Jim O'Brien - Head Coach

Caz Scislowicz - Assistant

Alex Fan - Assistant

2007 Pacific League 2nd Place ()
CIF-SS Finals - Div I -
CIF-State Meet - Div I -

JV - 2007 Pacific League Champions ()

F/S - 2007 Pacific League Champions ()

2007 Results

Don Bosco Invitational

In the Senior race, Will MacNeil 5th @ 15:46, Kris Romero 6th @ 15:51, Ryan Ernst 17th @ 16:29 and Daniel Yamane 20th @ 16:35.  In the Junior race, Renaud Poizat 1st @ 15:23.1 and  Matt Swanson 16th @ 16:45.  In the Sophomore race, Bryant Chan 13th @ 17:19 and Nick Shar 17th @ 17:39.  In the Frosh race, Ammar Moussa 1st @ 16:51.7 and Ben Hsueh 12th @ 18:00.9.

Coach O'Brien's comments

Sept. 8th  -  DON BOSCO TECH Invitational  -  Arcadia athletes have trained more miles and at a higher level of intensity this summer than any group before them.  There were 13 boys who cracked the 1,000 mile mark in only 13 weeks from June 16th to September 7th.  Previously, the high mark for cracking 1,000 was 7 Apache runners last year.  This particular group of guys has shown a tremendous level of dedication and discipline which we hope in the long run translates to another fine season.  Our high altitude training camp was held in Mammoth Lakes for 10 days in August, and all 24 boys who were invited took care of business while often running at or above the 10,000 foot elevation level for a grand total of 153 miles.

The Bosco Tech meet is one that we approach as a solid hard workout instead of a race.  We have our traditional intra-squad 5k race on Labor Day, only 6 days before the 1st official race of the season which determines our teams’ “Top 7” Varsity and we distribute the corresponding numbered sweatshirts to those boys.

Considering all of that, we managed to place 3rd and had several very promising results.  Our Seniors placed 1st with 62 points and the next closest team scored 127.  Will MacNeil and Kris Romero led the charge.  Our Juniors placed 3rd as Renaud Poizat won the race in a 15:23. The Sophomore class also placed 3rd and had a very tight pack with a team spread (1st through 5th runner) of only 41 seconds.  Finally, our Frosh boys ran great, placing 2nd with Ammar Moussa winning in 16:51.  When the dust settled, the Arcadia boys left the Santa Fe Dam race site as the #1 boys program with all 4 races combined.

Woodbridge Invitational

Senior Kris Romero leads Apaches to 2nd place finish @ 1:15.43 behind Murrietta Valley @ 1:15.21.  Romero 14th @ 14:40, Renaud Poizat 19th @ 14:48, Ryan Ernst 35th @ 15:04, Wil MacNeil 52nd @ 15:23, Andrew Thach 97th @ 15:48 and Daniel Yamane 117th @ 15:57.  The Juniors finished 10th @ 1:24.59.  They were led by Matt Swanson 11th @ 15:54, Daniel Tucker 44th @ 16:43, Ricky Li 78th @ 17:08, Youn Chang 110th @ 17:32, Alex Eng 124th @ 17:42, Greg Zajac 148th @ 18:13, Taylor Toyotome 160th @ 18:27 and Andrew Toyotome 161st @ 18:28.  The Sopomores finished 3rd @ 1:23.01.  They were led by Bryant Chan 5th @ 15:53, Nick Shar 25th @ 16:23, Charlie Johansen 59th @ 16:57, Christos McClain 60th @ 16:58, Phillip Ho 65th @ 17:11, Gabe Weil 66th @ 17:12, and David Mejia 71st @ 17:14.  The Freshmen finished 3rd @ 1:26.45.  They were led by Ammar Moussa 7th @ 16:20, Ben Hsueh 21st @ 16:54, Esmond Wei 27th @ 17:15, Eric Garibay 59th @ 18:02, William Tsai 70th @ 18:14, Allen Leung 81st @ 18:33, Zach Marriott 88th @ 18:41 and Daniel Huang 108th @ 19:05.

Coach O'Brien's comments

Sept. 15th  -  WOODBRIDGE Invitational  -  This race is another Invite which runs each grade level together except there is an Invite Sweepstakes race with the best teams in the state toeing the line.  Fortunately, Arcadia was invited again and we didn’t take the opportunity lightly.  The atmosphere is absolutely electric as the Division 1 races are held at night “under the lights” and the flat and fast course provides for some amazing times.  Kris Romero not only led our team to a 2nd place finish (best placing in school history), he also broke Andrew Pilavjian’s school record by 5 seconds, clocking 14:40 and placing 14th!!   Renaud Poizat was close behind in 14:48, marking the first time we had put 2 runners under 15 minutes at this race. Ryan Ernst, Will MacNeil, and Andrew Thach closed in rapid succession in 15:04, 15:23, and 15:48 respectively for a Team Time of 75:43 (15:08 avg.).

The Frosh boys ran great to finish 3rd in a huge field of runners, and again, Ammar Moussa led the charge by placing 7th in 16:20 despite fasting all day in observance of Ramadan.  Ben Hsueh also cracked the 17 minute barrier in 16:54, with teammate Esmond Wei on his heels in 17:15.  Our Sophs also ran well, placing 3rd, with Bryant Chan blasting home in 15:56. Matthew Swanson (Jr.) also had a great race in 15:54.  At the end of the day, when each of the races were scored, Arcadia was once again the #1 boys program in the meet by a score of 30 to 41 for Trabuco Hills.  As a team we really don’t put too much stock into CIF So. Section or State rankings, however at this meet we defeated every team ranked ahead of us including #1 ranked Trabuco Hills.  Problem is, we got beat by a team ranked behind us, namely Murietta Valley, who ran just lights out.

Pacific League Meet #1 Crescenta Valley Park

Arcadia (6-1) finished 2nd to Crescenta Valley @ Crescenta Valley Park.  The Apaches were led by Kris Romero 2nd @ 15:41, Renaud Poizat 6th @ 15:54, Ryan Ernst 9th @ 16:21, Wil MacNeil 11th @ 16:29, Daniel Yamane 19th @ 16:55, Andrew Thach 20th @ 17:00 and Matt Swanson 22nd @ 17:07.  The JVs (7-0) were led by Jerry Zhou 2nd @ 17:44, Kelvin An 3rd @ 17:52, Ricky Li 4th @ 18:03, Daniel Tucker 5th @ 18:06, Eric Chin 18:38, Alex Eng 16th @ 19:10 and Minda Wang 17th @ 19:15.  The FS (7-0) were led by Bryant Chan 1st @ 17:32, Nicolas Shar 2nd @ 17:34, Ammar Moussa 5th @ 17:54, Gabe Weil 7th @ 18:00, Charlie Johansen 8th @ 18:11, Ben Hsueh 9th @ 18:12 and Robin Wan 10th @ 18:20.

Paul Flanders photos

Coach O,Brien's comments

Sept. 19th  -  Pacific League #1  -  Well, the Soph/Frosh boys dominated the league by placing 9 out of the top 12.  Bryant Chan once again took care of business with the winning time of 17:32, and this time he had company in Nick Shar, 2nd at 17:34 on the tough Crescenta Valley Park course.  The JV team was equally impressive with 4 of the top 5 spots.  Jerry Zhou was 2nd in 17:44 and Kelvin An 3rd in 17:52 to lead the team.  It was our Varsity who ran into a buzz saw as the CV boys ran an All-Time course record to win convincingly on their home turf 24-31.  We knew they were good, as they were only ranked 1 place behind us in State, but I have to believe there were some extenuating circumstances that led to our team coming out a bit flat.  Suffice it to say, we will be relishing the chance for payback on Arcadia County Park course on Oct. 11th at league meet #2.  On a high note, once again Kris Romero set a school record on the CV Park course with his time of 15:41.  That eclipses the mark from 2005 of Paul Beckwith who had run 15:44. Renaud Poizat was again stellar at 15:54 but this time CV had too much fire power for us.  Ryan Ernst ran 16:21 and Will MacNeil clocked 16:29 as he battled the effects of back spasms.  To be a great team we will have to close the gap between our 4th man and our 5th, 6th, and 7th.

Pepperdine Invitational

The Apaches finished 5th (1:24.06) in the Sweeps race on a rainy Saturday in Malibu.  They were led by Kris Romero 5th @ 16:07.99, Renaud Poizat 11th @ 16:18.86, Ryan Ernst 36th @ 17:02.07, Wil MacNeil 50th @ 17:16.81, Matt Swanson 54th @ 17:20.65, Daniel Yamane 69th @ 17:37.85 and Andrew Thach 87th @ 18:14.59.  The JVs finished 2nd @ 1:33.09.  They were led by Jerry Zhou 7th @ 18:16.27, Kelvin An 12th @ 18:35.14, Daniel Tucker 13th @ 18:37.24, Iker Telleria 17th @ 18:51.89, Eric Chin 43rd @ 19:31.84, Yashar Rahimpour 50th @ 19:46.19 and Alex Eng 62nd @ 20:01.17.  The FS finished 1st @ 1:31.32.  They were led by Bryant Chan 4th @ 17:43.36, Ammar Moussa 7th @ 18:01.33, Christos McClain 16th @ 18:34.62, Gabe Weil 20th @ 18:40.75, Yufei Fu 22nd @ 18:49.42, Charlie Johansen 29th @ 18:59.65 and Ben Hsueh 40th @ 19:12.32.

Coach O'Brien's comments

Sept. 22nd  -  PEPPERDINE Invitational  -  As I returned to the fold after a one meet hiatus, we traveled to Malibu to race on the front lawn of beautiful Pepperdine University.  This inaugural meet was huge with teams coming from as far as New York, as well as Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah plus all up and down the state of California.  Again we were invited to compete in the Sweepstakes race and managed to pull out a 5th place finish.  The conditions were challenging to say the least with a steady rain having soaked the grass, turning each race into a “Mud Bath” where athletes’ shoes were actually getting sucked right off their feet.  You just had to be there to believe it, but talk about a fun-filled experience for our kids.  It was a BLAST! Kris Romero was amazing in 5th place overall at 16:07 with only the very best athletes in the state finishing ahead of him.  Renaud Poizat clocked 16:18 and our 3rd runner, Ryan Ernst was well back at 17:02. Will MacNeil clocked 17:16 and Matt Swanson finished in 17:20 to close out the scoring for the team.

The JV team placed 2nd in a field of 35 schools, losing out only to Snohomish of Washington.  Placing all 5 of our scoring runners in the top 17 in a big race is usually good enough to get the job done, especially when our team spread (1st-5th man) was only 35 seconds.  Snohomish obviously loved these sloppy conditions the torrential rains created and Arcadia was faced with something totally foreign to us.  Jerry Zhou placed 7th in 18:16 and Kelvin An was close behind in 12th at 18:35.  In rapid succession came Daniel Tucker (13th – 18:37), Ricky Li (15th – 18:48), and Iker Telleria (17th – 18:51).  It was an awesome team performance from this group!

Not to be upstaged, the Soph/Frosh boys claimed a Championship by a mere 1 point over Royal H.S. as our 6th man displaced Royal’s 5th to seal the deal.  Our strength and our depth was rewarded with a win as Bryant Chan tore it up in 17:43, with Ammar Moussa (still fasting) in 18:01 for 4th and 7th place respectively.  Nick Shar had a rough day in the mud at 18:32 and Christos McClain clocked 18:34. Close behind was our 5th and 6th men Gabe Weil (18:40) and Yufei Fu (18:49).  Cross Country is definitely a “Team” sport with every runner contributing to the overall success of the team. This race is proof positive of that concept.

