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HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Mayfair Win Streak Halted by Bellflower Setting up Showdown with La Mirada for Suburban League Crown
Sports

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Mayfair Win Streak Halted by Bellflower Setting up Showdown with La Mirada for Suburban League Crown

La Mirada~Here we go again.

In what seems like an annual ritual, La Mirada and Mayfair will once again battle for a league championship this season after a miscue went La Mirada’s way in a game they weren’t even playing.

The two teams will square off (both at 9-1), in the final two games of the season Tuesday and Thursday of this week.

This past Friday, a mishandled throw at first base after Frank Armenta of Bellflower laid down a two-strike sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning, allowed the Buccaneers to beat Mayfair 3-2, ending the Monsoons 23-game Suburban League winning streak dating back to 2010.

The Soons last loss was to La Mirada on May 6, 2011 when the Mats beat them 5-3.

Mayfair (19-7, 9-1) is looking for their third straight league championship after sharing the league title with La Mirada in 2011.

Prior to that, the Matadores won the title four of the five previous seasons. Actually, no school has claimed a title in Suburban League baseball the last seven seasons other than Mayfair or La Mirada.

The Mats (18-9-1, 9-1)  are riding a eight-game league winning streak of their own, last losing to Bellflower 1-0 on March 26th.

The home-and-home series begins Tuesday at La Mirada, and shifts to Mayfair on Thursday. Game times are 3:00 p.m.

Klansek Breaks La Mirada School Swimming Mark
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Klansek Breaks La Mirada School Swimming Mark

La Mirada~La Mirada senior Evan Klansek broke a school record during the Suburban League swimming preliminaries this past Tuesday at Splash!

The Berkley-bound Klansek had a time of 1:52.50 in the 200-yard freestyle competition, with many Matadores setting personal best times as well.

The schools competing are La Mirada, Cerritos, Bellflower, Artesia and Mayfair.

The swimmers are trying to qualify for the CIF-SS Division 4 Championships next week, May 6th-10th at the Riverside Aquatics Complex.

Some swimmers have qualified for CIF at other meets, some have or will with automatic-in times today, and still some will be considered, and they will find out Saturday if they are in or out.

Here is a list of La Mirada swimmers who have qualified or have been considered:

Evan Klansek: automatic in 50yd free, 100yd free, 200yd free, consideration in 200yd IM; Shane Chambers: consideration in 200yd free, 500yd free and Trent Beauchamp-Sanchez: automatic in 100yd back, consideration in 500yd free.

Also, Sean Lundin: automatic in 500 free, consideration in 200yd free, 100yd fly; Ryan Poff: consideration in 100yd fly; Anthony Melero: consideration in 200yd free; Ross Jasso: consideration in 100yd breast

Also, all three boys’ relays and all three girls’ relays for La Mirada have qualified for CIF.

The Suburban League Finals are today at 3:00 p.m. at Splash! with free admission.


2013 Suburban League Swimming Finals This Week at Splash!
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2013 Suburban League Swimming Finals This Week at Splash!

La Mirada~The 2013 Suburban League Swimming and Diving Finals will be held two days this week at Splash! Regional Aquatics Center in La Mirada.

Varsity and Junior Varsity boys and girls will compete attempting to qualify for the CIF-SS Swimming & Diving Ford Championships to be held in Riverside May 6-11th.

Suburban League teams competing are Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, La Mirada, and Mayfair.

For La Mirada High School, participants include Amber Cano, Taline Calindrano, Barbara Chumsatya, Teresa DeAvila, Katelyn Degener, Kiana Escobar, Madison Friend, Kendy Gandee, Diana Garcia, Alyssa Gruber, Anysa Hernandez, Marlena Huerta, Jade Jasso and Sharon Kim.

Also, Erin Klansek, Becca Maat, PJ Maddela, Evy Najarian, Meredith Orozco, Carolyn Patrick, Jillian Peart, Janet Ponce, Sydney Quick, Vanessa Ramirez, Sabrina Reyes, Kristen Rodriguez, Sydney Schrudder, Krista Seitz, Grace Spirescu, Zoe Sun and Racquel Tarango.

Boys competing for La Mirada include Trent Beauchamp-Sanchez, Conor Cardenas, Shane Chambers, Matt Frani, Randy Huang, Ross Jasso, Greg Jimenez, Evan Klansek, Timothy Koehler, Alex Laufer, Sean Lundin, Andrew Maddela and Anthony Melero.

