on the link on the left or on the title to go to the information page.

 Finished Results will be doing the entries and timing for the meet again this year.  They did such an awesome job with the finish line that you should book them now if you are hosting an event!  Go to www.FinishedResults.com to register for the meet. 

VS Athletics will be at the meet for any mid-season orders or equipment needs.

The weather may be a factor for practice this week.  A series of winter-type storms are forecast to move through the area Tuesday through Thursday.  These systems will bring much cooler temperatures and the possibility of rain.  Plan accordingly.  We will still have practice every day.

On Saturday we head to Glen Helen Park for the 2011 Inland Empire Challenge.  As a Division 3 school, we will compete in the Medium School Division.  All Freshmen and Sophomores will run in the Frosh/Soph race except for Fernanda who is entered in the Girls Sweepstakes race against the best Riverside County has to offer!  The junior girls will be in the varsity race while our top 7 Junior/Senior boys will race in the varsity race.  All other Junior/Senior boys will be in the JV race.  This should be a great opportunity for our teams to have good races and earn medals.

CONGRATULATIONS to Laura Diaz and Jessica Rodriguez!

Both girls were voted to Homecoming Princesses for their classes.

Jessica is the junior Class Homecoming Princess and Laura is the Sophomore Class Homecoming Princess

The Long Sleeve Meet Day Shirts will be ordered at the end of this week.  Anyone who wants a shirt needs to see coach Chann to be placed on the order.  We need to get 24 shirts ordered, the price is $22.  Athletes and Parents may order the shirts.

We still have our 2011 T-Shirts for $15 available.

Girls uniforms are $48 and boys shorts are $18.  These are a one time purchase and they are yours to keep.

We have a couple of sweatshirts available still before we need to make a separate order for more of those as well.  The cost is $25.

The Falcons flew up to the Hi-Desert area this weekend to attend the Hi-Desert Classic in Yucca Valley.  There were 5 races in all, Frosh/Soph Boys, JV Girls, JV Boys, Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys, and Rubidoux come home with plaques in all 5 races.  The Frosh/Soph Boys got us off to a great start by winning the race led by freshman Pedro Sandoval who finished in 4th place.  Moises Garcia (5th), Adrian Coranza (7th), Joseph Flores (9th) and Anthony Alvarez (10th) assured the Falcon victory with our top 5 runners all placing in the top 10. 

The JV Girls took 3rd in their race and were paced by freshman Franchelli Padilla in 10th place.

The JV Boys placed 2nd in their race led by Senior David Garcia in 5th and Eduardo Cervantes in 7th.  All of the scoring 5 runners placed in the top 30 of the race.

The Varsity girls, running without their #2 runner, placed 3rd in their race but missed winning by only 2 points!  Fernanda Rodriguez was the individual champion, winning by over a minute!  Freshman Jackie Albin stepped up to the varsity division and was the team's number 2 runner finishing in 7th place.

The Varsity boys placed third against some tough competition.  Junior Raymundo Rodriguez was the top Falcon finishing in 4th place.  Angel Perez was 5th in the race for Rubidoux.

All things concidered it was a very good trip up to the Hi-Desert as we returned with 5 plaques and many medals for the Falcons!

On Wednesday the boys and girls headed down to the highway to open up the season with a little friendly competition against Beaumont High School.  Both the boys and girls from Beaumont are ranked in the top 8 in Riverside County so this promised to be a very competitive meet.

Heading into the meet, several of the Falcon runners were a little banged up with some minor injuries and therefore did not run.  The boys were without #1 returner Angel Perez and top 3 returner Antonio Sanchez.  The Lady Falcons would race without both sophomore Mina Valdez and freshman Lizette Enriquez, both of whom project to be in the top 5.

