MMC Cluster #2

Last Wednedday the seven MMC schools met up for the second time this year, racing this time on the figure 8 Dry Creek course.

The F/S girls led by some strong up-front running won the meet. Jami Becerra took 1st and Victoria, Esther, and Erin were close behind.
1. Jamie Becerra 14:32
4. Victoria Meyer Zur Heyde 14:51
5. Esther Limon 15:12
6. Erin Redding 15:25
19. Celene Talavera
23. Daniella Esparza
32. Gabriela Trejo 19:44
35. Lliana Ambriz 21:00

There was a timing issue in the middle of the race, thus the missing times.

The F/S boys were led once again by Jose Torres who placed 8th. They placed 4th behind MoHi, Gregori, and Enochs.
8. Jose Torres 11:57
17. Tanner Walsh 12:42
21. Doug Ward 12:51
22. Conner Hannon 12:52
30. Alejandro Lemus 13:10
75. Jim Sok 21:24

The varsity girls again had a strong up front showing, placing 5 runners in the top 15 (maybe the first time that has happened) and more improtantly 5 runners in front of MoHi's #4 runner. Unfortunately just like two weeks ago, it still wasn't enough. They lost 26 to 29 to Modesto again. On a scarier note they beat Beyer by the narrowest of margins 27 to 28.
6. Rocio Ramirez-Castro 20:30
10. Sierra Durham 21:06
12. Rory Jimenez 21:26
14. Natalie Franco 21:35
15. Madeleine Souza 21:48
30. Alicia Bargas 22:51
32. Anna Casas 23:21
33. Katie Scheder 23:34
45. Carolyn Fraze 24:50
49. Karina Redding 25:16
54. Deja Martin 26:41
60. Adriana Coggins 27:24
61. Krista Rocha 27:50
62. Adriana Lopez 28:04
65. Abby Homan 28:26
67. Vianney Chavez 28:48
68. Vanessa Marin 29:35
74. Alex Elwood 31:33

For the Varsity boys there were many PR times but they are still unable to break into the MoHi/Gregori lock on the top two places. They were third as they have been in the past 6? MMC meets. ,Andrew led the way, again placing second.
2. Andrew Osgood 16:49 #1 AT for Downey and #6 AT for the course
8. Guadalupe Torres 17:09 #2 AT for Downey
11. William Music 17:16 #3 AT for Downey
22. Emmanuel Georgopoulis 18:10 #4 AT for Downey
24. Danny Mauricio 18:19 #8 AT for Downey
25. Jake Crenshaw 18:19 #8 AT for Downey
28. Saul Zigala 18:27 #10 AT for Downey
30. Alfonso Urbano 18:32
36. Justin Goering 18:48
40. David O'Bryan 19:11
41. Pierson Devers 19:12
42. Gerson Zuniga 19:12
43. Max Giblin 19:13
49. Tyler Bingham 19:36
52. Donald Connacher 19:52
55. Francisco Solorzano 20:04
58. Seiji Soares 20:07
59. Jose Gonzales 20:08
76. Alec Carson 21:05
79. Tyler Azevedo 21:18
85. Jerel Constantino 22:04
88. Frank Heyward 22:19
89. Cristian Lopez 22:28
90. Oscar Cortes 22:29

COMPLETE RESULTS

PHOTOS: Album A    Album B

WEEK 2--Runners of the Week

During week 2 the Knights competed against the rest of the MMC at Cluster Meet #1. There were some outstanding individual results and some team heartbreak.

ROCIO RAMIREZ-CASTRO--finished 7th in the varsity girl's race in a time of 21:27 (only 6 seconds off of her PR on this course). She was the first Downey finisher and led her team to a second place finish.

GUADALUPE TORRES-- placed 10th in the varsity boys race in a PR time of 18:08. His time is #8 all-time for Downey over this course.

MMC Cluster #1

For the first time this season the Knights had an opportunity to run in their correct divisions and see if the long, hot summer workouts would pay off in fast times.

The F/S Girls were first up on the course. They ran well up front with a strong foursome (Destiny, Jamie, Erin, and Victoria). If one less runner had been pull up to varsity they would and won the meet.

