Mt. S.A.C and OC fires

---On Thursday, October 25, the eight girls(one more to be added after SeaView League Finals) that have earned the privelege of representing ourgirls' cross country team in C.I.F competition completed a workout at L.A.Fitness in Lake Forest...a Mt. S.A.C. simulation of HARD running for sixminutes, on a treadmill, at race pace, immediately transitioning to threeminutes hard on an incline, recovery running of two minutes, three minuteshard on an incline, recovery running of two minutes, then finish with threeminutes hard on an incline, and after a five minute rest, repeated theworkbout two more times. This was followed by corework. Friday's workoutwill be one and one -half miles of swimming. ---A big thank you to the parents who encouraged your daughters to trainthis week by visiting a local fitness center...L.A. Fitness($5 per visit),or 24-Hour Fitness(Free if you stay...), as has been communicated to youearlier this week. I saw numerous girls' cross country athletes at L.A.Fitness on Wednesday, and my fervent hope is that the girls take theinitiative to discipline themselves to workout. As I have stated manytimes...success at the level Coach Mama Clemons and myself aspire to has aprice, such as personal accountability. ---Our tradition of traveling every season will continue in 2008 with a tripto the Stanford Invitational on September 27, 2008...the top fourteen willfly to San Jose on Friday, September 26, visit Stanford University, workout,race the next day, and be driven to San Francisco(Pier 39) for Saturdaynight fun. ---Congratulations to the girls' varsity team for their continued #1 rankingin Orange County, #3 in C.I.F. Division 1, #4 in the State Division 1, andfor being ranked #5 in the entire state of Caifornia, and one of the teamsranked ahead of us we've defeated(Fountain Valley at the Orange CountyChampionships). ---A residue of team success is an athlete being recruited. Senior KristinArkin, who has experienced an individual epiphany of sorts with breakthroughperformances at O.C. Championships(third), and Mt. S.A.C.(18.08-best ever bya THHS runner), is being heavily recruited by the University of Nevada, LasVegas...University of Nevada, Reno...and the University of California,Davis, with more schools sure to follow. Kristin's 4.25 cumulative gradepoint average, including a rigorous college- prep curriculum, doesn't hurteither. ---As I type this in my local public library in Seal Beach(much differentair quality, by the way, than what I experienced this morning in MissionViejo), I do not know if there will be school tomorrow; however, I do knowthis...all outdoor practices are prohibited until Monday...so it isincumbent for your daughter to do all she can to visit a local fitnesscenter and treadmill(45 minutes at 7-9 speed depending on ability), swim,jump rope, do something...I have no idea when we will practiceagain...Please be part of the solution, not part of the problem...

