WALNUT, CA - The gun sounded, as the lady Dons were no where to be seen at the line. From the shadows of the masses, however, the Dons reappeared after starting from behind the rest of the field. The lady Dons were told that they could do a stride and as they did, the race began - without them. The lady Dons hurried to catch stride with the rest of the field, yet never really positioned themselves where they had hoped. However, the Dons still managed a third place finish behind the 19:39-19:43 efforts of Gina Tai and Jessica Sunio. The rest of the pack was not as lucky as the first two, as they were eaten by the pack early on, left only to use their energy to work they way back to the front leaving them stuck between 21:14 and 21:53, far off their goal paces. In the sophomore girls race, Connie Caliz also finished under 22 minutes.

The boys also were a bit out of position with two of their top seven missing from the varsity races. However, the 1-2-3 finish of the Dons was oddly familiar behind sophomore Ganesh Tilve (17:00), senior Jonathan Liang, and Matthew Chern heading the charge. The junior varsity boys had the best performances with Keith Domon and Kelvin Huang leading the way, while the freshmen boys were paced by Frank Lee and Joshua Quarles.

WALNUT, CA – The Dons will be one of 546 teams competing at the 63rd annual Mt. SAC Invitational held at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Ca. Over 20,000 will compete in 104 races that are separated by an average of eight minutes across the two days of the meet. Cerritos will be represented by the second largest contingent at the entire meet and the largest on Friday’s session, which plays host to Division 3-5 teams, a division determined by school enrollment.

The boys will compete in Race #18 (Green) where they will face defending Arizona state champion (Division 5A-II) Ironwood Ridge, Palos Verdes (CA-SS DIII #3), Buena Park (CA-SS DIII #8), Corona del Mar (CA-SS DIII #10), and Cabrillo of Lompoc (CA-SS DIII #12).  Despite facing a similar heat in 2009, the Dons were able to fare well and even with a younger squad, hope for similar results.

The girls will also face Ironwood Ridge who also won the Arizona state championship in Division5A-II along with the fourth place team in that division Marcos De Niza in race #19 where 31 teams are scheduled to compete. Sarah Miville, the defending state champion from Ironwood Ridge is expected to be the leader of the race, with fellow Arizonian Natalie Jones of Marcos de Niza projected to be among the leaders.

The younger Dons will compete in age level races (freshmen, sophomore) in which Cerritos has been quite successful. In 2009, Cerritos won the girls freshmen race and were runner ups in the girls sophomore race. The Dons hope for similar success despite missing a few key runners.  Juniors and seniors not running in the varsity race will be placed in the open junior varsity races, which will start off the meet on Friday.

   SOUTH EL MONTE, CA - The Dons raced the competition at the Bell Gardens Invitational at Whittier Narrows Park.  With no team competitions involved, the Dons raced for individuals personal records. Of the seventy athletes racing, over thirty of them set a personal record on the day including 14 of the 16 top PRs by freshmen.
   Senior Gina Tai tied her PR of 18:47 in winning the senior girls race, pulling away in the last 600m of the race, while junior Kathia Avila passed Megan Nevarez of Downey who ran 18:26 at the Non-League Dual ten days prior. Avila's effort allowed her to take second in 19:16 and also moved her up the hall of fame list to #10.
   Sophomore Ganesh Tilve led the Dons as he raced in the earlier senior boys race due to a scheduling conflict. His 16:06 allowed him to finish 12th among the seniors, passing all but one athlete from Norwalk, previewing what could be an plus for the Dons come league finals. The time also allowed Ganesh to move up to #11 on the hall of fame
   The Dons will now prepare for the Mt. SAC Invitational on Friday, October 22, 2010 where they will take on their fellow Division III opponents.

   CERRITOS, CA - The rain poured down on Tuesday, as the Dons completed their interval workouts just before their non-league race against only Downey after Marina (CA#8 D1 Boys) dropped out due to the weather. The Dons, training through the race, still completed their workout, but not before the rain poured down and had athletes slipping and sliding through the finish of the repeats.
   While the meet lay in question most of the day, the rain clouds dispersed and allowed for sunlight come two hours prior to race time. The course, still wet and muddy throughout, still was able to be run and thus, the battle between Downey and Cerritos began.
    In the girls race, Megan Nevarez spoiled the party as she broke the course record, however, the Dons had Gina Tai (18:51) and Jessica Sunio (19:05) leading their pack of girls through most of the course. The two athletes, who were questionable due to the colds they had been recovering from, ran despite being about 80% in their final test run before their next league race. They helped propel the Dons to their decisive 23-36 victory helped by the PR of Kathia Avila (19:23), and the support of Jennifer Park (19:33) and Rachel Flores (19:44) who helped push the Dons past the course and school record in 96:36. The lady Dons set their previous school record mark in 2009 at the Suburban League Finals in 97:03.
   The boys looked calm and collected throughout the race despite allowing Moises Martinez to run away with the individual victory. However, the young pack of Dons came through the finish stacking five in the top six with a 31 second scoring gap. Freshman Joshua Quarles (16:45) took the first spot for the Dons in second as he surged past fellow sophomore teammate Ganesh Tilve. Seniors Jonathan Liang and Matthew Chern sandwiched freshman Frank Lee in the results in the 4-5-6 position. The Dons ended up with an easy 20-37 victory.
   The Dons now look forward to their battle against their league rivals on Thursday on their home turf at Cerritos Regional Park. The 3.05 mile course allows for some fast times, including the 18:46 (3 mile) ran by Jessica Sunio in last year's race. The lady Dons will look to end La Mirada's 150 League/League Finals winning streak (incorrectly reported as 111).

The Dons faced their fastest race of the season, as the team set a number of new personal records on a cool morning that warmed up for the afternoon races.

Sophomore Ganesh Tilve was one of those athletes who ran in those warmer conditions, as he paced himself to a 16:17 and joining the hall of fame as just a sophomore and closed in on Thien-Nam To's fastest mark as a sophomore at Warren (16:21). By the time To was a senior, he won 7 of his 12 races and advanced to the National Junior Olympic Championships. If Tilve can keep pace, he'll have a bright future ahead. Tilve's teammates also found their way to great times and packed it under or at the 17 minute mark including senior Jonathan Liang and Matthew Chern, junior Mike Tran and freshman Joshua Quarles.

The lady Dons nearly took down their own team time record despite missing their current #3/4 runner Kathia Avila who was resting for the day. Also, illnesses spread through the camp, as senior Jessica Sunio had to battle her cold more than the course in her less than par race at 19:23 while her co-captain surged ahead to a 18:47, despite the fact that the front runners took a wrong turn on the course. Sophomore Jennifer Park pushed forward to help the lady Dons in 19:30, while teammates Rachel Flores, Athalia Magana, and Erika Resultay were able to keep six under the 20 minute mark on the day.

The Dons will get another chance to run great times as they challenge a fast, yet rain-soaked course October 6 at Cerritos HS. Despite the muddy and slipper conditions, the possibility of personal records is still high.