Kenny Staub Invitational

The Apache boys split squad ran well at Crescenta Valley Park.  The 2nd JV team finished 10th in 1:34.11.  They were led by Ricky Li 14th @ 17:51, Youn Chang 45th @ 18:45, Alex Eng 63rd @ 19:20, Minda Wang 66th @ 19:24, Ben Schaule 102nd @ 20:36, Yashar Rahimpour 113th @ 20:59 and Anthony Wang 135th @ 21:36.  The Sophomores finished 2nd @ 1:29.44.  They were led by Charlie Johansen @ 17:46, Gabe Weil 10th @ 17:51, Robin Wan 11th @ 17:56, Patrick Wrobel 14th @ 18:02, David Mejia 19th @ 18:06, Phillip Ho 23rd @ 18:13 and Mina Issac 33rd @ 18:48.  The Frosh finished 3rd @ 1:32.48.  They were led by Esmond Wei 9th @ 18:00, Ben Hsueh 11th @ 18:05, Eric Garibay 18th @ 18:33, William Tsai 27th @ 19:00, Allen Leung 30th @ 19:08, Zach Marriott 35th @ 19:16 and Daniel Huang 50th @ 19:46.

Coach O'Brien's commenst

Sept. 29th  -  KENNY STAUB Invitational  -  Since we can’t take all of our team to Stanford, we provide another competitive experience for those we left behind.  Despite the absence of two key athletes at Stanford (Bryant Chan and Nick Shar), we held our own and placed 2nd in the Large School Division sophomore race.  Charlie Johansen led the way in 17:46, closely followed by Gabe Weil (17:51), Robin Wan (17:56), Patrick Wrobel (18:02), and David Mejia (18:06) for an astounding team spread of 20 seconds.

The Freshmen placed 3rd in their race without the services of Ammar Moussa, who was also at Stanford.  Esmond Wei clocked 18:00 and Ben Hsueh ran 18:05 to lead the squad.  Eric Garibay is rounding into shape and was our 3rd man in 18:33 with William Tsai in 19:00.  Allen Leung completed the scoring at 19:08.  Plug in those missing sophomores and the freshman into those 2 races and Arcadia finishes 1st. Great Job!!

Stanford Invitational

Arcadia traveled north to Palo Alto for the prestigious Stanford Invitational.  The Varsity placed fifth in the Sweeps @ 1:21.03, their best finish to date at Stanford.  Kris Romero 9th, led the Apaches @ 15:34 over the 5K course with Renaud Poizat 23rd @ 15:57, Will MacNeil 48th @ 16:18, Ryan Ernst 64th @ 16:30, Andrew Thach 80th @ 16:44, Matt Swanson 103rd @ 17:00 and Daniel Yamane 112th @ 17:00.  The JVs placed first in Div I in 50:42 over the 3K course.  The Apaches were led by Bryant Chan 1st @ 9:51, Ammar Moussa 2nd @ 9:59, Kelvin An 15th @ 10:12, Nick Shar 18th @ 10:14, Jerry Zhou 35th @ 10:26, Iker Telleria 44th @ 10:30 and Daniel Tucker 69th @ 10:39.

Coach O'Brien's comments

Sept. 29th  -  STANFORD Invitational  -  Another big-time Invite to challenge us and prepare us for later pressure-packed events ahead, such as our So. Section CIF Finals, and the State Meet.  Anytime we travel to a meet it presents a challenge, not the least of which is financial.  We only take the top 14 runners and compete in the only 2 races available to us.  We were invited to run in the Sweepstakes race and also entered our boys in the JV race, which at Stanford allows Freshmen and Sophomores to compete since there aren’t any Soph/Frosh races.  Well, this turned out to be another coming out party for Arcadia as our Varsity placed higher than ever before in 5th on the pristine Stanford Golf Course over 5 kilometers; and the JV wrecking crew took 1st in an awesome performance over 3000 meters.

As has become his habit of late, Kris Romero broke another school record with a time of 15:34 while placing 8th overall in a truly national class field.  He broke Andrew Pilavjian’s record of 15:49 by an astounding 15 seconds and led his team to a 5th place finish which improved our previous best of 8th.  We were the #1 CIF Southern Section team in a race that was won by Crater H.S. of Oregon. Renaud Poizat also broke 16 minutes on the course to place 23rd in 15:57.  Will MacNeil was our 3rd man at 16:18 and Ryan Ernst our 4th man in 16:30. Andrew Thach closed the show in 16:44.

In a race against 30 other elite teams, Arcadia JV prevailed with a tremendous 1-2 punch of Bryant Chan and Ammar Moussa who finished 1st and 2nd overall in 9:51 and 9:59.  As Arcadia runners had never broken 10 minutes on this course before, we were all really excited.  Then the coaching staff sees Kelvin An (15th), Nick Shar (18th) and Jerry Zhou (35th) all streaking toward the finish while passing opponents like they were standing still.  They finished in 10:12, 10:14, and 10:26 to complete the scoring to win handily by 17 points over Jesuit H.S. WOW!

Clovis Invitational

Arcadia traveled to Fresno's Woodward Park for the Clovis Invitaional finishing 5th in the Sweepstakes race in 1:20.40 against the best in California.  A prelude to the State Meet @ Thanksgiving, the Apached were led by Renuad Poizat 9th @ 15:33, Kris Romero 12th @ 15:37, Ryan Ernst 32nd @ 15:57, Wil MacNiel 93rd @ 16:46, Daniel Yamane 95th @ 16:47, Matt Swanson 106th @ 16:54 and Andrew Thach 124th @ 17:06.  The FS won the Div I race @ 1:25.41.  They were led by Bryant Chan 1st @ 16:41, Ammar Moussa 2nd @ 16:46, Nick Shar 12th @ 17:09, Ben Hsueh 25th @ 17:31, Yufei Fu 27th @ 17:34, Robin Wan 30th @ 17:36 and Charlie Johansen 39th @ 17:43.  In the JV race Kelvin An finished 22nd @ 17:32, Ricky Li 23rd @ 17:33, Jerry Zhou 31st @ 17:44, Daniel Tucker 45th @ 17:58, Youn Chang 55th @ 18:12, Eric Chin 59th @ 18:19 and Iker Telleria 83rd @ 18:46.

Joe Hartman photo DyeStat Cal

Coach O'Brien's comments
October 6th  -  CLOVIS Invitational  -  For the second weekend in a row we hit the road in search of top flight competition in Fresno at the famed Woodward Park 5k Cross Country course. The most pertinent reason for racing this course in early October is to prepare for the State Meet on November 24th which will traverse the exact same terrain. Our athletes are getting a preview while other teams choose to bypass this meet for another in their area.  Many of the highly ranked Division 1 teams are here however.

Arcadia was one of 24 invited teams to race in the Championship race, and the Varsity team had a mixed result.  As a team we finished 5th, but the difference between 1st and 5th was only a 39 seconds spread among 5 scoring guys.  Buchanan is a very good team and won handily, while we had severe difficulty with our #4 man as Will MacNeil experienced back spasms which hindered his performance.  On a high note though, our top 2 runners, Renaud Poizat (15:33) and Kris Romero (15:37) both eclipsed our school record on this course and having this potent a one-two punch up front brings back wonderful memories of the Pilavjian-Poizat duo of 2006 or the Beckwith-Pilavjian teaming in 2005.  We certainly would expect Renaud and Kris to run faster in November than now and the future is very bright indeed. Ryan Ernst also broke 16 minutes, clocking 15:57 and recording his best time at Woodward Park.  This marks the first time we have had 3 guys under 16 on this course and a healthy Will MacNeil may be #4 in November.  However, on this day he settled for a very courageous 16:46 with Daniel Yamane a step behind in 16:47. Now you can understand why I was lamenting the 39 second spread between Buchanan and Arcadia.  Potential is a great concept, performance on the day is what matters.

For this trip we brought 45 athletes of our 72 member team.  The bulk of those were Soph/Frosh athletes who were seeing this course for the first time.  Apparently, they are a quick study as they won a huge race and a highly competitive one by 7 points over Royal H.S.  Leading the way and winning the race was Bryant Chan (So.) in 16:41 with freshman Ammar Moussa in close pursuit in 2nd place at 16:46.  It should be noted that their times would have placed them 4th and 5th man Varsity for us today.  Nick Shar (So.) was 12th overall in 17:09 and freshman Ben Hsueh came up huge in 17:31 as sophomore Yufei Fu trailed closely behind in 17:34 to complete our team score. In the JV race of 35 teams, our top runners were Kelvin An (17:32), Ricky Li (17:33), Jerry Zhou (17:44), Daniel Tucker (17:58), and Youn Chang (18:12).  With our JV team finishing 2nd in their race, we once again left a big Invitational as the #1 boys program.  This repetitive high placing at all of the most competitive meets in California speaks loudly about the future of this program, and it is something in which our team takes great pride.

Pacific League Meet #2 County Park Arcadia

The Apaches bounced back to squeeze out a point victory over Crescenta Valley 27-28 while extablishing a new team record time of 75:19 on the County Park course after falling to the Falcons in the first league meet in September.  Arcadia was led by Senior Kris Romero 2nd @ 14:38, Renaud Poizat 3rd @ 14:46, Ryan Ernst 6th @ 14:48, Bryant Chan 11th @ 15:28, Wil MacNeil 12th @ 15:28, Matt Swanson 18th @ 15:51 and Daniel Yamane 19th @ 15:53.

Coach O'Briens's comments
October 11th  -  Pacific League Meet #2  -  Whoa Momma!  If you missed this race up at Arcadia County Park, you missed one for the ages.  In 25 plus years of coaching Cross Country, I have not been a part of or seen another race as competitive and exciting as the Varsity race against arch-rival Crescenta Valley.  With our team ranked 5th and CV ranked 6th in the State, this was bound to be a knock down, drag out battle and it lived up to all expectations.

Kris Romero took it upon himself to set the pace and basically make the race as he pulled Renaud Poizat along with him at a ridiculous 4:50 per mile pace.  Closely towed behind were the dynamic duo of CV, Zack Torres and Eric Kleinsasser.  Eventually, the torrid pace withered Kleinsasser, but Torres hung onto Romero right to the finish line, managing to lean his shoulder ahead of Kris for the win.  Both Romero and Torres ran 14:38, the second fastest time ever run on our home course. Renaud placed 3rd in 14:46, Kleinsasser 4th in 14:53, Ryan Williams of Burbank 5th in 14:56, and Ryan Ernst closed fast in 6th at 14:58.  Never before had so many athletes cracked the 15 minute barrier on the same day at Arcadia Park, and 3 of the 6 were Apaches!  Completing the scoring for Arcadia was Bryant Chan in 11th at 15:28 and right in stride with him in 12th was Will MacNeil clocking 15:28.  ARCADIA established a new All-Time record of 75:18 when combining our top 5 times.  This replaces the 75:42 record we had set in 2006 at the Apache Invite.  CV also ran a great race with a team time of 75:52, 3rd best in history.  When the smoke cleared, it was Arcadia winning 27-28.  Strong teams from John Burroughs and Burbank were in shock when all things were said and done, realizing they were running for 3rd in the league.  Even our 6th and 7th runners, Matt Swanson and Daniel Yamane ran great in 15:51 and 15:53 respectively.

On the JV level, Arcadia was unstoppable with 4 of the top 5 finishers.  Andrew Thach led the charge andwinning the race with a superb time of 15:54, an All-Time JV record. Ricky Li was 3rd in 16:33, Jerry Zhou 4th at 16:35, and Kelvin An 5th in 16:46.  Daniel Tucker closed out the scoring with a time of 17:09 to help the team establish a new JV team time record of 82:57.

The Soph/Frosh team was nothing short of dominating in taking the top 10 spots in the race.  With freshman Ammar Moussa pushing the pace over the final mile, and winning in 16:15, he clearly established himself as a future Varsity runner.  How soon he joins that group will be determined in the coming weeks, but clearly he is a huge talent.  Right behind Ammar was an army of Apaches. Nick Shar (16:22), Gabe Weil (16:36), Christos McClain (16:37), and Robin Wan (16:43) completed the perfect score of 15 points while establishing an All-Time Soph/Frosh team time record of 82:33. The rest of the wrecking crew was Charlie Johansen (16:44), Phillip Ho (16:45), freshman Ben Hsueh (16:56), Yufei Fu (17:00), and frosh Esmond Wei (17:01).  This young group would have defeated 4 of the 8 Varsity teams and the future apparently is “Now!”