4. Destiny Georgopoilis 15:38
5. Jamie Becerra 15:39
7. Erin Redding 16:03
8. Victoria Meyer Zur Heyde 16:08
25. Celene Talavera 17:35
32. Daniella Esparza 19:03
36. Gabriela Trejo 20:14
37. Lliana Ambriz 20:32

On the team front it appears that the Downey girls finished second, losing to MoHi 25 to 32

The F/S Boys were next up. They barely field a 5-member scoring team. The top runner, Jose Torres, is a bit "green" and demonstrated this by going out too fast. He definitely suffered through the second loop of the course.

11. Jose Torres 12:44
21. Tanner Walsh 13:19
36. Alejandro Lemus 14:13
47. Conner Hannon 15:25
73. Jim Sok 25:25

The Varsity Girls hit the course with tons of experience, talent, and high hopes of an MMC title. Rocio ran a solid race up front, and there were some strong efforts behind her; but MoHi also came to compete and wasn't going to hand over the crown.

7. Rocio Ramirez-Castro 21:27
8. Sierra Durham 21:36
12. Natalie Franco 22:00
14. Rory Jiminez 22:21
17. Haylee Osgood 22:40
22. Maddeleine Souza 23:09
23. Alicia Bargas 23:13
32. Anna Casas 23:30
38. Esther Limon 24:49
41. Karina Redding 25:02
45. Carolyn Fraze 25:31
50. Deja Martin 26:27
60. Adriana Lopez 27:43
68. Krista Rocha 28:03
74. Adriana Coggins 29:21
77. Rebecca Donis 30:14
79. Vanessa Marin 30:40
83. Alex Elwood 30:59

SO CLOSE...the Lady Knights lose to MoHi 26 to 29 to place second. Anna had a sub-par effort that might have been the difference, we'll never know. 3 little points! Haylee runs her first meet on the three loop course. By way of comparison her time of 20:40 is EXACTLY what Sierra ran on the same course in her initial effort as a 9th grader. Sierra would eventually chop off two more minutes to run 20:40 that year. If Haylee can do that too, we may be taking home some hardware at the end of the season.

The Varsity Boys took to the course last. Andrew Osgood ran a solid race to finish second. Guadalupe and newcomer Will Music provided some solid support, but there was just too big of a gap back to the #4 and #5 runners to be competitive with the immensely deep Gregori and MoHi squads.

2. Andrew Osgood 17:26
10. Guadalupe Torres 18:08 (a 2 sec PR and #8 all-time for Downey)
11. Will Music 18:14 (#9 all-time for Downey)
22. Jake Crenshaw 18:59
24. Emmanuel Georgopoulis 19:06
25. Danny Mauricio 19:07
30. Fernando Garibay 19:20
31. Alfonso Urbano 19:21
34. Pierson Devers 19:29
36. Gerson Zuniga 19:32
39. Justin Goering 19:37
42. Saul Zigala 20:00
47. Tyler Bingham 20:18
52. Francisco Solorzano 20:43
53. Donald Connacher 20:44
62. Jose Gonzales 21:01
79. Tyler Azevedo 22:21
80. Alec Carson 22:25
85. Jerel Constantio 23:26
86. Oscar Cortes 23:26
95. Cristian Lopez 23:55
99. Frank Heyward 24:54

The boys would finish in third behind the up front battle between MoHi and Gregori (MoHi beat Gregori 27 to 28).

PHOTOS: Album#1    Album #1B

WEEK 1: Runners of the Week

Week one saw most of the Knights competing in the Sierra Invitational. As selected by the coaches, the runners of the week were:

WILLIAM MUSIC--placed 1st in the JV division at the Sierra Inv. he clocked 11:26 on the 2mile course

HAYLEE OSGOOD--as a freshman, took 2^nd overall in the sophomore 2-mile race coming in at 13:29

Sierra Inv

While many of the top Downey runners sat the race out, the rookies and supporting cast members turned in some exceptional early season marks.

The first to take the course were the Frosh Boys. Only three Downey runners were in this race. Jose Torres' turn in a solid rookie mark that would have positioned him well within the pack of Downey's varsity runners.
28. Jose Torres 12:37
54. Alejandr Lemus 13:37
116. Jim Sok 21:08

Up next were the Frosh Girls. Some of the top Frosh girls were moved up to the Soph race to create the best team.
59. Daniella Esparza 18:04
69. Gabriela Trejo 19:35

In the Soph Boys' race Tanner and Doug ran well enogh to be in the same time frame that most of the top Downey boys would produce.
38. Tanner Walsh 12:20
40. Doug Ward 12:22

