DOWNEY - The Warren High School boys' cross country team has hit the ground running.After spending 19 days this summer training in the northern Californian cities of Lake Tahoe, Placerville, Sacramento and Auburn, the Bears returned home more fit and determined to pick up where they left off from last year. Gone are standout runners Omar Torres to Chico State and Alec Dominguez to UCSB and emerging in their place are a group of sophomore runners to fill those shoes. Sophomore Jonathan Rodriguez, sophomore Benjamin Gonzalez, senior Fortino Santana, sophomore Andres Bernal, senior Ramiro Santana, junior Michael Hernandez and junior Brandon Iraheta have emerged to become the top seven Bear runners. The Bears recently competed at Laguna Hills in a "training race" on September 8th and followed that up with the prestigious Woodbridge Invitational on September 17th, at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa. The Bears finished 17th overall out of 198 schools in a time of 77:33. The Bears defeated C.I.F. Divison I and ninth ranked local power El Rancho at this meet. The Bears also competed at the first of three San Gabriel Valley League cluster meets at Hollydale Park on Thursday, September 20th. The Bears dominated this competition with their top six runners placing in the top 12. The Bears are leaving today for the Nike Pre-National in Portland, Oregon, to be held this Saturday, Sept. 29. There will be ten highly ranked high schools from California competing at this event. The second league cluster meet will be held Thursday, Oct. 11, at Cerritos Regional Park and the last league cluster meet will be held at La Mirada Park on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Coach Miranda is excited for this season and the young group of runners he has competing. Miranda maintains that his runners continue to work hard and that "state is the mission."

********** Published: September 27, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 24