Cal Poly SLO Invitational

The Apaches ventured North for the Cal-Poly SLO Invite to run against the best in the Central Section.  The Varsity claimed 1st in the 5K race and the JVs 2nd in the 2.5 mile race.  The Varsity was led by Renuad Poizat 4th @ 15:58.3, Ryan Ernst 7th @ 16:08.9, Kris Romero 10th @ 16:10.4, Freshman Ammar Moussa 24th @ 17:01.2, Andrew Thach 33rd @ 17:08.4, Daniel Yamane 37th @ 17:13.5 and Nicholas Shar 39th @ 17:14.6.  The JVs were led by Ricky Li 3rd @ 15:20.7, Kelvin An 6th @ 15:23.9, Charlie Johansen 7th @ 15:26, Ben Hsueh 8th @ 15:27.4, Esmond Wei 9th @ 15:30.4, Jerry Zhou 12th @ 15:31.6 and Patrick Wrobel 14th @ 15:32.4.

Coach O'Brien's comments
October 13th  -  CAL POLY SLO Invite  -  Like the old Willie Nelson song, our team was “On the Road Again” as we traveled to San Luis Opisbo to challenge the famous Fairbanks XC course at Cuesta College.  This is a dual College and High School event and once again exposes our athletes to college competition and showcases our athletes for the coaches.  We brought 36 athletes on the trip and 10 boys ran Varsity, while all the remaining athletes ran JV.  In this meet JV includes freshmen and sophomores because there are no lower level races.  At the Varsity level, we typically use this race to work on “team building” exercises and test out racing strategies.  Arcadia won the invite, defeating a tough team from Madera by the score of 41-56.  Renaud Poizat placed 4th in a quick time of 15:58, establishing a school record on this tough and hilly 5 kilometer course, while Ryan Ernst placed 7th in 16:08. Kris Romero finished in 16:10 despite easing back to concentrate on bringing our 4th through 7th runners closer to the front.  Unfortunately, that plan fell apart as Bryant Chan had an asthma attack, Will MacNeil experienced back spasms, and Matt Swanson was slowed by a sore knee. Ah, the best laid plans…
The bright side of that failed attempt was Ammar Moussa moved up into our 4th position in 17:01, Andrew Thach scored as our 5th man in 17:08, and closely trailing them was Daniel Yamane (17:13) and Nick Shar (17:14).

The JV course of 2.5 miles suited our team well as all 5 scorers placed between 3rd and 9th. Ricky Li was top dog for AHS in 15:20, closely followed by Kelvin An (15:23), Charlie Johansen (15:26), Ben Hsueh (15:27), and Esmond Wei (15:30) for an incredible 10 second spread between our 1st and 5th man.  Arcadia placed 1st among Division 1 teams, however we placed 2nd to Div. 2 West Torrance.  While we raced 10 athletes at Varsity, West Torrance only ran 6 and instead loaded up their JV to steal the race.  Either way, Arcadia left the meet as once again the top boys program in attendance based on both races combined.  After the race we all took a side trip to beautiful Avila Beach and let off some steam before the long ride home.

Mt. Sac Invitational

In a tune-up for the CIF Prelims/Finals, the Boys Varsity finished 10th @ 1:19.51 in the Boys Super Sweepstakse race.  The Apaches were led by Renuad Poizat 8th @ 15:11, Kris Romero 32nd @ 15:47, Ryan Ernst 50th @ 16:02, Daniel Yamane 74th @ 16:25, Wil MacNeil 75th @ 16:26, Andrew Thach 95th @ 17:05 and Bryant Chan 103rd @ 17:24.  The JVs finished 6th in Div I @ 1:24.10.  They were led by Ammar Moussa 6th @ 16:15, Nicholas Shar 35th @ 16:50, Kelvin An 38th @ 16:54, Matt Swanson 39th @ 16:56, Jerry Zhou 52nd @ 17:15, Charlie Johansen 59th @ 17:21 and Ricky Li 62nd @ 17:23.  The Sophomores finished 5th in Div I @ 1:29.31.  They were led by Phillip Ho 28th @ 17:43, Patrick Wrobel 32nd @ 17:52, Gabe Weil 33rd @ 17:53, Christos McClain 35th @ 17:55, Robin Wan 39th @ 18:04, Yufie Wu 49th @ 18:17 and Sam Lau 52nd @ 18:30.  The Frosh finished 3rd in Div I @ 1:29.12.  They were led by Ben Hsueh 6th @ 17:13, Esmond Wei 8th @ 17:20, Eric Garibay 16th @ 18:01, Allen Leung 24th @ 18:17, William Tsai 28th @ 18:21, Zach Marriott 38th @ 18:50 and Daniel Huang 66th @ 19:29.

Coach O'Brien's comments
October 20th  -  Mt. SAC Invite  -  This is the mother of all Cross Country Invitationals!  Over 4 days of racing, more than 23,000 athletes traverse this hilly and extremely challenging 3 mile course.  It is billed as the largest XC race in the World as a new race starts every 7 minutes and typically 3 races are on the course all at the same time.  It is a logistical challenge and quite frankly the most highly organized athletic event on the planet.  In addition, it also happens to be the most competitive Invite in the nation (and this includes every one of the 50 state championships).  Some of the best teams from California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington are represented and race management has created a special event called the “Super Sweepstakes Race” to accommodate all the talented teams.  Arcadia was invited to compete and welcomed the opportunity to see where we stack up at this point in the season. As it turned out, we placed 10th and realized there is still a lot of work to do before we get to CIF Finals.

First, let me highlight the positives.  Our “team time” was a stellar 79:36.  Both Kris Romero and Renaud Poizat improved their previous best times on this course by more than 20 seconds.  Renaud clocked 15:11 and tied the school record of Andrew Pilavjian from last year.  Kris ran 15:32 and moves into the #3 spot for Arcadia athletes.  In addition, Ryan Ernst ran 16:02, Daniel Yamane finished at 16:25 with Will MacNeil a step behind in 16:26.  The team expects to run 60 seconds faster in 4 weeks during the CIF Finals meet on the same course.

Mt. SAC Invite hosted a new event, the “Junior Varsity National Championship” and our team was asked to participate.  Gladly accepting the challenge, we finished 6th overall with freshman Ammar Moussa leading us in 6th place with a super finishing time of 16:15. Nick Shar (So.) ran very well at 16:50, as did Kelvin An (Sr.) at 16:54 and Matt Swanson (Jr.) in 16:56.  Jerry Zhou (Sr.) closed out the scoring in 17:15 to complete Arcadia's best ever JV performance at Mt. SAC.  Our 2nd string JV team placed 3rd in their regular JV race, led by Iker Telleria, Daniel Tucker, and Eric Chin.  The Freshman team also placed 3rd as Ben Hsueh (17:13), Esmond Wei (17:20), Eric Garibay (18:00), Allen Leung (18:17), and William Tsai (18:21) all ran super times.  The State Meet in 2010 is a definite possibility, especially when we add Ammar back into this crew.  Our Sophomores are equally impressive, placing 5th without the services of Nick Shar and Bryant Chan, who ran as JV and Varsity respectively.  In their absence, Phillip Ho (17:43), Pat Wrobel (17:52), Gabe Weil (17:52), Christos McClain (17:59), and Robin Wan (18:04) all ran great races and finished with a team spread (1st through 5th man) of only 21 seconds!

Apache Invitational

The Southern Calfornia wild fires put a damper on the otherwise fast and furious meet.  The Varsity Apaches finished first @ 1:16:58.  They were led by Renaud Poizat 3rd @ 14:46, Kris Romero 4th @ 15:03, Ryan Ernst 6th @ 15:12, Wil MacNeil 9th @ 15:51, Ammar Moussa 10th @ 15:56, Nick Shar 16th @ 16:06, Matt Swanson 17th @ 16:08 and Bryant Chan 20th @ 16:19.  The JVs finished first @ 1:25.05.  They were led by Kelvin An 1st @ 16:34, Ricky Li 5th @ 16:51, Daniel Tucker 7th @ 17:06, Iker Telleria 8th @ 17:08, Eric Chen 9th @ 17:26, Jerry Zhou 11th @ 17:37 and Ben Schaule 15th @ 17:54.  The FS finished first @ 1:25.03.  They were led by Eric Garibay 3rd @ 16:50, Esmond Wei 6th @ 17:01, Ben Hsueh 7th @ 17:01, Charlie Johansen 8th @ 17:03, Phillip Ho 9th @ 17:08, Gabe Wiel 9th @ 17:17 and Mina Issac 16th @ 17:37.

Coach O'Brien's comments
October 26th  -  APACHE Invite  -  After a solid week of fires ravaging various areas in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and with a one day postponement due to poor air quality, we were given the thumbs up by AUSD administration to host our own Apache XC Invitational at Arcadia County Park.  In the East San Gabriel Valley region, the air quality was “moderate” as opposed to almost everywhere else, rated either “unhealthy to sensitive individuals” or “hazardous.”  This circumstance caused 12 of the 24 scheduled teams to pull out, many of whom were close to the untamed fires, and some whose schools were closed down until Monday.  Despite the delay and setbacks, the meet turned out to be an exciting and successful event.

The Varsity race was a dogfight early on as a tough Sultana team was taking it to us.  However, in the second half we took control behind our own dynamic duo of  Renaud Poizat (14:56) and Kris Romero (15:06) in 3rd and 4th place respectively.  Along with the fast closing Ryan Ernst in 6th place in 15:12, and the steady and intelligent racing by Will MacNeil (15:51) and Ammar Moussa (15:56) in 9th and 10th place, the Apaches prevailed by 13 points over Sultana.  Brett Walters had a banner day at the races for Sultana as he set an All-Time individual standard of 14:36 for this course. Since our team was prohibited from training for several days before this race, the result was a relief and the guys were just happy to be running fast again.

The pattern of the JV race was identical to the Varsity, as a very strong Bosco Tech squad was leading right up to the last 400 meters when we surged to the finish line for the 4 point victory while placing all 5 runners in the top 9.  Bosco Tech put their 5 in the top 12. Kelvin An won the race in 16:34 and Ricky Li placed 5th in 16:51.  Shadowing closely behind were Daniel Tucker (7th - 17:06), Iker Telleria (8th - 17:08) and Eric Chin (9th - 17:26) to close the show.

Our Soph/Frosh squad had the most decisive victory of the day by placing 5 in the top 9 and defeating Bishop Montgomery by a score of 28-67. Frosh Eric Garibay led the way in 3rd at 16:50, as fellow 9th graders Esmond Wei (6th - 17:01) and Ben Hsueh (7th - 17:01) also came up big ahead of sophs Charlie Johansen (8th - 17:03) and Phillip Ho (9th - 17:08).  The team spread was a remarkable 18 seconds and it is really something special to see as this group scoots around the course as a tight and impenetrable pack.

Next stop:  Verdugo Park for our Pacific League Finals. Let the Championship phase of the season begin! This is what we have been preparing for since the start of the summer training.

Pacific League Finals - Verdugo Park Glendale

The Varsity Apaches put their best foot forward, but fell 30-35 to an inspired Crescenta Valley team to finish second in the Pacific League.  Their team time was 1:19.07.  Ryan Ernst led the Apaches in 3rd @ 15:31 followed by Renaud Poizat 4th @ 15:34, Kris Romero 6th @ 15:49, Ammar Moussa 10th @ 16:04, Wil MacNeil 12th @ 16:09, Daniel Yamane 17th @ 16:43 and Matt Swanson 19th @ 16:44.  The Pacific League Champion JVs finished an undefeated league season @ 1:27.07.  They were led by Kelvin An 1st @ 17:09, Jerry Zhou 2nd @ 17:20, Andrew Thach 3rd @ 17:23, Ricky Li 4th @ 17:26, Daniel Tucker 8th @ 17:49, Iker telleria 9th @ 17:54 and Eric Chin 10th @ 18:04.  The Pacific League Champion FS finished an undefeated league season @ 1:25.41.  They were led by Bryant Chan 1st @ 16:54, Nick Shar 2nd @ 17:04, Eric Garibay 3rd @ 17:12, Charlie Johansen 4th @ 17:15, Ben Hsueh 5th @ 17:16, Christos McClain 6th @ 17:23 and Esmond Wei 8th @ 17:34.

