La Mirada Summer Practice

To view the photo gallery of La Mirada's practice, click HERE

We visited La Mirada's summer practice at 5:15 in the morning! The Matadors are coached by Monica Luna and compete in the division 3 of CIF Southern Section. The team ran to La Mirada Community Regional Park and completed hilly loops on soft grass at the park. Coach Luna treated the athletes to Krispy Kreme donuts at the end of practice.

During the summer season, how often does the team practice?

The team practices five to six days a week Monday- Friday/Saturday. The team has five-day weeks on workout heavy weeks and a six-day week on not so heavy weeks. 

What are some special summer activities?

During summer we have an annual IHOP run; where our athletes run to a nearby IHOP and have breakfast together post run. We will be hosting a team Fourth of July Scavenger Hunt around the City of La Mirada for our athletes. Our athletes will be separated into groups and with clues and hints provided will help find the most items on the list. And lastly, our annual beach day before the school year starts. It's a day where the team gathers at the beach for burgers, snacks, and fun. 

How do you build team culture?

We build team culture through the relationships within the team. Something special about the La Mirada High School Cross Country Program is that we offer a mentor & mentee program. So, anyone new to our program will be assigned a mentor to show them our routes, certain expectations, be a running buddy and more. We also build the culture through our team bonding events and special summer activities that our program holds. 

What are some events that the team is looking forward to in the fall season?

The team is excited for all the meets. The team always looks forward to running Woodbridge Invitational under the lights and having fun on Friday. They also look forward to our league meets. The league meets are always super competitive and fun. Our team is looking forward to hopefully qualify for CIF and hopefully make state this year. 

At practice we spoke with La Mirada athletes Amanda, Tristan, Ryan and Marley.

What do you look forward during the summer with the team?

Amanda:  I'm looking forward to during the summer is definitely the tradition like the annual IHOP breakfast run. It's like just a nice time like we do a three-mile run and then after we end the run at IHOP and it's like a whole team bonding thing. Then as well as the beach days. Before we start school, during the summer, we have a run on the beach and then we just spend the rest of the time on the beach. It's so fun and it's a way to get to know everyone else and get closer together.

Tristan:  I'm looking forward to is definitely the hill repeats. I really like hills a lot. It is at Ralph Clark Park that is up the street and where we race. I'm looking forward to is the movie night movie. I really like the movie night because we're there for three hours and get snacks and food and we're all just there. It's relaxing together.

Ryan: I agree with Amanda about IHOP and as always one of my favorites just because you're on a short run and you just get to eat there and hang out with your friends. Also, we do a scavenger hunt and basically, we go to different areas along and we pick stuff out we have to get it back there first before anyone else.

Marley: I also love the IHOP run, and any other photo run we do sometimes. We do boba runs and I think the fellowship really makes the team feel whole. When you're not running and you have to hang out with your friends, it's really makes it more enjoyable.

What do you look forward to during cross country season?

Amanda: I really look forward to during the fall is definitely Woodbridge. Woodbridge is like one of my all-time favorites. It's so nice to see like a lot of people running from like different areas of like across the nation. It’s one of the most competitive races there is so it's like really nice.

Tristan: Probably for me, it's Cool Breeze because it's a night race and it's at the Pomona Fairplex. One tradition I'm really excited for is the gift exchange later this year that's going to be fun.

Ryan: My favorite would be our league meets at Ralph Clark Park. We race there three times We're super close to the park from our school, so we go there occasionally and train on Saturdays. We get to go the top of the hill watch people and cheer for people and then also after racing we just hang out with each other. It is pretty fun.

Marley: I love the league meets I think they're super fun because the park is really beautiful, and which is really fun to hang out with your friends. Also, even though the course is quite difficult, Mt SAC can be really fun afterwards because there's just so many people. It's such a crazy environment and I love it!