11.16.02 --- CIF Prelims
We had a very late start to the day. We had to be at the bus at 11:30 and our race was at 1:42. In our race it looked like Sultana, Valencia and Rubidoux were locks for three of the top four spots with a fourth place finish needed to advance to finals. For the fourth spot the favorites were Mater Dei and us. Our top four runners ran well, but I ran into some problems. I ran the first mile a little fast, staying with Farid like I had planned. Everything was going fine but then my blisters began to hurt and I had to slow down and ended up finishing two places behind Steven. Our team ended up in 6th place and Notre Vista was the forth qualifier in our heat. The other teams in our league did fairly well. Brea Olinda's boys team made finals, as did Tim Aukshunas. On the girls side El Modena, Brea Olinda, and Villa Park all qualified for finals. All in all a 6th place finish isn't a bad end to the season and I'd like to tank all the guys who I've run with over the years and especially this year for making running enjoyable and rewarding. 

11.06.02 --- Century League Finals
This was the first League Finals race in our new league. Going in to this race the girls were facing some tough competition and were hoping to not get last and our guys were in position to finish in first with a great race or as low as fourth with a poor race. In the Varsity Girls race Villa Park won, followed by Brea Olinda and El Modena. Our girls ran very well, but finished in 6th place. Our Seniors Kim, Cherie, Stephanie, Giselle, and Paul all ended their high school cross country careers and had great races. Our Varsity Guys suffered with illness by Paco and Victor and ended up getting 4th. Emanuel was our number one runner. Farid was our 4th place and I got 5th place. All 5 of us were under 17 minutes and because of our second place standing from dual meets we ended up making CIF and will run at Mt. Sac on November 16.

10.31.02 --- Villa Park and El Dorado
This race looked to be a very tough one for both the guys and the girls. The Villa Park girls are one of the top teams in the county and has the 10th fastest team time in the entire Mt. Sac Invitational the week before. The Villa Park guys team looked to be the only team, besides Brea, that had a good chance of beating us in a dual meet. The meet started with Scott leading the JV Boys with a time of  19:07. The JV girls were then lead by Jessica who ran a time of 26:45 and Seniors Cherie, Jessica, and Giselle in their last dual meet ran 27:09, 26:45 and 28:55. The Frosh Soph Boys race was won by Derek in 18:20 and the other boys under 20 minutes were Billy (19:11) and Leon (19:25). The Varsity Girls race follwed and our girls were lead by Sasha who broke 20 minutes with a time of 19:58. For their last dual meets, Seniors Kim and Stephanie ran times of 24:07 and 25:52. The final race of the day was the Varsity Boys. Only Victor (16:14), Paco (16:15) and Emanuel (16:35) ran under 17 minutes. Farid was close at 17:01, but at one point he almost made a wrong turn and was forced to slow down to correct his error. And in my last dual meet I ran a time of 17:09. Our Varsity Boys team did beat both Villa Park and El Dorado. The Girls Varsity record in dual meets going in to league finals is 0-5 and the Boys Varsity is 4-1.

10.26.02 --- Mt. Sac Invitational
We to wake up extremely early today to drive up to Mt. Sac for this invitational. When we got there we took our spot near the finish line and we had a quick run through of the course. The first race was JV Boys at 7:15AM. Scott and Ralph ran in this race and had times of 18:59 and 20:26. next was the JV Girls who were lead by Heidi with a time of 26:59. They were followed by the Varisty Boys. We again ended up with 4 guys under 17  with Victor (16:16), Paco (16:24), Emanuel ( 16:34) and Farid (16:56). I wasn't too far off with a 17:14. Steven (17:43) and Nestor (19:08) rounded out the Varsity team. When the results came in we ended up in 4th place in our race, and the top 3 teams get medals. One of the teams ahead of us was Mater Dei, who we had beat soundly the week before at OC Champs. The Varsity Girls followed with a strong showing despite again only having 5 runners. Sasha (20:48), Jada (22:17), Kim (24:17), Sara (24:36), and Trish (25:33) were our runners who all did very well. Our Freshman Boys were, once again, lead by Derek who with a time of 18:16 ran the 7th fastest time for our team today. All in all it was a pretty good race and most likely the last race at Mt. Sac for Kim and Stephanie. Next up, Tri-meet against Villa Park and El Dorado.

10.19.02 --- OC Champs
We had a pretty good day today at OC Champs. It was the second time of three that we've ran at Irvine Park, with all three races on different courses. This course included the same paved hill and dirt hill as the El Modina course, so the times should be pretty comparable to that dual meet. That being said many of our runners bettered their times from the previous race at this course. Our Freshmen boys ran well with Derek medalling in 18:25 The JV Girls were led by Jeanne Kim and Jessica Paige who ran times of 24:29 and 24:59. For the JV Boys Nestor (18:34) and Ralph (19:51) both ran under 20 minutes. Our Varsity Girls were led by Sasha in the division 3 race and, even though there were only 5 because of illness and other reasons, ran their best and tried hard. The Boys Varsity ran in the Division 2 race and ended up placing 5th behind Foothil and Brea, but just ahead of Elmo. This looks like it will be very close for the league title. Individually there were 4 guys under 17 minutes: Victor (15:57), Paco (16:14), Emanual (16:31) and Farid (16:59). Our next race is the 26th at the grueling Mt. Sac course at the famed invitational of the same name.