CIF Prelims

The Apaches qualified for the finals with a third place heat finish @ 1:19.17.  They were led by Renaud Poizat 4th @ 15:21, Ryan Ernst 7th @ 15:34, Kris Romero 10th @ 15:40, Ammar Moussa 31st @ 16:08, Nick Shar 53rd @ 16:34, Matt Swanson 55th @ 16:37 and Brynat Chan 56th @ 16:35.

CIF Finals

Coach O'Brien's Comments

State Meet AGAIN!!

I am so proud  (and relieved) to announce that our boys came through with a stellar performance on Saturday to clinch the last spot to the State Championship Meet. This marks our 3rd consecutive year of qualifying and we had to run 26 seconds faster than our previous school record on the Mt. SAC course to do it. This year the CIF Finals Meet was the most competitive in CIF history. It is an honor to be included with the other qualifiers, 5 of whom ran team times in the 77 minute range. Our new record stands at 78:14 (an average of 15:39 per man) and the team made me look good as I had predicted we could run a minute faster than our CIF Prelims record of 79:17. The individual times are as follows:

Renaud Poizat 15:12
Ryan Ernst 15:22
Kris Romero 15:33
Will MacNeil 15:54
Ammar Moussa 16:13
Nick Shar 16:29
Daniel Yamane 16:44

Going into the race we were only ranked 9th in CIF Southern Section. Had the team not finished the last 400 meters so well, we would have been 10th. However, we had gone out conservatively in the first mile and were passing people like they were standing still down the stretch. The difference between 5th and 7th place was a mere 5 points (less than 1 second in actual time) and our team time was actually faster than the 5th place team. Main thing is, we got our ticket punched for Fresno, Woodward Park, this coming Saturday morning and we are ecstatic! This team has at least one more great race in their legs.

State Meet

Just a quick note to let you know how our team finished up at the State Meet on Saturday. In the most competitive State Meet race ever (Division 1), Arcadia Apache harriers placed 8th with a team time of 80:25. This is a mere 13 seconds off of our school record on the course and the 2nd fastest time we have ever run. Renaud Poizat (JR) led the charge in 15:35 over the 5k course at Woodward Park in Fresno. Ryan Ernst (SR) was close behind in 15:43 and Kris Romero (SR) in 16:11. In addition, William MacNeil (SR) ran 16:21 and Ammar Moussa (FR) rounded out the scoring for us in 16:35. Bryant Chan (SO) crossed the line in 16:47 with Matt Swanson (JR) closing the show at 17:19.

Nike Team Nationals

Our boys Cross Country team travelled to Portland, Oregon over the weekend and competed in the NIKE Team Nationals on a wet and cold Portland Meadows race track. In true European Cross Country style racing with deep puddles, plenty of mud, hay bales to jump, and a series of moguls to traverse, the "Arcadia Apaches" placed 5th (4th American team) in the open race. Improving on our 7th place finish in 2006, the team chopped off 91 seconds from our previous best "team time." That is an average improvement of 18 seconds per man!!
 
Sometimes in a season, it takes a while for a team to truly get it, to understand exactly what running as a team is all about. Despite many impressive performances this year, it took a trip to Portland and a step up into national class competition for this group to bond and race for the greater good of the team and to forget about individual stats. During the race there were snow flurries to contend with and temperatures below 32 degrees, and still the boys from sunny Southern California came through the sloppy and slow running course in style.
 
Kris Romero (SR) and Renaud Poizat (JR) led the team, finishing almost side by side in 17:02 and 17:03 respectively in 13th and 14th overall (8th and 9th Americans). Their placing is somewhat deceptive as their was the high school National Championship team from Kenya in our race and they swept the first 5 places. Will MacNeil (SR) had a breakthrough race, finishing in 29th place at 17:25, while Ryan Ernst (SR) who had been sick all week, held strong for 31st in 17:28. Our amazing freshman, Ammar Moussa, closed out the team scoring in 52nd place with a time of 18:15. Bryant Chan (SO) 18:31, Daniel Yamane (SR) 18:46, and Nick Shar (SO) 18:53 all ran tough competitive races to support the team. It was the highlight  experience of the season for our team and they finished up the year with a flair. As you may be able to tell, I am bursting with pride over this team - the best in AHS Cross Country history!! Thank you all for all the support you have shown us throughout the season.
 
Coach Jim O'Brien
 
2006 Results

Andrew Pilavjian named Pasadena Star News Boys 2006
"Runner of the Year"
Coach Jim O'Brien named Pasadena Star News Boys Cross Country 2006
"Coach of the Year"
Sophomore Renaud Poizat named to Pasadena Star News
All Area Boys Cross Country Team

Don Bosco Tech Invitational

The Boys Cross Country team ran at the Don Bosco Invitational Saturday, September 9, 2006.  The Boys Varsity finished 3rd over the 5000KM course @ Legg Lake Whittier Narrows.  Seniors - Andrew Pilavjian finished 4th @ 15:40, Ryan Chen 12th @ 16:13, Kazuya Koda 14th @ 16:17, Scott MacNeil 17th @ 16:29 and Alan Tsai 18th @ 16:36 in a field of 164 runners.  Juniors - Kris Romero finished 3rd @ 16:06, Ryan Ernst  11th @ 16:53, William MacNeil 14th @ 17:01 and Daniel Yamane 19th @ 17:06 in a field of 214 runners.  Sophs - Renaud Poizat finished 2nd @ 16:14, Jeff McDonald 17th @ 17:42 and Matt Swanson 23rd @ 17:55 in a field of 214 runners.  Frosh - Bryant Chan finished 8th @ 18:33 and Nicholas Shar 11th @ 18:48 in a field of 193 runners.

Coach O'Brien's Comments

Our first meet was at Santa Fe Dam - Bosco Tech Invitational - where we placed 3rd behind Trabuco Hills and Upland, both of whom were ranked top 10 in the State. The team time we ran was a School Record of 80:30 over a 5 kilometer course. Both our Seniors and Freshmen won their races, while our Juniors and Sophomores placed 2nd.

Woodbridge Invitational

The CIF-SS Division I #3 Apaches Boys Cross Country team ran in the Sweepstakes race at the Woodbridge Invitational on Saturday evening, September 16, 2006 finishing 4th @ 1:15.32 behind Royal Simi Valley @ 1:13.49, Trabuco Hills Mission Viejo @ 1:14.26 and El Toro Lake Forest 1:15.30.  Senior Andrew Pilavjian led the Apaches finishing 12th @ 14:45 followed by Ryan Chen 42nd @ 15:06, Renuad Poizat 48th @ 15:10, Kazuya Koda 57th @ 15:15 and Kris Romero 60th @ 15:16.  In the Div I Senior Boys race the Apavhes finished 1st led by David Flood in 5th @ 15:50 followed by Ben Robles 14th @ 16:10, Edwin Makiuchi 15th @ 16:13, Derek Lwin 40th @ 16:45 and Ryan Herrera 47th @ 16:52.  In the Div I Junior Boys race the Apaches finished 1st led by William MacNeil in 1st @ 15:39 followed by Ryan Ernst 5th @ 15:53, Jerry Zhou 28th @ 16:28, Daniel Yamane 32nd @ 16:32 and Andrew Thach 53rd @ 16:54.  In the Div I Sophomore Boys race the Apaches finished 9th led by Matt Swanson in 21st @ 16:45 followed by Jeff MacDonald 41st @ 17:10, Ricky Li 75th @ 17:38, Bryan Kim 86th @ 17:59 and Chris Lin 99th @ 18:03.  In the Div I Frosh Boys race the Apaches finished 6th led by Bryant Chan 17th @ 17:06 followed by Nicholas Shar 38th @ 17:32, Yufei Fu 53rd @ 18:05, Patrick Wrobel 70th @ 18:18 and Robin Wan 74th @ 18:20.

Coach O'Brien's Comments

 Woodbridge is a national class race with 4 of the top 25 in the United States competing. Arcadia was invited to run in the Sweepstakes race and placed 3rd, defeating both Upland (#13 in U.S.) and El Toro (#20 in U.S.). Our team set a new team time School Record of 75:32 (shattering last years' record of 77:44). This is an average of 15:06 per man and is really something special. Our time moves us to 6th place ALL-TIME at Woodbridge over the last 26 years, and establishes Arcadia as a team that should once again qualify for the State Meet on November 25th. Leading the Apache charge is Andrew Pilavjian (Sr.) who demolished the individual School Record for 3 miles by posting a 14:45 time (Paul Beckwith had the previous record of 14:59).  Right behind Andrew is Ryan Chen (Sr.) 15:06; Renaud Poizat (So.) 15:10; Kazuya Koda (Sr.) 15:15; Kris Romero (Jr.) 15:16; Scott MacNeil (Sr.) 15:34; and Alan Tsai (Sr.) 15:43. Couple things that make this such a great team performance is the time spread between the 1st and 5th man is only 31 seconds (lowest spread in the race), and our 6th and 7th runners were the fastest of any other teams' 6th and 7th.

 Pacific League Meet #1

Coach O'Brien's Comments

We hosted the first Pacific League meet of the year up at Arcadia County Park. It was a sizzling affair to say the least. We have added Burbank and Burroughs to the league this year and Burroughs comes in as the Foothill League Champions from last year. The overall strength of the league has improved dramatically. Arch-rival CV came loaded for bear with a team that had just been elevated in the rankings to 7th in CIF Southern Section Div.1. Witnessing the hottest, most competitive, and certainly the fastest race in Pacific League history, every fan, parent, coach, administrator, and athlete was treated to a performance that re-wrote the record book. ARCADIA won at all three levels (JV, Varsity, Soph-Frosh) and dominated each race. The JV boys got it started with a clean sweep, scoring 15 points and placing a perfect 1st through 5th. In addition, that is a team time JV All-Time Course Record. The record setters were: Ryan Ernst (Jr.) 16:06; David Flood (Sr.) 16:08; Edwin Makiuchi (Sr.) 16:23; Daniel Yamane (Jr.) 16:36; Derek Lwin (Sr.) 16:44. Rounding out the top 7 was Kelvin An (Jr.) 16:45 and Jerry Zhou (Jr.) 16:58.

The Varsity race took it one more step with both CV and Arcadia breaking the existing ALL-TIME Course Record. CV clocked 77:56 (four seconds faster than the record we set last year). Problem they had was Arcadia ran 76:34!!! Trimming 1 minute and 26 seconds off the old record, Arcadia placed 1st, 2nd, 4th 5th, and 8th in a true "Team" effort. The times were: Andrew Pilavjian 15:07; Ryan Chen 15:12; Kris Romero 15:19; Renaud Poizat 15:19; and Kazuya Koda 15:37. The spread between 1st and 5th man was an incredible 30 seconds. Alan Tsai placed 12th at 15:43 and Will Mac Neil in his first Varsity race placed 14th in 15:57.  The next chance you will have to see this team in action at home is October 26th when we host the Apache Invitational.

Trying to continue the pattern of success, the Soph-Frosh athletes came through in style. Running in the largest field of 96 finishers, our boys won handily by placing 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th. Leading the onslaught was Jeff Macdonald (So.) 16:41; Matt Swanson (So.) 16:46; Bryant Chan (Fr.) 17:03; Chris Lin (So.) 17:22; Nicholas Shar (Fr.) 17:31. This group will get better quick as the season progresses and the traing takes effect.

