LA MIRADA, CA - The Dons will face a good test on Thursday against league opponents on Thursday at La Mirada Regional Park. The varsity races will begin at 3:45pm and will begin with the girls varsity race.
   La Mirada has not lost a league meet since 2000, however, have faced a few close calls to the Dons over the past three years. The Dons have hovered around a few points of the Matadors in what ends up begin a dual meet score with La Mirada/Cerritos normally taking the top 12-14 positions. Cerritos will have 6 of 7 of their squad missing sophomore Connie Caliz who is now training after facing a slight soccer injury this summer. Seniors Jessica Sunio and Gina Tai will hope to break up the 1-2 pack of state qualifier Taylor Jones and Celinda Manzo to give the Dons the advantage. Emily de Boer will look to hold off the pack of Kathia Avila, Jennifer Park, and Athalia Magana. Ashley Casanover is recovering from a torn meniscus and will hope to break up the Dons pack along with Nicole Hammonds and Czarina de Jesus all of whom, except the latter, having run under the 20 minute mark. The last two athletes will be a race day decision for the Dons who had sophomore Erika Resultay surge to the Dons #5 position this weekend with a 5th place finish at the Bell-Jeff Invitational.
   The boys race will be a five team race, as the defending league champions look tough, however, have a strong contingent behind them. The Dons, who have graduated seven varsity athletes since their last league title in 2008, including front-runner Thien-Nam To who won 7 of his 12 races that year, have rebuilt themselves. While the consistency of the Dons has not arrived yet, the inexperience of the Dons seems to be an advantage as the team has improved every meet and has shown signs that they will be ready come season's end. Behind sophomore Ganesh Tilve (ABC District Champion Runner-up), the Dons will look to challenge. La Mirada's Regan Garcia and Mayfair's Brandon Taylor will battle up front for the individual crown with the team race which includes Norwalk, Cerritos, and Bellflower as well, taking place behind them.

HONOLULU, HI - In a new environment with tropical weather and missing a few top runners, the Dons still fared on the challenging course at Kualoa Ranch during the Iolani Invitational. In the girls race, with CA#3 Dana Hills and CIF-SS DIII #1 Palos Verdes in the race, the winning time only 19:14 and only four girls finishing under 20 minutes.

Gina Tai led the Dons in 15th in 20:39 with teammate Kathia Avila finishing strong behind in 21:09. Athalia Magana also finished under 22 in a time of 21:56. Leading the open girls race were Audrey Lee (22:13) and Rachel Flores (22:19) who finished just outside the top ten in 12th and 13th. The varsity girls took fourth behind Palos Verdes and in front of WI D2 #12 Viroqua.

Sophomore Ganesh Tilve ran to the Don's fastest time on the course in 17:38 which allowed him to finish in 18th place in a competitive field. The Dons placed four of their scorers (Andrew Shen, Josh Quarles, Matthew Chern) in the top 50 in order to finish in 6th place. Freshman Frank Lee was able to break the top ten in the open race in 18:43 to help them to a second place finish. Mike Tran finished just outside the top ten in 11th in 19:04 with Raymond Lim finishing in 14th in 19:31.

On a course not know for fast times, the lady Dons ran the fastest time in district history at Cerritos Regional Park and the second fastest time overall. Jessica Sunio finished 23 seconds behind Lindsey Ragas (17:57 at Don Bosco Tech) in 19:27 with Gina Tai in 3rd in 19:49. The Dons took the 2-6 positions after getting swept 1-2-3 in last years race. Kathia Avila (20:16), Jennifer Park (20:31), and Athalia Magana (20:46) closed out the scoring for the lady Dons. In the junior varsity race, sophomore Erika Resultay, the ABC District Champion was the next fastest finisher in 21:12.

The boys were able to surpass their time in 2009 by over one minute behind sophomore Ganesh Tilve (16:50) who nearly closed the gap on ABC District Champions Angel Aguiano of Whitney. Jonathan Liang (17:18), Matthew Chern (17:31) and Douglas Kim (17:33) helped the Dons past the Gladiators of Gahr by taking four of the top 8 spots. Andrew Shen and freshman Joshua Quarles finished in medaling positions while Raymond Lim (F/S) and Kelvin Huang won the lower level individual championships.

Despite missing a few top athletes due to the ACT, the Dons still managed to surpass their team time marks from 2010. In a faster field of California State Finalists and CIF-SS finalists, it was tough to stand out, however, the Dons managed to.

Jessica Sunio (18:47) started the season out right nearing her PR and dropping 19 seconds off of last year's mark. Kathia Avila (19:28) improved by 2:34 since last season, with Jennifer Park (19:32) and Athalia Magana (19:56) also continued to progress forward. Among the top five, however, Erika Resultay had the biggest jump of 3:35 fro 24:06 to 20:31 and a 1:10 improvement from last season's PR.

The boys also inched passed their time from last year despite graduating four of their top five from this race last year. Sophomore Ganesh Tilve dropped 28 seconds from last year at this course to 16:46 while Jonathan Liang ran a solid performance behind him in 16:56.

   FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA - The Dons had nine recognized for their performances at the Kevin Cook Spirit Run in Fountain Valley including two alumni. In the girls races, Jessica Sunio and Gina Tai took home first and second in the senior girls division over the 5k course coming through at 19:02 and 19:04 at the three mile mark and 19:42 and 19:46 through the finish, placing them third and fourth overall. Sophomore Erika Resultay was the sixth female finisher for the Dons, yet was able to take home second place honors in her grade division. Freshman Joshua Quarles took home first in his division, while sophomore Ganesh Tilve was second.