10.10.02 --- Canyon
We had a meet today against Canyon. I do not currently have the times so I am just going to write about the races themselves. We started off with the Frosh-soph boys which only included our runners because Canyon did not have any, so they obviously won this race. They were followed by the JV girls who ran well but failed to win their race. The JV boys had a similar outcome, but still ran a great race. The Varsity Girls race was a lot closer then our other ones. Sasha led them and they all ran very well, despite Kim and Rachel being out with injuries. They did not manage to win their race though. The last race of the day, as usual, was the Varsity Boys race. The race started out with a pack of about 6 of our runners and 2 or 3 Canyon runners. As the race went along this pack began to spread out. I have been our team's number 5 runner for most of the season, but was suffering from an illness. It ended up not being a factor because Erick Sepulveda really stepped up and Steven did his part in making up for a sick teammate and we ended up with the win. Our girls team is 0-3 but has faced some tough competition and our guys team is 2-1 with Villa Park and El Dorado to go before League Finals. Villa Park should put up a good fight, but first we must focus on Orange County Championships on October 19.

10.03.02 --- Brea Olinda
Today we had our first and only home meet for the year. I personally don't like our home course, it it too flat and has too many turns. I like having the hills because I maintain my speed while other people slow down. Anyway we started off with the lower level races and Eric Ramirez (18:20), Jeanne Kim (25:07) and Francisco Rodriguez were the number one Tustin finishers in their races. The JV Boys had their times cleared accidentally so they have no times. In the Varsity groups the girls tried their best, but lost 17-46 to a highly ranked Brea Olinda squad. The Varsity Boys had another close race, but ended up losing this one by the score of 26-32. A few switches in  place would have reversed the score and we are looking to avenge our loss in League Finals. Next week is an away meet at Canyon.

9.28.02 --- Dana Hills
There were a lot of setbacks at Dana Hills this year. The weather was gloomy. The other teams stole our camping spot so we were situated right where the switchback were in the grass.  The races were back to back so many people didn’t have time to stretch. To top it all off, the T-shirts were ugly!  But nevertheless our team pulled through and had a successful race.   The race was a fast course and completely down hill (a chance for many people to PR!).  Giselle made a poster which we Tillers held up high to cheer the Tustin competitors.  I unfortunately didn’t run but I cheered on with all my might.   Many people scored their season PRs.  Senior boys went first and Paul and Andrew ran well.  Andrew won 33rd place with a time of 17:13. Next were Senior girls.  Stephanie, Jessica, Giselle ran their hardest. Then came junior boys: Victor and Emanuel finished in the top 10 and Farid PR'd. Later the Junior/Senior girls raced the top two times were scored by Sasha and Jada. Hooray for Paco! He won his division of sophomore boys with the time of 16:01. Other sophomore boys did very well such as Steven getting a medal.  Following them the Sophomore girls ran with Crisley getting a 23:04 and Jeanne getting a 25:01. Lastly our lone freshman boy Jacob ran and got a PR with the time of 21:42. The team missed our freshman dearly this meet for there was nobody to set up and carry our water, tarp and tent. *sniff sniff * J/K New nicknames were also invented at this memorable meet.  We should welcome “Burrito” (a.k.a. Jacob Brito) and “Woody” (a.k.a. Kyle MacNaughton) to the team!  For many some people this was their first invitational. For everyone who came out and ran, congratulations to you!

*^_^* Kim

9.26.02 --- El Modena
We had our first League Meet of the year and it was at Irvine Park. This was an entirely new course that nobody on our team had run before. Instead of going all the way down the dirt hill there was a turn that we took about halfway down and the course started off with an uphill. We started off with the JV Boys where Francisco Rodriguez and Scott both went under 19 minutes with times of 18:51 and 18:53 respectively. Our JV Girls followed and the top times were by Patricia Busch (25:26) and Jeanne Kim (25:40). After that we had a very large Boys Frosh-Soph race where we had 19 runners with Eric Ramirez (18:19) and Freshman (18:33) leading the way. The Varsity girls race was next and they ran well despite some tough competition by the always tough Elmo team. Outstanding runs were put together by Sasha Gardner (20:55) and Christina Balderas (22:33). The final race of the day was the Varsity Boys race. Elmo is a tough team and is expected to compete for the League Championship and this race plays an important role in determining League Champions. We thought that it would be a close race and it ended up being that way. Elmo got 1st place but then Victor (15:56), Paco (15:57), and Emanuel (16:11) came in. they got runners 5 and 6, but then Farid passed one of their runners in the final stretch and got 7th with a 16:51. I followed up Farid with a 10th place finish after passing one runner and almost getting another in the final straightaway and I finished with a 16:58. Our team won 29-26 and is now in a great position to win league. Our whole team is looking forward to Dana Hills on Saturday and our first home meet next Thursday against Brea Olinda.

9.21.02 --- Woodbridge Invitational
There were good conditions for this meet, which was a pleasant surprise because from my past experiences this is usually a very hot day when the races are run. Almost everyone ran better then they did last week and some medals were won, although less then at Millikan. Until I get pictures from some other people there wont be any pictures from this meet because after I viewed the pictures on my computer I forgot to copy them to my hard drive and then Ii erased the pictures from the camera. Medals were won by Andrew (70th, senior), Derek (44th, freshman), Billy (48th, freshman), Leon (62nd, freshman), Paco (4th, sophomore), Steven (37th, sophomore), Eric (62nd, sophomore), Victor (9th, junior), Emanuel (16th, junior), and Farid (37th, junior). 

9.14.02 --- Millikan Invitational
First meet of the season!  This year the season started 2 weeks into school because of an extra Saturday in the fall. There were some good races by many of our runners and many medals won. Medal winners included Andrew (34th, senior),  Emanuel (17th, junior), Farid (26th, junior), Steven (28th, sophomore), Eric (46th, sophomore), Derek (34th, freshman), Sara (45th, junior), Christina (44th, sophomore). Plaques were won by Victor (3rd, junior) and Paco (2nd, sophomore). We had a great time and did well and are looking forward to next week's Woodbridge Invitational. 

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