Bell-Jeff Inviational

The Apaches Boys Cross Country team had another banner day over the 2.9 mile Griffith Park course on Saturday, September 23, 2006.  The Varsity boys finished 1st overall @ 1:16.17 led by first place finisher Andrew Palivjian @ 14:35, Renaud Poizat 5th @ 15:14, Ryan Chen 6th @ 15:24, Kazuya Koda 7th @ 15:26, Kris Romero 11th @ 15:38, David Flood 16th @ 15:46 and Ryan ernst 23rd @ 15:55.  The JV boys finished 2nd @ 1:21.08 led by first place finisher Alan Tsai @ 15:51, William MacNeil 2nd @ 15:52, Danial Yamane 5th @ 16:13, Scott MacNeil 9th @ 16:32, Kelvin An 12th @ 16:40, Edwin Makiuchi @ 16:45 and Jerry Zhou 17th @ 16:58.  The Sopomore boys finished 3rd @ 1:30.1. The Freshmen boys finished 2nd led by Bryant Chan 4th @ 17:12, Yufei Wu 22nd @ 18:18, Patrick Wrobel 23rd @ 18:22, Tovar Nelson 29th @ 18:33, David Mejia 34th @ 18:50, Robina Wan 36th @ 18:53 and Jesse Li 47th @ 19:19.

Coach O'Brien's comments

Two days after our huge league victories at Arcadia Park our team went to the Bell-Jeff Invitational for the first time since 1997. Running our 3rd race in a mere 8 days, and despite running on tired legs, the team performed above expectations. Our varsity boys won their race by 72 points over Loyola, a team that was ranked #1 in CIF Division 2. Our team time of 76:17 is one of the fastest of all-time on the hilly, 2.9 mile Griffith Park course. Andrew Pilavjian once again led the team with an astonishing time of 14:35. Both our team time and his individual time look even better compared to all those before us when factoring in the extra 200 meters added to the course this year. Renaud Poizat (So), Ryan Chen (Sr), Kazuya Koda (Sr), and Kris Romero (Jr) all rounded out the scoring by placing 5th, 6th, 7th, and 11th.
Our Freshman team edged a tough Burbank squad by 2 points as Bryant Chan placed 4th and Nicholas Shar 11th to lead the team. Our JV team finished 2nd to Loyola in a 28-29 decision. Alan Tsai (Sr) won the race in 15:51, as he passed our own Will MacNeil (Jr) at the tape, as he clocked 15:52. Daniel Yamane (Jr), Scott MacNeil(Sr), and Kelvin An (Jr) completed the scoring.

The Sophomore team also took home some hardware, placing 3rd behind a great soph contingent from Barstow (I believe this group will be State Div. 3 champions in 2 years), and a tough team from John Burroughs. Jeff Macdonald and Matt Swanson placed 13th and 18th to lead the team. Ricky Li, Bryan Kim, and Youn Chang were part of the scoring quintet.

Stanford Inviational

The Boys Varsity Cross Country team traveled to Palo Alto to comptete in the prestigoius Stanford Invitational on Saturday, September 30, 2006.  The Apaches finished in a respectable 8th place over the 5000KM course after a rigorous week of training and three races in 10 days.  Andrew Pilavjian placed 32nd @ 15:49, Kris Romero 45th @ 15:59, Renuad Poizat 46th @ 15:59, Ryan Chen 52nd @ 16:02, Kazuya Koda 65th @ 16:15, Scott MacNeil 105th @ 16:39 and Alan Tsai 114th @ 16:45.

Coach O'Brien's comments

On September 30th, we split our team by sending our Varsity to Stanford and all the rest to the Kenny Staub Invitational at Crescenta Valley Park.
The results at both venues were great. The Stanford Invitational was truly a National class race. Pre-season #1 nationally, Mead H.S., current national #1 Royal H.S., and Ferris H.S. (#1 after defeating both Mead and Royal at Stanford) all competed along with 8 of the top 10 teams in California, and teams from Ohio, Washington, Oregon, and New Jersey. In all, of the 23 teams entered, 13 Nike Team National ranked teams competed.

Arcadia, led by Andrew Pilavjian's School Record of 15:49 over 5 kilometers, placed 8th and once again ran a fantastic team time of 80:04. That's an average of about 16:00 per man and broke our existing School Record on that course by more than 3 minutes!!!   Kris Romero and Renaud Poizat ran 15:59, Ryan Chen clocked 16:02, and Kazuya Koda finished off the scoring at 16:15.

Kenny Staub Invitational

The Boys Cross Country team also competed at the Kenny Staub Invitational @ Crescenta Valley Park in La Crescenta on Saturday, September 30, 2006.  The Varsity finished 5th in 1:26.06.  They were led by David Flood 15th @ 16:52, William MacNeil @ 17:01, Ryan Ernst 32nd @ 17:19, Daniel Yamane 36th @ 17:24, Edwin Makiuchi 37th @ 12:26, Derek Lwin 44th @ 17:43 and Kelvin An 45th @ 17:43.  The JVs finished 3rd in 1:32.10.  They were led by Ben Robles 17th @ 18:06, Jerry Zhou 20th @ 18:17, Steven Luu 32nd @ 18:31, Mark Hung 35th 18:35, Iker Telleria 36th @ 18:35, Yashar Rahimpour 40th 18:56 and James Seng 41st @ 18:58.  The Sophomores finished 6th @ 1:32.43.  They were led by Jff McDonald 10th @ 17:42, Matt Swanson 17th @ 18:14, Chris Lin 24th @ 18:34, Ricky Li 27th @ 18:54, Bryan Kim 33rd @ 19:17, Youn Chang 39th @ 19:35 and Alex Eng 49th @ 20:19.  The Freshman finished 1st in 1:34 .54.  They were led by Nicholas Shar 3rd @ 18:24, Bryant Chan 4th @ 18:26, Yufei Fu 7th @ 19:00, Tovar Nelson 11th @ 19:24, Patrick Wrobel 15th @ 19:37, David Mejia 22nd @ 20:03 qnd Robin Wan 23rd @ 20:04.

Clovis Invitational - Woodward Park Fresno

The Boys Cross Country team traveled to Fresno for the Clovis Invitational on Saturday, October 7, 2006.  The race was run at Woodward Park, the site of the CIF State Meet on Thanksgiving Weekend.  The Apached finished 4th in the seeded race over the 5000KM course with a team time of 1:20:36.  They were led by Senior Andrew Pilavjian 26th @ 15:53, Renaud Poizat 27th @ 15:54, Kris Romero 43rd @ 16:08, Ryan Chen 57th @ 16:20, Kazuya Koda 59th @ 16:21, Wiilam MacNeil 85th @ 16:33 and David Flood 98th @ 16:43.  The second Varsity team competing in the large school division finished 11th with a team time of 1:27.. They were led by Edwin Makiuchi @ 17:03, Rayn Ernst 59th @ 17:21, Derek Lwin 66th @ 17:25, Scott MacNeil 73rd @ 17:25, Daniel Yamane 84th @ 17:36, Ben Robles 87th @ 17:37 and Kelvin An 91st @ 17:42.  The JVs were led by Jerry Zhou 9th @ 17:42, Iker Telleria 23rd @ 18:13, Tim Sheumann 38th @ 18:34, Andrew Thatch 39th @ 18:34, Mark Hung 46th @ 18:39 and Yashar Rahimpour 80th @ 19:25.  The FS finished 7th in a team time of 1:29:02.  They were led by Jeff McDonald 11th @ 17:07, Bryant Chan 30th @ 17:34, Nicholas Shar 42nd @ 17:49, Matt Swanson 58th @ 18:05, Chris Lin 78th @ 18:28, Yufei Fu 88th @ 18:39 and Patrick Wrobel 89th @ 18:39.

Coach O'Brien's comments

On Friday, we travelled to Fresno with 41 athletes to compete in the prestigious Clovis Invitational. Once again, many of the top ranked teams in California from all divisions were there. CA #1 and #2 Royal and Jesuit high schools were represented and didn't disappoint finishing 1st and 2nd. Arcadia placed 4th of 24 teams with an awesome "team" performance, running a team time of 80:36 (91 seconds faster than last year at Clovis and 72 seconds faster than we ran at the State Meet last year) while averaging 16:07 per man with only 28 seconds seperating our 1st to 5th man.    Individually, Andrew Pilavjian clocked 15:53 and now owns the top 2 fastest times on the course by AHS athletes. However, close behind is Renaud Poizat (15:54  -  the #2 Soph time all day in all races!), Kris Romero (16:08), Ryan Chen (16:20) and Kazuya Koda (16:21). In addition, Will MacNeil ran 16:33 and David Flood clocked 16:43 as we rested Alan Tsai and Scott MacNeil who were both under the weather.

Now, we are turning the page and preparing for the championship season in November. So far this team has withstood every challenge and answered the bell for every round. This week we have a Pacific League meet at Verdugo Park on Thursday at which we can lay claim to at least a tie for league championships at all 3 levels (Var., JV, S/F) by winning.

Pacific League Meet #2

The Boys Varsity Cross Country team completed the second step on their way to the Pacific League championship with a their victory at the Pacific League Meet #2 over the 3+ mile course at Verdugo Park Glendale on Thursday, October 12, 2006.  The Apaches were led by Senior Andrew Pilavjian 1st @ 15:36, Sophomore Renaud Poizat 2nd @ 15:42, Kazuya Koda 5th @ 15:53, Kris Romero 8th @ 16:01, Ryan Chen 10th @ 16:10, Alan Tsai 14th @ 16:32 and David Flood 17th @ 16:38.

Coach O'Brien's comments

        I am very excited about the prospects for this years' team. At every turn, the boys continue to amaze even an old veteran coach like myself. On October 12th we went over to Verdugo Park for our 2nd Pacific League cluster meet. By virtue of winning all 3 races (Soph-Frosh, JV, and Varsity), the teams all clinched at least a tie for the league championship!! All 3 teams have perfect league records of 14-0, and so far no one else is even close.
        The JV boys started us off by placing 6 of the top 8 finishers as William MacNeil won in 16:40. Had he run Varsity, it would have placed him 17th in league among 56 runners. Edwin Makiuchi, Jerry Zhou, and Derek Lwin were all in the top 5 finishers and have been on a tear lately.
            In the Soph-Frosh ranks, our tough as nails threesome of Jeff Macdonald, Matt Swanson, and Bryant Chan (frosh) swept the top 3 places to carry their team. Nicholas Shar (frosh) and Ricky Li closed out the scoring with a tough Burbank team nipping at their heels.
            The Varsity team, led once again by senior Andrew Pilavjian, dominated the competition (mainly coming from arch-rival CV) by outdistancing the field and defeating CV 20-35 (low score wins).  Placing all 5 runners in the top 10 of the entire league, Arcadia had what appeared to be an easy day. However, they worked it with Andrew Pilavjian setting a new Individual School Record on the course  - 15:36 - and leading his team to yet another ALL-TIME best performanceon the Verdugo course. Sophomore Renaud Poizat continues to improve dramatically and placed 2nd in 15:42 with Kazuya Koda close behind in 15:53, Kris Romero (JR) at 16:01, and Ryan Chen completing the scoring in 16:10. The team spread from 1st to 5th man was a mere 34 seconds, while anything under 60 is considered good. The Varsity Team Time Record of 79:22 breaks our existing school record by an incredible 2 minutes and 2 seconds!!

VS Athletics Cal Poly Invitational

The Boys Cross Country traveled North for a team bonding "grouping run" at the VS Athletics Cal Poly SLO Invitational on Saturday, October 14, 2006.  Running on tired legs, the Apaches continued a string of outstanding team efforts with an 8 second 1-5 gap on the way to their 1st place finish over the 5000KM Fairbanks Course at Cuesta College.  They were led by Kris Romero 7th @ 16:25, Renaud Poizat 8th @ 16:25, Ryan Chen 9th @ 16:25, Andrew Pilavjian 10th @ 16:26, Kazuya Koda 12th @ 16:32, William MacNeil 13th @ 16:42 and Alan Tsai 16th @ 16:53.  The JVs finished 1st over a 2.5 mile course.  They were led by David Flood 1st @ 14:46, Jerry Zhou 3rd @ 14:57, Edwin Makiuchi 4th @ 15:04, Derek Lwin 5th @ 15:09, Iker Telleria 6th @ 15:18, Bryant Chan 7th @ 15:18, Daniel Yamane 8th @ 15:22, Ben Robles 9th @ 15:26 and Matt Swanson 10th @ 15:28.