OC Champs

When I sat down one year ago to type after the Orange County Cross CountryChampionships, I stated, amongst other tidbits, that seventh place...running93.16, was "not good enough."Actually, I borrowed that quote from one of the varsity athletes, who echoedthose sentiments. One year later, here we are, Orange County VarsitySweepstakes Team Champions, and the Frosh-Soph and Novice did likewise. Themeet organizer estimated(2.82 miles yesterday, conversion to three miles)our team time would have been 89.08, adding eighty seconds per runner, a4.08 improvement over last year, which would be the second fastest(justahead of Corona Del Mar-89.22-2006) ever in the thirty year history of theevent, alas, we will never know for sure. I am CERTAIN we would have bested the third fastest team time(Fountain Valley-90.39-2006).Individually...converting times...we ran 17.21(Kristin Arkin), 17.45(MakennaSmith), 17.48(Sabrina Rathor), 17.56(Ximena Cruz), and 18.18(Lori Hoffman).Last year, we ran 18.14, 18.15, 18.52, 18.53, and 19.02. Moreover, ourfrosh-soph, utilizing conversion, ran 18.39(Kristyn Summers), 18.40(DanielleBrabender), 18.54(Kamilah Foley), 19.04(Jessica Varela), and 19.18(AmandaSummers)...94.35...a 5.01 improvement over our 99.36 last year. KristinArkin...third fastest senior---Sabrina Rathor...third fastestjunior---Ximena Cruz...fourth fastest junior---and Makenna Smith...secondfastest sophomore in Orange County, garnered accolades for their efforts.Congratulations. Our fastest freshman was Danielle Brabender...again,18.40...and she is making rapid strides through this program from week toweek. The size of our team and the time schedule yesterday, not to mention ouraccomplishments and the subsequent interviews from Dyestat.cal and theOrange County Register, made it impossible to devote much individualattention after the races. Perusing the results, there were numerousoutstanding efforts...too many to list. I will be chatting with many of theindividuals who ran Saturday and recognize each of their accomplishments.This is one of the negatives of coaching a large team, sometimes it isimpossible to devote the amount of time desired the day of the race to theathletes given my responsibilities...Heck, I barely made the start of thejunior varsity race...losing track of time while talking to a reporter(Ihope that does not sound pompous, it is not meant to be...). Nevertheless,our program effort, not just the winning efforts, on Saturday, wasexemplary, and that is a testament to the amount of effort your daughter hasdevoted to this sport. Our attention now shifts to the Mt. San Antonio College(Walnut) Invitationalon Saturday, October 20, the largest high school cross country meet in thenation. Our top thirty athletes have practiced on the course three timesthus far, and if it wasn't for the P.S.A.T. make-up this Wednesday, we wouldhave practiced at Mt. S.A.C. on Wednesday, instead, we will be at R.S.M.Lake for mile repeats. One mile into the course, the girls will encounter a331 meter hill, known as the "Switchback," and later will be met by twoother tough hills. This is also the site of C.I.F. competition, and FootLocker West will hold their regional competition on the famed Mt. S.A.C.terrain, which ultimately crowns a national individual champion. I ran Mt.S.A.C. numerous times in high school, remember it well, and I look forwardto the girls testing their wares on this renowned course. Our varsity hasentered the Sweepstakes Race, which will include Saugus High School, ranked#1 in the state, and second in the nation, plus other elite teams inCalifornia, such as Torrey Pines High School from San Diego. Our decision toenter the Varsity Sweepstakes Race is a change in philosophy from previousseasons, where we "low-keyed" Mt. S.A.C. and ran all of the girls in gradelevel races, forgoing varsity competition. Coach Mama Clemons and myself,given our performances at C.I.F. Finals the last two seasons, believe achange was necessary, and we look forward to the opportunity for our girls.Also, Mt. S.A.C. will feature a State Team Champion Junior Varsity race,whereby all teams entered in the Sweepstakes Race will run their next sevengirls in a junior varsity race that will crown an unofficial State JuniorVarsity Team Champion...We look forward to that race, also. Many of you took the time to either email, phone, or personally congratulatemyself or Coach Mama Clemons for our team accomplishments at O.C. Champs.Thank you...Also, a heartfelt thank you to Jeanette Murillo for helping toorganize our team barbecue at O.C. Champs. It was a resounding success, andknowing Jeanette for a few years now, I am not surprised. I attended afamily wedding on Saturday, as well as my girlfriend's twenty year reunionthat evening, and needless to say, I was sort of floating the entireafternoon, and late into the evening. The cruel reality of this sport;however, is we are only as good as our previous workout...Take care ofpractice today, results will transpire tomorrow. My focus now is to motivatethe girls to practice efficiently on Monday, and beyond, because that is thefoundation on race day. Am I happy...rather, ecstatic, for the girls and theprogram, absolutely...Are Coach Mama Clemons and myselfsatisfied...NO...because there is always room for improvement. We push on,and I look forward to the rest of the journey. Trabuco Hills High School Girls' Cross Country-Orange County VarsitySweepstakes, Frosh-Soph, Novice Team Champions...Thank you for yoursupport...

Sea View League Cluster Meet

A wonderful Thursday afternoon for our girls...Varsity, junior varsity,and frosh-soph were all victorious...in the frosh-soph-junior varsity combined race, we garnered 15 of the top 20 individual placings, including the top four. Sophomore Kristyn Summers won the race, with junior Lindsay Enright, senior Rachel Moore, and sophomore Kamilah Foley 2, 3, and 4. Top three freshmen were Dani Brabender(19.40), Sarah Daily (20.19), and Shelby Niles (20.33). Our top 5 girls ran 96.20, we ran 100.22 in 2006, a 4.02 improvement.
Our varsity ran 91.05 to win the race...we ran 94.45 in 2006, a 3.40 improvement, quite impressive for five girls. 2006, our top five times were18.32, 18.32, 19.09, 19.16, and 19.16...yesterday, we ran 17.57 (KristinArkin), 18.02 (Sabrina Rathor), 18.11(Makenna Smith), 18.13 (Ximena Cruz), and18.42 (Hayley Niles). The girls deserve this, all have worked diligently toachieve our current success; however, today is another day, and now ourfocus is to practice well this afternoon, and prepare for the Orange County Cross Country Championships. Coach Clemons and myself will tell the team this afternoon our goal is to win the varsity team championship, as well asthe frosh-soph and junior varsity...because we both believe we have the capability to capture any of those titles.---53 girls ran in 2006, 69 in 2007. 0(2006) broke 18 minutes, 1 in 2007,2 (2006) under 19 minutes, 5 in 2007...9 (2006) broke 20 minutes, 14 in 2007,15 (2006) under 21 minutes, 24 in 2007, 23(2006) broke 22 minutes, 33 in2007. Coach Clemons and myself are both proud of these statistics.---Notable individual improvements from 2006 to 2007...same course, sameThursday: Amanda Lee, 24.34-20.27...Kamilah Foley, 22.00-19.19...KristinArkin, 19.21-17.57...Ximena Cruz, 20.18-18.13...Brittany Hernandez,22.58-20.13...Sarah Brewer, 22.06-20.31...Taylor Mujica, 23.38-21.19...Katrina Otto, 23.30-22.27...Sabrina Rathor,18.32-18.02...Kristyn Summers, 19.59-19.00...Rachel Moore,22.12-19.14,...Amanda Summers, 20.42-20.11...Kasie Dorr,21.04-20.36...Hillary Rush, 22.19-21.50...and Alanna Denton, 23.40-21.35.