Also, Dash Najarian, Robby Nivvo, Christian Park, Patrick Perez, Luis Perez-Garcia, Ryan Poff, Alexander Sigler, Johnny Soto, Luis Torrejon, Antonio Valdez, Armando Valencia, Dominik Vancini, Trevor VanEeckhoutte, Nathan Ventura and Stephan Williams.

Session 1 will be the preliminaries today and Session 2, the finals, are on Friday, May 3rd at Splash!

Warmups are at 2:00 p.m. both days with the meets starting at 3:00 p.m.


Suburban League High School Baseball: Kruip Throws Six Shutout Innings in Mats Win; Monsoons’ Carpenter Throws No-No
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Suburban League High School Baseball: Kruip Throws Six Shutout Innings in Mats Win; Monsoons’ Carpenter Throws No-No

Norwalk~Kyle Carpenter no-hit the John Glenn Eagles, giving up only three walks, as Mayfair defeated John Glenn 10-0, in a battle of unbeaten Suburban League teams.

Although Glenn (10-7, 2-1) and Mayfair (13-5, 5-0) both entered the game without a loss in league play, the Eagles were clearly overmatched.

It was the 17th straight league win, dating back to last year, for the Monsoons who have won the league title the last two seasons.

Senior Justin Davis was 3-4 with 3 RBI’s, garnering a single, double, and triple-a home run short of the cycle. Senior Nico Olvera also had three singles and an RBI for the Monsoons.

Eagle ace Cesar Arzate, victim of some shoddy Glenn defense and some bad hops, gave up three runs in the first inning and never recovered, giving up seven runs and six hits in five innings overall.

Carpenter, faced only 24 batters (three over the minimum), had seven strikeouts, and did not allow a ball out of the infield.

The two teams will play the second game of the home-and-home series Friday at Mayfair beginning at 3 p.m.

In other Suburban League action:

La Mirada, trying to keep pace with Mayfair, improved to 4-1 in league with a 11-0 victory over Norwalk. Cody Kruip pitched six shutout innings for the Matadores. The Lancers fell to 0-3 in the Suburban League.


Game Between Rivals to Decide League Title
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Game Between Rivals to Decide League Title

Season of Streaks for Matadores Culminates With Last Regular Season Game Deciding League Title

La Mirada~In a season that has had more ups and downs than gas prices, the La Mirada High Boys Basketball team plays the biggest game of their season-thus far-tonight at Mayfair High School.

The Matadores will face the Monsoons, with both teams at 10-1 in league and the Suburban League title on the line.

The Matadores only league loss was against Mayfair January 11th, 54-44 at La Mirada.

Mayfair lost to Norwalk January 25th, 67-53.

2nd year head coach Bryce Jones says the team is ready, "We feel pretty confident. We have had four straight days of practice. The guys know what to do and we know what we did wrong last time against them. There's a lot on the line. This is why we work hard all year."

A league title would almost guarantee a first-round home game in the CIF playoffs beginning next week.

La Mirada is looking for their first outright Suburban League title since 1982.

UPDATE: The Matadores lost to Mayfair 60-59 in a very exciting game Friday night. The Mats actually took the lead 59-58 with 38.6 seconds left but, couldn't pull out the victory. The Matadores (17-11,10-2), second-place finishers in the Suburban League, now await the release of the CIF playoff pairings on Sunday to find out where and who they play next.

Matadores Lose Webb in Victory Over Lakewood
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Matadores Lose Webb in Victory Over Lakewood

La Mirada~The La Mirada High School Boys Basketball team beat Lakewood last night 70-46 in the opening round of the North Orange County Championships at Sonora High School.

Charlie Reid had 17 points as the Matadores (6-1), playing their fifth game in six days, led after the first quarter, 29-9.

The victory didn't come without a price however, as star point guard Taelin Webb fractured his lower tibia and is "expected to be out at least eight weeks," said La Mirada head coach Bryce Jones.

Webb is averaging 25 points a game for the Mats, and has spurred the team to their quick start in the 2012-13 campaign.

The Mats next play vs. Capistrano Valley at Sonora High, Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

La Mirada is scheduled to play 15 games in the month of December before opening league play January 2nd at home against Bellflower.

Matadores Start Off on the Right Note at El Rancho Classic
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Matadores Start Off on the Right Note at El Rancho Classic

Pico Rivera~The La Mirada High School Boys Basketball team continued their quick start on the young season by defeating Alhambra High tonight at Pioneer High School, 77-50 in pool play of the 19th Annual Blue Pride Classic.