Coach O'Brien's comments

        We were supposed to run the Santa Clarita Valley Invite on Saturday, Oct. 14th, but the Day fires put a damper on that idea with 5,000 fire fighters camping out on the course at Castaic Lake. Adjusting in the blink of an eye, we planned a trip up to Cal Poly SLO to compete in their College/High School Invite.  Despite leaving at 5:30 am and having the kids crammed into vans for 4 hours, we ran through those cow pastures like a cow possessed.  While doing a "Team Building" exercise the Varsity boys placed 1st and scored 20 points.  Andrew Pilavjian sacrificed the overall win to pull his teammates along closer to him and keep our top 5 runners within 7 seconds.  In fact, our top 4 guys crossed the finish line together during the same second with Pilavjian leading the charge (even though they jumbled up the places in the finish chute).  And we demolished the Meet Record for team time by running 82:13 over the hilly Fairbanks course just above Cuesta College. So, we were able to win handily (2nd place was 48 points behind) and accomplish our "TEAM" goals. This race permitted us to run 9 athletes at the Varsity level (same number that you have to declare as your CIF entrants), and we took full advantage by bringing up 2 JV athletes.  Looking ahead toward the State Meet, this experience is important.
          Our JV guys, which in this meet includes freshmen and sophomores, had a truly remarkable race, running the 2.5 mile course in Meet Record time of 75:14.  Finishing the race with 9 Apaches out of the top 10 runners was truly a beautiful sight to behold.  Not only did we run strong, but we ran as a strong TEAM with only 42 seconds between our 1st and 9th runner (32 seconds 1st - 5th man).  This team, which I like to refer to as "the best JV team in the state" annhilated the former team time course record by putting 4 runners under the pre-existing INDIVIDUAL Course record!!  David Flood (SR) now holds the new course record of 14:46, which shattered the old record of 15:17. In addition to David, Jerry Zhou - 14:57, Edwin Makiuchi - 15:04, and Derek Lwin - 15:09, all broke the old record.  AMAZING!  Rounding out the scoring, all 4 divisions combined with 19 points, was Iker Telleria at 15:18, only 1 second off the old record.

Mt. Sac Inviational

The Boys Cross Country team traveled to Mt. Sac on Saturday, October 21, 2006 to compete in the "Super Sweepstakes" race, finishing 5th in a race that featured 9 of the top 10 teams in the state.  They bested last years team time (1:19:35) by nearly a minute @ 1:18:43.  The Apaches were led by Andrew Pilavjian 10th @ 15:11, Renaud Poizat 17th @15:23, Ryan Chen 31st @ 15:48, Kazuya Koda 45th @ 16:01, Kris Romero 58th @ 16:20, Alan Tsai 70th @ 16:35 and David Flodd 72nd @ 16:36.  The JVs finished 1st in a team time of 1:26:43.  They were led by William MacNeil 1st @ 16:50, Ryan Ernst 3rd @ 17:11, Daniel Yamane 4th @ 17:26, Jerry Zhou 5th @ 17:32, Edwin Makiuchi 7th @ 17:44, Derek Lwin 9th @ 17:50, Ben Robles 12th @ 18:02, Iker Telleria 14th @ 18:08, Tim Schuemann 16th @ 18:12, Kelvin An 17th @ 18:15 and James Song 29th @ 18:41.  The Sophomores finished 3rd in a team time of 1:33:42.  They were led by Jeff McDonald 8th @ 17:51, Matt Swanson 12th @ 18:02, Ricky Li 35th @ 18:55, Bryan Kim 41st @ 19:07, Chris Lin 65th @ 19:47, Youn Chang 70th @ 20:02, Alex Eng 77th @ 20:25, Taylo Toyotome 93rd @ 21:28 and Eliot Abrego 104th @ 21:55.  The Freshman finished 2nd in a team time of 1:34:53.. They were led by Nicholas Shar 11th @ 18:13, Patrick wrobel 23rd @ 18:53, Yufei Fu 25th @ 18:59, Nelson Tovar 29th @ 19:03, David Mejia 46th @ 19:45, Robin Wan 50th @ 19:54, Sam Lau 54th @ 19:58, Gabe Weil 71st @ 20:29 and Charles Ng 77th @ 20:39.

Coach O'Brien's comments

        With no mid-week race to worry about, we could turn all of our teams attention to the largest Cross Country Meet in the WORLD, the Mt. SAC Invitational.  With over 19,000 runners entered (grade school, middle school, college, and high school), this one is an astonishing display of precision timing and high level organization.  Typically, a new race begins every 7 minutes which means that there are 3 races going simultaneously all day for two consecutive days!  Unreal!!!  Anyway, our Varsity was invited to run the boys Division 1 & 2 "Super Sweepstakes" race with 9 of the top 10 teams in California and others from beyond our borders.  What a great honor for us and a major opportunity to see how we stack up as the CIF Championship season is set to begin soon (Nov.11th).  As usual (it really is getting sorta old hat), our boys rose to the occasion and ran a phenomenal race, placing 5th and setting yet another school record of 78:43.  Even though the heat made the day less than ideal for running we seemed undeterred.  This replaces our previous record from 2005 of 79:35 (an improvement of 52 seconds - or more than 10 seconds per man).  Team records are one thing, but let's not overlook the individual performances of a couple of our guys. Andrew Pilavjian once again hammerred it home in 15:11 (10th Place), establishing the fastest time ever run in our school's history.  Equally impressive is the time of Super Soph Renaud Poizat at 15:23 (17th Place) to establish himself as one of the  best, if not the best sophomore in California with the fastest soph time of the day.  Close behind Renaud was Ryan Chen - 15:48, Kazuya Koda - 16:01, and Kris Romero - 16:20.  Although we got beat by El Toro by one point, our team time was faster than theirs and as soon as we shore up our 4th and 5th man and get them running in the 15's we will be a dominant team and a force to be reckoned with at the State Meet.
             Our Freshmen took 2nd in their race, despite our #1 man dropping out with breathing difficulties even as he was leading the race past 2 miles.  With Bryant Chan finishing the race we win by 20, without him we place 2nd, 26 points away from the win.  Our team score was equal to a tough Madera team but the tie is broken based on the placing of our 6th man.  Nicholas Shar led his team, placing 11th in 18:13, and followed closely by Patrick Wrobel, Yufei Fu, Nelson Tovar, and David Mejia.
    The sophomore boys also won a team award by placing 3rd as Jeff Macdonald (17:51) led the charge in 8th place; Matt Swanson (18:02), Ricky Li (18:55), Bryan Kim (19:07), and Chris Lin (19:47) closed the show.
        Then to finish off the day at the hottest part of the afternoon was the JV team. Perhaps we saved our best for last as these guys shook it up with a perfect score of 15 points. That simply means that we got our 5 over the finish line before anyone else. UNREAL!!  I think I mentioned they were good, but this is ridiculous.  Their team time of 86:43 would have beaten over two-thirds of all the Division 1 Varsity teams in all the other open races.  At most other schools, they ARE the Varsity.  William MacNeil won the race in 16:50, as Ryan Ernst paced behind him in 17:11, and Daniel Yamane - 17:26, Jerry Zhou - 17:32, Edwin Makiuchi - 17:44 all race top-notch to complete a perfect day. This was by far our most productive Mt. SAC meet ever.

Apache Invitational - Arcadia County Park -Thursday, October 27, 2006

Coach O'Brien's build up to the meet

This years' Apache Invitational promises to be a fast and competitive experience for all the participating schools. The following schools have indicated that they will be attending:

Arcadia - Boys ranked as high as #3 in Div. 1 & #6 in CA - all divisions
Alhambra
Bell Gardens
Bishop Amat
Compton
Don Bosco Tech
Glendale
La Mirada
Mira Costa - Girls #7 in Div. 2
Monrovia
Pasadena
St. John Bosco - Ranked as high as #1 this year in Div. 2
Woodbridge - Boys #9 & Girls #3 ranked in Div. 2

So far, it looks like 13 teams are ready for "Fast Times at Arcadia High". Plaques for 1st and 2nd place will be presented in 6 different races - Boys and Girls Soph-Frosh, Junior Varsity, and Varsity. Each championship team will receive 7 champion T-Shirts. In addition to almost every boy and girl running their fastest time of the season, more than half the field in each race will receive a medal.

Of particular interest will be the head to head battlle between La Mirada H.S.  Stephanie Felix (Arcadia Park individual course record holder at 17:24) who just won the girls Division 2 sweepstakes race at Mt. SAC in 17:27 and Christine Babcock of  Woodbridge H.S. who is the defending State Champion at 1600 meters with a time of 4:41.

On the boys side, Arcadia set an all-time course record for a team last year of 78:00. Already this year they have shattered that record by running 76:34 at a league meet on Sept. 21st. Depending on the weather, this could be a record-setting day. Andrew Pilavjian, fresh off his 10th place finish at Mt. SAC in the Super Sweepstakes Race on Saturday, running 15:11, will be attempting to set a record for Arcadia High by running faster than 14:59. Paul Beckwith set that record last year to claim the #3 position on the individual All-Time list.

The meet is sponsored by the Apache Runners Boosters and parent support will drive the festivities. Robeks will provide smoothies and commemorative T-Shirts will be on sale. Come out to see the excitement on Thursday, October 26th in Arcadia County Park (corner of Santa Anita and Huntington).

The schedule for the meet is:

2:00 pm     Girls Soph-Frosh
2:25 pm     Boys Soph-Frosh
2:50 pm     Girls JV
3:15 pm     Boys JV
3:40 pm     Girls Varsity
4:05 pm     Boys Varsity

Looking forward to a great meet and hope to see all of ARCADIA High School (faculty and students) out there in full force.

Coach O'Brien's comments

Just when you thought I had run out of material, I have more to tell you.
            We, the boys team and our Apache Runners Boosters, hosted the 5th annual APACHE XC INVITATIONAL yesterday in Arcadia Park and the sparks were flying!  It turned out to be a banner day for both the boys and the girls programs as we were victorious in each of the 6 races at all 3 levels (S/F, JV, and Varsity).  13 teams total were ready to race "Fast Times at Arcadia High" as we like to advertise it.  (Bell Gardens, Bishop Amat, Compton, Monrovia, Pasadena, Glendale, La Mirada, Alhambra, Woodbridge, Mira Costa, Don Bosco Tech, and St. John Bosco).  True to form, there were some sizzling performances!  Our race rules at this meet allow the option of running up to 10 runners at Varsity with only the first 7 effecting the scoring.  We chose that option and moved 3 JV runners up to Varsity for the day, giving them the opportunity to compete in the highest level and measure themselves among the best.  Only 5 weeks after setting a new school record and ALL-TIME best on the Arcadia course (by 1 minute and 24 seconds), the team took that record down by another 52 seconds and stopped the clock in 75:42 for the team time record (an average of 15:05 per runner!).  The record holders are Andrew Pilavjian - 14:37 !!! (an ALL-TIME individual record on this course and a new School Record); Renaud Poizat - 14:58 (only the 3rd time ever for an Arcadia athlete to break 15 minutes); Kris Romero - 15:07; Ryan Chen - 15:19; and Ryan Ernst - 15:41.  The rest of our boys also scorched the course: Kazuya Koda - 15:53, William MacNeil - 15:57, David Flood - 15:59, Alan Tsai - 16:10, Scott MacNeil 17:17 (injured).  Super performance on our "Home Course" with 2 boys under 15:00 and 8 boys under 16:00!  If you missed this one, you missed one for the ages.  Even Carol Ottaviano was there (her 1st XC meet)!  Even the Cheerleaders were there!  Even the School Board President was there!  Even my lovely wife, Lupe, and precious daughter, Erin, were there!  It was a lot of work to host but an awful lot of fun also.

   Our JV boys team continues to shine and dominate with 7 runners across the line before anyone else.  They established a new JV ALL-TIME record on the Arcadia course o 81:13!!  With another perfect score of 15 points(minus the 3 boys who ran Varsity), the next closest opponent was Mira Costa with 61 points.  Most impressive individually was Edwin Makiuchi (SR) who siezed the day with his emphatic victory in 16:15. Jerry Zhou - 16:18, Derek Lwin - 16:41, Daniel Yamane - 16:47, Kelvin An - 16:54, Ben Robles - 16:56, and Iker Telleria - 17:01 closed out a perfect effort.

