More Records Fall at Clovis Invitational

Eyobed Mesfun sprints the final 400 meters at the Clovis Invite.

Woodward Park, Fresno - The Warriors had just over 36 hours to turn around after opening WCAL action at Golden Gate Park to toe the starting line at the Clovis Invitational against 200 schools from around the state. Running on the State Championship course the Warriors battled to some of the top performances in school history.

The boys had the early morning wake-up call as they were first up in the Small School division with an 8 am start time. Running strong from the start the boys hit their first mile right on pace and went to work the later miles. Each member on the team stepped up running what is their best performance to date running the 5k course in a team record time of 90:33.

Led by a strong performance from Sean Davis who finished 9th in a school record time of 16:04, all 7 boys finished the 5k course in under 19:30. Ryan Ensor ran an outstanding race finishing in 18:01, an amazing 40 second drop over last year’s time! He was followed by Eyobed Mesfun who continues to show steady improvement finishing in 18:26. The core runners of Eric Ortiz (18:57), Dustin Laucella (19:05), and Alex Ascencio (19:09) have been huge for the success of this year’s team. The consistency of these runners has helped the team to finish in school record time for every race they have competed in this season. Another highlight for the boy’s team is new comer Corey Bentley. Joining the team just one month ago he has earned a spot on the Varsity team dropping nearly a minute from his time from the Early Bird Invitational at the start of the season.


The boys now turn their sights to Crystal Springs where they will compete in the next two league meets and chase the critical CCS qualifying time. Working together has been a theme for the Warriors this season and that was on display at Clovis where the 4-7 runners all passed the mile within 2 seconds of one another. “When we work together, we will be successful as a team,” Coach Small said. “We have to realize that each runner on our team has to take personal responsibility to only run their best but to push their teammates.” For the Warriors to make CCS they will need all 5 runners to be outstanding, but the team is up for the task.

The girls had the daunting task of running in the Championship division and faced off with many of the top teams in California. The team responded with an outstanding team performance as the girls raced to the second fastest team time in school history that ranks only behind the outstanding State Championship team from 2008.

Morgan Lira is in the lead pack passing the mile in 5:30 at the Clovis Inv.

Morgan Lira led the charge and opened the race with a quick 5:30 first mile fighting all the way to a 20 second personal best, finishing 9th over-all in 18:25. Her time strengthens her rank as the #2 time in school history as the team also responded with outstanding marks. More outstanding performances followed as Karen Mac had a breakthrough performance finishing 2nd for the Warriors in 20:25 an amazing 3:23 improvement over last year. She was followed by Ashley Lara who is having an outstanding freshman year running 20:29 for the 5k course. Another huge performance came from Jessica Xu who finished in 20:32, an astonishing 3:22 better than her personal best from last season.  Next to cross the line was Kellianne Connolly who had an impressive improvement of her own running 52 seconds better than last year finishing in 21:43, her best 5k time of the season. Isabel Garcia (22:15) continues to take a step in her recovery and Shannon Luu (22:16) improved an amazing 2:52 over last season’s time.

The Warriors return to league competition Tuesday at Crystal Springs in Belmont.  Races start at 2 pm.

Boys Results - Clovis Invitational (5k)
	Team Record:	Sean Davis		16:04	2011
				Mile 1	Mile 2
	Sean Davis	12	16:04	5:00	10:21
	Ryan Ensor	11	18:01	5:22	11:25
	Eyobed Mesfun	11	18:26	5:34	11:47
	Eric Ortiz	12	18:57	5:55	12:07
	Dustin Laucella	12	19:05	5:56	12:18
	Alex Ascencio	11	19:09	5:54	12:20
	Corey Bentley	11	19:31	5:56	12:26
Girls Results - Clovis Invitational (5k)
	Team Record:	Jennifer Bergman		18:03	2008
				Mile 1	Mile 2
	Morgan Lira	12	18:25	5:31	11:44
	Karen Mac	10	20:25	6:17	13:13
	Ashley Lara	9	20:29	6:16	13:13
	Jessica Xu	10	20:32	6:15	13:12
	Kellianne Connolly	11	21:43	6:19	13:52
	Isabel Garcia	12	22:15	6:25	14:08
	Shannon Luu	10	22:16	6:25	14:20