Taelin Webb led the Matadores with 26 points.

The Matadores (2-0), picked by many to win the Suburban League this year, will play every day this week in the tournament giving 2nd-year coach Bryce Jones a good idea of how his 2012-13 squad performs in some tough real-game competition, after weeks of scrimmages.

The Matadores play today at 4:30 p.m. against Roosevelt High and Thursday, December 6th at 7:30 p.m. against Sunny Hills. Both games will be played at El Rancho High School with Friday and Saturday match-ups of the tournament still to be determined.

The Matadores will also compete in the Sonora Tournament December 10th through the 15th and the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic December 26th through the 29th.

The first official home game of the season for the Mats is December 21st against Sonora High School beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Suburban League play will open Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 as La Mirada will host the Bellflower Buccaneers starting at 6:30 p.m.





FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Matadores Start Out League Play With Dramatic Win; Should Coast Through Suburban
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FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Matadores Start Out League Play With Dramatic Win; Should Coast Through Suburban

La Mirada~The La Mirada High School Football team beat Norwalk in dramatic fashion this past Friday night 29-23, in the opening game of Suburban League play for both teams.

Norwalk took the lead 23-20 with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter on a field goal by Jorge Perez.

However, La Mirada's Gerry Myres found Tyler Luatua for a 59-yard catch-and-run touchdown, securing the win for Matadores (4-1, 1-0).

Myres completed 9 of 15 passes for 178 yards, and saved his longest completion of the night for the winning score.

Adam Carrasco carried the ball 29 times for 165 yards, including all of his teams 66 yards in a grueling 3rd quarter 11-play TD drive.

After a tough pre-league schedule in which the Mats went 3-1, Norwalk may be the Matadores toughest foe in a notoriously very weak Suburban League, made even weaker this year with the recent announcement of the discontinuation of the varsity football program at Cerritos High School, another Suburban team.

The program was shut down due mostly from ongoing Cerritos parent concerns about player safety.

Now a five team league with Cerritos gone-don't look up-because the Mats have only four games remaining for the regular season.

Another key contest for the Mats will be the regular season finale November 2nd at home vs. rival Mayfair.

La Mirada next travels to Bellflower Friday, September 28th to take on the Monsoons (2-2, 0-0).

La Mirada High School Coaching Staff Offering Summer Basketball  Camp
Sports

La Mirada High School Coaching Staff Offering Summer Basketball Camp

La Mirada~Boys ages 7-14 can improve their skills and learn more about the game of basketball at the La Mirada High School Summer Basketball  Camp, July 16th-19th on the La Mirada High School campus.

The camp will be directed by La Mirada head coach Bryce Jones and his staff, and the emphasis will be on skill development and fundamentals.

The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each of the four days (Mon-Thur). The cost is $100.

You can register for the camp online by visiting cityoflamirada.org and clicking "register for classes" or you can call (562) 943-7277 for more information.

La Mirada Girls Develop a Lifelong Friendship Through Sports
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La Mirada Girls Develop a Lifelong Friendship Through Sports

La Mirada~ Actually, of course, it's just the beginning of their life journey for the young ladies on the La Mirada High Softball team, but, in many ways it is the end of a very special time for eight La Mirada girls.

When the Lady Matadores fell to Don Lugo in the CIF Division 2 semi-finals recently, it was the last time that the eight seniors on the team would play together.

On to the next step. La Mirada High's Lisa Perez, Shelbee Gomez, Mylee Macahilig, Rabecca Rice, Courtney Skogen, Jenevie Rivas, Rochelle Sablay, and Ambar Hickman

We spoke with Rich Trujillo, La Mirada's head coach for the past 13 seasons, via telephone. He was on the La Mirada High softball field preparing for an orientation about La Mirada softball for a new group of incoming current La Mirada eighth graders.

"It's bittersweet," said Trujillo, "we have known these kids, and their parents, personally, for a long time."

Lisa Perez, Shelbee Gomez, Mylee Macahilig, Rabecca Rice, Courtney Skogen, Jenevie Rivas, Rochelle Sablay, and Ambar Hickman have basically been playing together since they were about eight, playing in La Mirada youth leagues, travel ball, and then ultimately at La Mirada High School.

Many communities have children growing up together playing youth sports and in many instances, there will be two or three kids, who stay together and will play in high school together, in whatever sport. But, to have eight kids grow up playing ball, and graduate high school, together, is truly rare.

In fact, word is there would have been nine, but one girl chose not to play this year.

LA MIRADA WEATHER

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