    The boys Soph-Frosh was the largest and craziest one of the day.  With 158 athletes (largest group of them were ours) all running guts out.  Arcadia controlled the race with 4 of the 5 top places and all 5 scorers in the top 9.  Bryant Chan (FR) took control of the race after 2 miles and never looked back in winning decisively in 16:25.  Jeff Macdonald took 3rd (16:53), Matt Swanson 4th (16:55), Nicholas Shar 5th (17:08) and Nelson Tovar 9th (17:37), Bryan Kim 11th (17:46), and Patrick Wrobel 16th (17:52)  all claimed their championship T-shirts when the dust settled.

Coach O'Brien's comments

        Yesterday, Thursday, November 2,  we traveled to Crescenta Valley Park in La Crescenta for the Pacific League Finals.  All three teams walked away with League Championships and ran fantastic races.  The JV boys got us off to a fast start, as they ran the first race of the day at 2:15 pm.  Obviously, the early start didn't phase them as they sprinted to a new Pacific League Championship "team time" record of 85:47.  This wiped out the previous record (set by Arcadia last year) of 86:34 - an improvement of 47 seconds!  This group finishes the season with a perfect 21-0 record.  Both David Flood (16:42) and Ryan Ernst (16:40) broke the former "individual" Pacific League record of 17:09.  Ernst won the the race by driving the pace from beginning to end and his time would have placed him 11th in the Varsity race.  Flood's time would have placed him 12th in Varsity - both of which would be 2nd team All-League!  In fact, if you insert this JV team into the Varsity race, they finish 3rd in league and qualify for CIF.  Tremendous job!  The other 1st team All-League members joining Ernst and Flood are Edwin Makiuchi - SR (3rd - 17:25); Jerry Zhou - JR (4th - 17:27); Kelvin An - JR (6th - 17:31); and Scott MacNeil - SR (7th - 17:35).  All-League 2nd team was well represented by Apaches as well.  Derek Lwin - SR (8th - 17:38), Ryan Herrera - SR (9th - 17:42), Daniel Yamane - JR (10th - 17:54), Tim Schuemann - JR (13th - 18:03), and Ben Robles - SR (14th - 18:07) all fill out that group.

        The VARSITY boys continue their record setting tear through the season by establishing a new Pacific League Championship team time record of 80:43.  This time breaks the former record of 81:18 by 35 seconds and puts this team in a league of their own. Previously, the top 3 times were 81:18 (CV in 2003), 81:34 (Arcadia in 2005), and 81:37 (CV in 2005). 35 seconds, or 7 seconds average per man is really significant.  These boys also finish the 2006 season undefeated and 21-0.  As has been the case all season, Andrew Pilavjian (SR) led his team, this time with a very controlled effort of 15:46, to claim the Individual Championship and sew up the Pacific League "Most Valuable Runner" award by virtue of finishing 1st in each league meet this season.  He was shadowed closely by sophomore Renaud Poizat, running 15:51 and placing 2nd overall.  Renaud becomes the first and only soph to break 16:00 in the championship meet on this course.  In 4th place was Kris Romero (JR) in 16:11.  All three of these athletes were awarded 1st team All-League medals at the post-race ceremony.  Rounding out the top 5 scoring places were Kazuya Koda (SR) in 9th place at 16:24 and William MacNeil (JR) in 10th place at 16:29, both securing 2nd team All-League status.  Alan Tsai (SR) was 20th place in 17:19 and Ryan Chen (SR) finished 27th in 17:53.  Our Varsity record team time yesterday was nearly 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place Crescenta Valley who is ranked 9th in CIF Division I.

The following 9 athletes have qualified for CIF competition beginning next Saturday at Mt. SAC:

Andrew Pilavjian
Renaud Poizat
Kris Romero
Kazuya Koda
William MacNeil
Ryan Ernst
David Flood
Alan Tsai
Ryan Chen

 Our specific race time hasn't yet been determined but will surely be in the morning. Hope to see some of you out there watching us continue our quest to return to the State Championships.

        Hold on!!  I almost forgot to give you the lowdown on the superb season finish for our Soph/Frosh team.  They all ran excellent races.  Placing 3 athletes on the 1st team All-League and running a fine team time of 89:31, our young Apache harriers placed 2nd in the race and claimed the Pacific League Championship as a result of winning both of the first 2 league meets.  Burroughs H.S., in a attempt to win, pulled 3 of their Varsity runners down to compete on the S/F level.  Our #1 freshman Bryant Chan placed 2nd in the race and ran a wonderful time of 17:24 (Arcadia's 9th fastest time of the day among all divisions).  Pacing right behind Bryant for most of the race before he took off like a rocket was Jeff Macdonald (SO) in 6th place at 17:40 and his best friend Matt Swanson in 7th place in 17:41.  Frosh runner Nicholas Shar placed 9th in 18:01 as teammate Bryan Kim (SO) placed 14th in 18:43 to claim 2nd team All-League honors.

    My heartiest and most proud congratulations go out to all three teams.  To the 4th ranked in the State at CIF Division I Varsity team: You have been amazing up to this point and our mission is not yet accomplished.  There are still many miles to run before our thirst is to be satisfied.  Your endurance will be tested in the coming weeks as we vie for the State Finals and a berth in the Nike Team National Championship meet in Portland on December 2nd.  Short season, big goals, great TEAM!!

       To the JV team, who just happen to be the best JV squad in the state of California: You have proven yourselves to be worthy of all my praise and accolades.  On most any other campus, you would be the Varsity team.  It takes a special group of guys to be so excellent, yet still run in the shadows of the high profile Varsity while pushing it to the limit every meet and keeping those ahead of you honest.  Striving to be on Varsity has paid off for two of you who will be running CIF Prelims as VARSITY, and perhaps even in CIF Finals and hopefully the State Meet.

    To the youngsters on the Soph-Frosh team who have grown and progressed so effectively this year: You are the future of this program.  The legacy that this years' team leaves for you to uphold is sacred and to be honored with each workout and every race. Many of you have shown potential glimpses of brilliance.  Only through hard work and diligent dedication to your sport and your team will the true potential of each one of you be realized.  As your coach, I am blessed to have the opportunity to work with a group so fine.

CIF Prelims

        The Boys Varsity Cross Country team finished second in their heat and eighth overall in Div I to qualify for the finals Saturday, November 18th.  The Apaches were led by Renuad Poizat 3rd @ 15:39, Andrew Pilavjian 5th @ 15:49, Ryan Chen 17th @ 16:02, Ryan Ernst 18th @ 16:07, David Flood 27th @ 16:23, William Mac Neil 28th @ 16:26 and Alan Tsai 40th.

CIF Finals

Coach O'Brien's comments leading up to the finals

            This is the time of year that Cross Country athletes live for, the "Championship Season."  When we began practice on July 5th, it was already a predetermined team goal that we would strive to return to the State Championship meet in Fresno on Thanksgiving weekend.  Last years' team set the bar way up there and made us all proud.  Now, tomorrow at Mt. SAC, this years' Apache harriers will get their opportunity to make dreams come true.  Race time is 9:05 am and hopefully all 7 of our boys will be done running by 9:20 and some seconds.  Already, this team has demolished our school record of 79:35 (set last year) on the Mt. SAC course by running 78:43 at Mt. SAC Invitational on October 21st.

    Last Saturday, at CIF Prelims, we qualified for finals by finishing 2nd in our race while resting our #3 and #5 runners (Kris Romero - Jr. and Kazuya Koda - Sr.).  This should give us an extra performance boost for this weekend.  In addition, the top 3 runners for us in Prelims were running a controlled pace (Soph Renaud ran 15:39; Senior Andrew Pilavjian went 15:49; and Senior Ryan Chen paced off a 16:02). Contributing to the CIF Prelims team time School Record of 80:00 flat was Junior Ryan Ernst in 16:07, Senior David Flood in 16:23, Junior Will MacNeil at 16:26, and Senior Alan Tsai completing our scoring at 16:41.  Our team time for Prelims was 98 seconds faster than we had ever done before.  In fact, it was 27 seconds faster than we ran as a team last year in CIF Finals where we placed 5th!

    At the CIF Southern Section Division 1 level the competition is fierce!  For example, all 7 Southern Section teams that raced at State last year finished in the top 9, including all of the top 5.  Plus, several of the teams that didn't qualify last year could have placed easily top 15.  Four of the teams in our race tomorrow have been ranked at some time this year in the top 25 in the country,  and we've already beaten two of them.  Tomorrow's race is HUGE for our team as we try to establish ourselves as a constant and consistent participant at the State Meet.  We have enjoyed high statewide rankings all year and now is the time for our team's performance to decide those rankings.  I want to thank all of you who have been so supportive of us this season (Teachers, Staff, Administration, and especially the Pep Squad).  Believe me when I say this, your support fuels this team and helps to push them to these awesome record-breaking performances week in and week out.  I hope some of you will be able to make it down to Mt. SAC tomorrow to see the boys in action.  If not, simply give them a pat on the back and let them know you are there in spirit. Thanks!

Apaches finish 5th in school record time - on to State !!!

Coach O'Brien's comments

    Lightning has struck twice!  Arcadia Boys Cross Country ran their best race of the season when it counted most to secure a place on the starting line in Fresno this Saturday for the CIF State Championships.  Last Saturday at Mt. SAC, the Apache harriers set another School Record of 78:40 and finished 5th at CIF Southern Section Division I Finals.  While this is exactly the same place we finished last year, we ran 1 minute and 47 seconds faster as a team this year, establishing a new CIF Finals best time.  On a rather warm day, our team joined 4 other teams in breaking the 79 minute barrier, a historically fast day at the races.

     In a race that started out as if all the competitors were racing an 800 meter race, they sprinted 28 seconds for the first 200 meters and 62 seconds at 400 meters. Our guys held on to run either their fastest times ever, or miss a PR (personal record) by just a second or two. The only exception was senior Andrew Pilavjian who went out with the leaders and paid for it.  Much to his credit, he hung in there and finished a strong 16th place in 15:33.  Renaud Poizat (So) finished as the #1 sophomore in the CIF Finals race, as well as the fastest sophomore of the day in all divisions.  His time of 15:25 was only 2 seconds off his best time to place 14th.  Ryan Chen (Sr) was our 3rd man in 15:49, only 1 second off his best time in 37th place.  His final 400 meters was awe inspiring - talk about a 5th gear.  Kris Romero (Jr) had the most dramatic improvement with a superb 15:54 time to claim 42nd place.  Kris actually ran 26 seconds faster than he had run 4 weeks ago at the Mt. SAC Invite which was run in perfect weather conditions.  Kazuya Koda (Sr) also ran his best time of 15:59 to place 49th.  We had rested both Kazuya and Kris last weekend at CIF Prelims to elicit exactly this performance boost.  The rest should also pay dividends this Saturday at State.  Ryan Ernst (Jr) was our 6th man in 16:07 (54th place) which equaled his best time on this course set only last week.  He and David Flood (Sr), our 7th man, both did their job by finishing ahead of most every other teams 5th man which displaces their score back a few important points.  Like Ryan, David also managed to run his fastest time of his life for the 2nd week in a row.  He ran 16:19 and placed 66th.  In last year's CIF Finals, David would have been 4th for us and Ryan would have been 3rd.  While our team has improved by leaps and bounds, so has our competition.  One of the measures of a tight and competitive team is the time spread between 1st and 5th man.  Ours was a remarkable 34 seconds!  Extend out to 7th man, it was 54 seconds, when anything under 60 seconds for the first 5 runners is considered excellent.  The State Meet poses an exciting challenge, but one that I believe our guys are well prepared for.  Since you can only run 7 athletes, we chose to rest both Will MacNeil (Jr) and Alan Tsai (Sr).  They will be available for us this weekend.