The girls race was certainly exciting as the duo from Beaumont took off right from the gun leaving the Rubidoux girls to try to chase them down.  A controlled effort demanded by Coach Chann from #1 Falcon, Fernanda Rodriguez left her in 2nd place with about a 100meter deficit halfway through the race.  From that point on Fernanda proceded to chase down Jasmin Romero of Beaumont, a sub-19 minute runner last year.  By the end Fernanda had almost made up the entire gap and finished only 7 seconds behind, quite a remarkable job of running down a very talented runner.  Behind Fernanda, the remaining Falcons were running impressively as well.  Sophomore Laura Diaz-Barbosa returned to her spot as the #2 runner on the team despite still battling knee injuries, finishing in 5th place.  Junior Esbeidi Ochoa showed that her summer training has really paid off as she was only 18 seconds behind Diaz-Barbosa in 6th place.  Jackie Albin, Alexis Martinez and Elicia Montes all broke 24 minutes on the 5K course to finish as the 4-6 Rubidoux runners.  In the end Beaumont won the race by a score of 23-33 but the fact that Rubidoux was so close to a top 10 team in the county means that the girls are definitely on the right track!

The Boys race expected to be a preseason showdown between two top 8 teams in the county.  That expectaion was a little bit lessened as the Falcons did not race at full strength but the race was very competitive.  Just as in the girls race, Beaumont's top 2 runners set off very quickly, forcing the Falcons to play catch-up right from the gun.  Junior Raymundo Rodriguez was up for the challenge though, as he joined the lead duo and then at the half-way mark made a move to the front and never looked back.  Rodriguez won the race and was soon joined by Freshman Luis Ramos in 4th place.  Ramos spent the first mile of the race in the middle of the pack before steadily moving up until there were only two Beaumont runners and Rodriguez in front of him.  Izai Martinez (6th), Tom Logue (9th) and Paco Rojas (10th) gave the Falcons 5 runners across the line and splitting evenly the top 10 with Beaumont.  The Cougars had just a bit too much for the Falcons on this day though as they swept both races in beating the boys 25-30. 

Some very solid races and some learning experiences helped to show that the team is doing well at this point in the season but there is still plenty of room for improvement.  When all of the Falcons get healthy and ready to race, these falcons will begin to really fly.

Next up is Fastback Shootout on September 10th

The 2011 Cross Country season is getting closer and the weather is heating up.  The Falcons enter the 2011 Mountain Valley League season as defending champions on both the boys and girls sides and are looking to repeat. 

The Boys suffer a huge loss of their #1 runner, Mueen Ghoury, who had been the team's leader for 3 years.  Ghoury led the Falcons in almost every race he ran for his 4 years in the program.  While he takes his considerable talents to San Jose State University to continue his running career, there is a void at #1 that has not been empty for 4 years. Senior Angel Perez has twice been #2 in league to Ghoury and looks poised to take over as the top runner in the league.  However, the Falcons also have Junior Raymundo Rodriguez who is quite capable of challenging for the top spot.  This powerful 1-2 combination and a huge group of athletes not too far behind make the Rubidoux boys team the overwhelming favorites to repeat as MVL Champions for 2011.

The Girls have a much tougher challenge as they must replace 4 runners who ran varsity last season!  Gone are Sonia Lopez, Mayte Gonzalez, Analilia Ortiz and Stephanie Gomez from a graduating class that took the Lady Falcons from the bottom of the league to undefeated league champions.  The 2011 Lady Falcons have some big shoes to fill, but the team returns its top 2 runners, Fernanda Rodriguez and Laura Diaz-Barbosa, who were the top 2 runners in the league for 2010.  Behind these 2, the team needs to develop some younger runners as there are no seniors on the 2011 girls team.  With the top 2 runners from league returning and several other varsity performers from last season returning as well, the 2011 Lady Falcons should be among the favorites for the MVL Championship.

Thirteen Falcon runners made the MVL All-League Teams!!

2010 MVL Boys Cross Country MVP

Mueen Ghoury

2010  MVL GirlsCross Country MVP

Fernanda Rodriguez

Boys 1st Team All-MVL

Mueen Ghoury

Angel Perez

Raymundo Rodriguez

Francisco Rojas

Girls 1st Team All-MVL

Fernanda Rodriguez

Honorable Mention

Phillip Wegener

Stephanie Gomez

Laura Diaz-Barbosa

Sonia Lopez

Mayte Gonzalez

Boys 2nd Team All-MVL

Juan Salas

Antonio Sanchez

Girls 2nd Team All-MVL

Jenny Diaz