Coach Claesson’s notes:

Another beautiful day in San Diego…it is nice to be a cross country runner at Grossmont College, we always seem to have the best conditions! It was cool and sunny in La Jolla, with a slight breeze and a lot of shade in the Eucalyptus forest.

Grossmont only had two athletes running this race (Janice Hanna is out for the year with an injury) and several other top 10 runners were held out to rest, were sick or had slight injuries. This is a 4-year-university race and our two athletes did a good job against older, more experienced runners on a long distance.

Kandace Smith was very strong through 3 miles of hills and narrow trails. Alyssa Canizales also pushed it through the first 3 miles and had another solid race.

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So Cal Preview, Bakersfield 10/3/2008 5K

Name	Place	Time
Sarah Stuebe	46	20:22
Traci Wetzel	61	20:48
Kandace Smith	95	21:41
Cindy Mata	146	22:50
Alyssa Canizales	179	24:02
Candice Dumais	209	25:00
Angela Martinez	252	33:23

Coach Claesson’s notes:

Fortunately it was a very nice day, sunny and about 75 degrees -considering it can be 110 degrees at this time of year in Bakersfield! The athletes were happy and their efforts combined with the weather provided some great seasonal PR’s! This one was one of the largest XC races in history!

Grossmont’s women had the best team finish since…possibly 1994. With almost every team that will place at the state championships in this race, Grossmont turned in a very solid team effort finishing in 15^th place overall, 4^th vs. P.C.C. teams! This was accomplished without some of the top women on the team (Kristen Anderson, Janice Hanna, Karen Martinez all were sick or injured and out of action this week) and Candice Dumais limping through with a slight injury.

Sarah Stuebe led the team throughout the race and was our top finisher again! Traci Wetzel had another strong performance, just a second off of her estimated PR that she set last week in Orange Coast. Kandace Smith returned to action with a big PR, dropping over a minute from the 2^nd race of the season.

Cindy Mata continues to knock out lifetime PR’s almost every week and move up on her position in the top seven. Alyssa Canizales had a huge race, dropping 1 minute 15 seconds off of her lifetime best. Candice Dumais would not let an uncooperative foot stop her and she willed herself to the finish. Angela Martinez had her first race ever and had a great time! This team is looking strong!

Coach Claesson’s notes:

The team started out the season with a solid race at The Balboa Dirt Dog 4 Mile on Saturday, Aug. 30. It was a beautiful morning in Balboa Park with decent racing conditions, slightly warm and sunny. It is a challenging course with steep hills and long gradual grades on grass, pavement and hard dirt trails. This is an open race for all ages and levels with 107 women finishing, including some who are very fast! The woman’s overall winner, Leslie Paterson finished in a blazing 23:54 (5:58 per mile). Former Grossmont College runner Terry Izaguirre finished in 20^th at 28:03. Some of the former Grossmont College men including Bryan Wallbank, Rich Brownsberger and Juan Naranjo have been doing well at these races and have resurrected the old Jamul Toads club.

This years Grossmont Women showed their strength in numbers and talent with returning number 1, Sarah Stuebe leading the pack in 26^th at 29:11. Two of the top Freshman stayed close to Sarah for a couple miles, Traci Wetzel finished in 37^th at 30:47 and Kandace Smith 47^th at 31:49. The other three returners from last season, Janice Hanna, Candice Dumais and Cindy Mata came through in a solid pack and showed big improvement over last year. The freshmen, Lisa Brown, Alyssa Canizales, Aleece Tkachuk and Pamela Martinez had very good results, most have never run a cross country race. -RC