The Soph Girl race was a combination of some verterens from last year and some Frosh rookies. It was probably the best Downey team on the course yesterday. Hayley Osgood started conservatively. She was in about 20th at the mile, 9th at the 1.5 mark, and closed quickly to place 2nd. Destiny Georgopoulos started a bit fast and faded some at the end, but she still produced one of the best Downey frosh times on the course in recent years.
2. Haylee Osgood 13:29
13. Destiny Georgopoulos 14:03
16. Madelein Souza 14:16
24. Esther Limon 14:56
35. Victoria Meyer Zur Heyde 15:14
40. Erin Redding 15:20
52. Celene Talavera 15:48
63 Jami Becerra 16:25

Overall the team placed 2nd with 58 points (Lodi 42) with an average time of 14:24.

For the Varsity Boys and Varsity Girls Andrew Osgood and Guadalupe Torres alond with Roccio Ramirez-Castro, Sierra Durham, Ana Casas, Natalie Franco, Rory Jiminez, and Katie Schreder all sat out preparing for the MMC Cluster meet on Wednesday.

For the Coed JV Race, the Downey boys dominated. It should be noted that most of these guys were in the wrong race and should have been in the varsity 5K race--thus they dominated over lesser racers.
1. William Music 11:26
6. Danny Mauricio 11:52
7. Emmanuel Georgopoulos 11:53
8. Pierson Devers 11:58
9. Saul Zigala 12:07
11. Alfonso Urbano 12:10
12. Fernando Garibay 12:14
15. Gerson Zuniga 12:18
16. Tyler Bingham 12:19
19. Seiji Soares 12:25
24. Jose Gonzales 12:30
27. Francisco Solorzano 12:39
29. Donald Connacher 12:40
37. Alec Carson 12:56
55. Jerel Constantino 13:19
60. Tyler Azevedo 13:26
71. Oscar Cortes 13:45
80. Frank Heyward 14:06
91. Alicia Bargas 14:25
99. Cristian Lopez 14:50
110. Karina Redding 15:21
112. Carolyn Fraze 15:23
117. Deja Martin 15:37
134. Adriana Coggins 16:23
143. Krista Rocha 17:07
144. Vianney Chavez 17:08
145. Abby Homan 17:09
162. Rebecca Donis 18:11
164. Vanessa Marin 18:19
182. Alex Elwood 20:28




PHOTOS: ALBUM#1   ALBUM#2
COMPLETE RESULTS

2012 Downey XC Preseason Thoughts

Maybe nothing beats the anticipation and prospect of the beginning of XC season. It is a time full of hope and expectation. The long hot summer of sweaty miles and hours in the weightroom will come to fruition in either a joyous or disappointing manner. Questions linger in the air. "Am I in better shape than my competitors? Did I work harder? Has that injury healed?" Yes, it a wonderous time of anticipation, expectations, and questions.

The Downey varsity girls return their top nine runners from a 2011 season that saw them finish 2nd in the MMC and 11th in the D1 subsection meet--that is one painful spot away from qualifying for D1 sections. For them the clock is ticking. Their top two runners (Sierra Durham and Rocio Ramirez-Castro) are seniors. If the team is going to leave its mark on the history books, this is the year. The questions still linger...has Sierra fully recovered for the injury that painfully ended her track season; can Rocio continue to ride the wave of momentum she had at the end of track season; will the summer miles pay off for Natalie Franco and Ana Casas...as I said anticipation, expectations, and questions.

For the varsity boys they lost several solid runners from last year's team that placed third in the MMC and tied for 10th in the D1 subsection meet. It is impossible to mention Downey distance running without discussing Andrew Osgood. He has been the underachieving face of the team for the past three years. Saddled with a series of injuries and unreasonable personal expectations, he has had three years with flashes of brilliance mixed with waves of dissappointment. Will this be the year it all comes together for him? Newcomer to Downey (from Gregori) is junior William Music. Much like Osgood, his personal running career has been a mixed bag. Will he and veteren Guadalupe Torres be able to fill the gap between Osgood and the rest of the team? Will the boys be able to overcome the strong competition from MoHi and Gregori to breakout in the MMC this year. Will they be able to break into the top 10 and qualify as a team for sections. More anticipation, expectations, and questions.

With so many new members of the team who will emerge as the surprise "sleeper" who makes the big difference. I know one thing for sure, I'll be at those meet snapping pictures and screaming as loud as ever. Did I mention that I love this time of the year?