    One of the most fantastic aspects of Saturday's race was the school and team spirit exhibited by all the athletes on our team who weren't competing.  We had a huge group of shirtless, body-painted, sign-carrying  student/athletes running all over the course cheering and screaming their lungs out to spur their teammates on to glory.  In addition, it was great to see many of our former athletes come back to support us.  They are still Apaches at heart, even as they compete for their college teams.  The athletes were heartened to see several teachers and a counselor out there to support them. THANK YOU!!

    If you are able to attend the State Meet this weekend, it is at Woodward Park in Fresno. Our race will start at 10:40 am. The team is leaving on Thanksgiving day at 3:30 pm and we expect to return to Arcadia Saturday evening at 7:00 pm. GO APACHES!!!

State Cross Country Championships - Woodward Park, Fresno - Saturday, November 25 @ 10:40 AM

Coach O'Brien's comments

    HOLY MAMA!!  The CIF State Cross Country Championships last Saturday was "the most competitive race in the 20 year history of the State Meet for Division 1."  It was truly an honor for us to be a part of that spectacular event.  Once again, the Arcadia harriers came through the battle as they pushed it to the max with another superb performance.  As a team we placed 7th in the state, while bettering last year's 3rd place team time by 96 seconds!  When you break that out to 5 scoring members, it is an improvement of 19.2 seconds per runner - simply phenomenal!  Our new School Record on the Woodward Park course is now 80:12.5 (compared to 81:48 in 2005 at State), and incredibly, 6 of our 7 runners ran the fastest time of their lives on the same day in the biggest race of the season.  A coach cannot ask any more than that.  It is, however, a testament to their competitiveness that they're all disappointed in their team placement in the race, even as they fully recognize that they ran their hearts out and all improved dramatically throughout this season.  Right to the very end of the season, this team kept their streak alive.  They were able to set a new Team-Time School Record in every single race they ran on every different course they ran during the 2006 campaign.  I couldn't have even dreamt up a scenario so remarkably ridiculous.  Unreal!!!

    Just to give you an idea of just how crazy fast this race was, Royal High School ran a great race (1 second faster in 2006 than last year when they won by more than 100 points) and got dethroned after winning the last two state titles.  In order to beat them, Trabuco Hills High had to run an All-Time State Meet record of 77:52 and have their 5th man run out of his mind.  Royal had been previously ranked #1 in the country.  Actually, all of the top 5 teams in our race had been ranked in the top 25 in the USA at some time this season, and deservedly so.  Arcadia'a boys are right up there with the best and, in fact, earlier this season we had defeated 4 of the 6 teams that finished ahead of us at State.  We have been the model of consistency and excellence as we took on all comers all season long and travelled up and down the state to hone our competitive skills and racing fitness.

   Next year our goals will be: 1) To once again win the Pacific League Championship (2)  To qualify again for CIF Final (3) To qualify again for the State Championship Meet and (4) This time win the Championship.  We will be losing a great group of seniors, such as Andrew Pilavjian, Kazuya Koda, Ryan Chen, and David Flood.  However, just like we lost some great seniors last year, the young guys will step up.

        Congratulations to all of our State Meet qualifiers.  Two years in a row is an awesome accomplishment.  To truly appreciate how special this team is, I will draw some comparisons to last year's performance at State in which we placed 3rd.

* Our first 2 runners, Renaud Poizat (So - 15:40.4) and Andrew Pilavjian (Sr -  15:47.1), finished ahead of last year's 1st runner (Paul Beckwith).
*  Arcadia's 3rd runner, Kazuya Koda (Sr - 16:10.4) finished ahead of last year's 2nd athlete (Andrew Pilavjian).

*  This year's 4th and 5th men, Ryan Chen (Sr - 16:14.7) and William MacNeil (Jr - 16:20.1) both finished ahead of 2005's 3rd man (Daniel Miller).

*  Arcadia's 6th and 7th men, Kris Romero (Jr - 16:26.8) and Ryan Ernst (Jr - 16:31.3) finished ahead of last year's 4th man (Renaud Poizat).

    In 2005 our team spread of time from our 1st to 5th man was 47 seconds and from 1st to 7th man was 55 seconds.  Even as the 2006 team ran considerably faster, the team spread for 1st to 5th was 39.7 seconds and the spread for 1st through 7th was 50.9 seconds.  Andrew Pilavjian ran 26 seconds faster this year than last; Kazuya Koda and Ryan Chen both ran 37 seconds fasther this year; and Renaud Poizat ran faster by an astonishing 52 seconds.  Renaud is the #1 Sophomore runner in the state for Division 1!!  He placed 20th overall in the race with a strong and determined effort and an inteligent race plan execution from start to finish.

    Andrew Pilavjian has done a tremendous job of mentoring Renaud, even while carrying the weight of the team's expectations on his shoulders.  He has never once shirked his responsibility as "the leader" on his team, while going out and bravely taking risks in races that sometimes backfired.  Yet, you could always count on him to lead his team fearlessly into every battle.  His agressive and intellectual competitiveness will be sorely missed as he has proven himself to be a true student of our sport.  Our 3 new runners on the State scene this year are all Juniors and they more than held their own.  William MacNeil was rested out of CIF Finals in favor of the State Meet and responded by placing 5th for us at 16:20.1, while both Kris Romero (16:26.8) and Ryan Ernst (16:31.3) had run CIF Finals before the State race.  If each of these Juniors improve by 37 seconds, as Ryan Chen and Kazuya Koda did this year, we will be in serious contention for a State title next year.  Now that would be a blast!!

    To cap off the season, the team will be travelling this Thursday to the 3rd edition of NIKE Team Nationals up in Portland, Oregon. They have 2 races, an Invitational section of 20 teams selected from 8 regions (California was granted 3 entrants), and an Open section of the next 30 teams, plus a National All-Star high school team from Kenya.  We will be racing the Kenyans and a whole lot of other teams from around the country who fell short of securing a bid to the invite race.  Just from our State Meet Division 1 race, there is Davis (#3), El Toro (#4), Upland (#5),  Madera (#6), Arcadia (#7), Valencia (#8), and Dana Hills (#9) all competing.  Royal, Trabuco Hills, and Jesuit (Division 2 winner) are in the invitational race.  It should be a tremendous experience for our boys and one they are all thrilled about.  Rain gear and long racing spikes are the order of the day up there.

Final Note:  Apache Fever is extremely contagious!!!  We had no fewer than 25 Arcadia alumni cross country runners attend the State Meet and their support is immeasurable.  Every boy who ran had his parents in attendance and that support is so awesome as well.  And if that isn't enough, we had 12 current team members who made the trek to support their buds at the "Big Dance". We're already working on some new moves for next year.  Apache Fever - CATCH IT!!

A very proud Coach O'Brien

Nike Team Nationals

The Boys Varsity Cross Country team, competing as the Apache Runners Club finished, 7th in the Open Race over the 5000M course at the Portland Meadows Race Course in Oregon on Saturday, December 2, 2006.  The team was led by senior Andrew Pilavjian who finished 7th @ 16:51 but was the second American to cross the finish line in the Open Race which was doiminated by Kenyan runners who finished 1-5.  Sophomore Renaud Poizat finished 16th @ 17:08 and was the 10th American to finish.  Others Apache runners included Ryan Ernst 72nd @ 18:03, Ryan Chen 76th @ 18:07, Kris Romero 117th @ 18:32, Kazuya Koda 120th @ 18:33 and David Flood 129th @ 18:38.  The Apaches' team time of 1:28:44 placed them in the TOP 20 nationally.

Coach O'Brien's comments

You knew it was coming and I didn't want to disappoint anyone who has been following this team all year.  Our record-setting season has come to a close with our final race in Portland, Oregon at the "Open Race" of the 3rd Annual NIKE Team Nationals.  I believe this is the first time an Arcadia high school athletic team has competed at the national level.  NIKE did a fantastic job of putting together a 1st class event and it was a tremendous experience to which our boys were exposed.  Since this race is a post-season event and falls outside of CIF competition, every boy had to pay their own way to the tune of $600.  In addition, I would like to thank Oliver Beckwith for stepping in to serve as the Coach/Chaperone of the team because CIF regulations restrict me from coaching the team after the State Championship Meet.  He did a great job and the team performance bears this out.

    The "Open Race" consisted of 33 teams from around the country and an elite team from Kenya that absolutely dominated the race by sweeping the first 5 places for a perfect score of 15.  The great thing about the Kenyans being in our race was that it pulled the rest of the field out with them and created a more competitive race.  Arcadia finished 7th with a team time of 88:44.  In addition to the "Open Race", NIKE invited 20 other elite teams from 8 different regions to participate in the "Invitational Race."  Each region gets 2 automatic berths and then 4 additional invitations are extended based on a selection committee's perception of the strength of certain regions.  California (Jesuit H.S.) received one of those extra invitations and then placed 4th in the race.  So, as a region we had the best showing of all other regions by placing 2nd (Royal H.S.), 4th (Jesuit) and 9th (Trabuco Hills H.S.).  In our "Open Race," California was well represented also.  Excluding the Kenyan team, we placied 1st (El Toro H.S.), 2nd (Dana Hills H.S.), 3rd (Upland H.S.), 4th (Madera H.S.), 6th (Arcadia H.S.), 7th (Crescenta Valley H.S.), and 9th (Mira Costa H.S.).  How do you spell DOMINANCE?!

The course was extremely challenging to say the least.  There weren't really any hills to speak of, but they added some manufactured obstacles such as  bales of hay to jump, moguls to traverse, steps to navigate, and plenty of mud and standing water to trudge through.  It was so foreign from anything we are traditionally exposed to that it posed a tremendous challenge for all who raced, but particularly teams from "sunny" California.

    Individually, for Arcadia, Andrew Pilavjian saved his best for last and ran the race of his life on the biggest stage he's ever been on.  He was 7th in his race (2nd American) with a time of 16:51.  If you eliminate the Kenyans from the picture and collate the "Open" and "Invite" races together,  Andrew is 9th in the nation and 4th Californian; only 10 seconds behind Invite Race 3rd place finisher, Michael Cybulski, who won the State meet a little over a week ago!  Sophomore sensation, Renaud Poizat, placed 16th in his race in 17:08 (11th American) and he also saved his best effort for Portland.  He was the 1st sophomore in the race and 2nd in the nation between the 2 races (only 1 second behind 1st).
Our two Ryans, Ernst (JR) and Chen (SR) respectively, were battling the tough conditions together in 18:03 and 18:07.  Then we allowed a bit of a gap to develop, as Kris Romero (JR) and Kazuya Koda (SR) finished in 18:32 and 18:33.  David Flood (SR) was very close behind in 18:38.  Our top 5 scoring runners all finished in the top 50% of the field.  Will Mac Neil, who had run in the State Meet and was our 5th runner there, ran the Portland Meadows course after all the races were completed.  In fact, he had a lot of company with the 8th man runners from 5 other school and several 8th women as well.  His time would have placed him right in the middle of our team on this day, and he also would have been 5th of all the 20 invited teams' 8th men.

    Interestingly enough, if you splice our athletes into the "Invite Race", we as a team place 12th in the nation.  However, we didn't get the invite and will try again next year to secure one of those automatic berths.  Perhaps the excellent showing across the board of the California teams in both races will get the committee members to think again about their selection process.  No complaints however, as we were happy and honored to be accepted into the "Open Race" and thrilled to be able to compete against the best in the USA. The Arcadia community should be very proud of these wonderful young men.  They represent us well and yet they seem to be the San Gabriel Valley's best kept secret.

    Final note: The morning after the race we took a little side trip to the Oregon Coast, a little town called Cannon Beach.  There was such a sense of relief but also a huge sense of pride in each athlete at the completion of this amazing season.  As they ran up and down the sand dunes and attempted to cross a freezing stream that met the ocean, I couldn't help think that they would look back on this whole experience and probably not remember their place or time.  They surely would remember the friendships, supportive teammates, competitive experience, and simply the fun they had together.  It makes me very proud to be their coach and I am sure that sentiment is echoed by my assistants, Caz, Alex, and Casper. Thank you again for all your support of our program this season.

                                Coach O'Brien

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