The Fillmore Condors Youth Cross Country Team which competed at the AAU Youth Cross Country Nationals in Florida on Saturday, December 5th. Top row, left to right: Leah Barragan, Yarely Herrera, Coach Felix Zuniga, Noah Flores, Diego Felix, Diego Rodriguez, Coach Phil Ramirez, Lindsey Ramirez, Yarably Herrera. Middle row, left to right: Lucy Zuniga, Natalia Retana, Santiago Felix, Abel Arana, Itzel Arana. Bottom row, left to Right: Coaches Andrea Mendez and Gerardo Flores. Photos courtesy Fillmore Condors XC President Erika Arana.

Some of the Fillmore Condors XC Team in Florida.

Courtesy Fillmore Condors Cross Country President Erika Arana

The Fillmore Condors Cross Country team concluded their 2020 season by participating in the AAU Youth Cross Country Nationals on Saturday, December 5th, 2020. Although there wasn’t the usual number of runners, over 2,000 athletes still made the trip to Tallahassee, Florida to compete at the 100+ acres, known as the premiere cross-country facility at Apalachee Regional Park. This multi-use park includes one of the nation’s few sites designed specifically for cross country running. The pristine trail features numerous course/distance options through the rolling hills, lowlands and pine forests. The trail was designed to give runners the opportunity to run on several types of surfaces. For a few of our athletes, this was their second time racing at this very same course, back in 2017. Weather conditions were a lot better for our athletes, this time around. The Florida rain drenched the course the night before, forcing our athletes to run on some muddy trails. Overall, it felt like the California weather they were used to.

This year, by far was the most challenging, due to Covid restrictions. Most of our season racing, were held as “Inter-Team Time Trials”. This is how national teams were determined at the end. Our fourteen local Condors joined other area runners to form Valley United Striders. Condor representatives were Abel Arana, Itzel Arana, Leah Barragan, Diego Felix, Santiago Felix, Destina Guzman, Yaraby Herrera, Lindsey Ramirez, Natalia Retana, Diego Rodriguez, Lucy Zuniga and sisters - Kaylie, Kirsten, and Kristen Theobald.

With high school sports on hold, we welcomed three Condor Alumni’s to join our National team. The third race of the day was the girls 13 and 14-year-old, with 214 runners. Lindsey Ramirez 98th overall and 57th, individually for the 14-year-olds; Lindsey had over a 2-minute PR of 15:38.15. Her alumni teammate, Yaraby Herrera had been battling a hamstring injury 2 weeks prior and still managed to fight her way through it during her race. Yaraby placed 187th overall and 94th individually, for the 14-year-old girls; 18:29.26. The boys 13 & 14-year-old division had a stacked field of 245 runners. Alumni, Diego Rodriquez finished strong, placing 91st overall and 62nd individually, for the 14-year-olds; PR 13:37.66. Diego Felix crossed the finish line in a PR 15:02.03, placing 186th overall and 79th individually, for the 13-year-olds. Due to an injury, Condor Noah Flores had to withdraw his National team spot. These youth four, ran a 3,000-meter (2.48 mile) race.

Following was the girls 11 and 12-year-old division, that consisted of 240 runners. Leah Barragan placed 160th overall and 96th individually, for the 12-year-olds; 13:08.41. Santiago Felix ran the boys 11 and 12-year-old division race, that saw 212 runners that morning. He finished strong with a time 12:27.39, placing 164th overall and 71st in the 11-year-olds, individually. Both Leah and Santiago ran a 3,000-meter (1.86 mile) race.

142 runners toed the starting line in the girls 9 and 10-year-old race, with four of the Striders being Condors. They pack ran the entire way to a 3rd team podium appearance. Theobald sisters, Kristen ran 12:28.55, 42nd overall and 11th individually, for the 9-year-olds; Her sister Kirsten behind with a 12:32.25, 49th overall and 13th individually, for the 9-year-olds. Lucy Zuniga, a second behind her teammate, crossed with a time of 12:33.14 for a 50th overall finish and 14th individually, for the 9-year-olds. Destina Guzman tried hard to hold on to her teammates to finish 76th and 24th individually, for the 9-year-olds; 13:05.36. Abel Arana was the Strider’s first runner to cross the finish line in the field of 137 runners. His time was 11:45.85, placing 39th overall and 28th individually, for the 10-year-olds. Abel and his teammates also ran away with a 3rd place podium title. This division ran the 3,000-meter race (1.86 mile) race.

The last race for our athletes, was the girls 7 and 8-year-olds. Following in her brother’s footsteps, Itzel Arana also was the Strider’s number one runner to cross the finish line with a PR time of 9:18.30. Itzel placed 32nd overall and 11th individually, for the 7-year-olds. Her teammate Natalia Retana had a huge PR time of 10:44.33, placing 51st overall and 31st individually, for the 8-year-olds. This was the girls first National experience and together with their teammates, Itzel and Natalia earned a 3rd place podium finish in their 2,000-meter (1.24 mile) race.

Fillmore Condors Cross Country is a non-profit organization under Heritage Valley Blazers Inc. We are the only cross-country team in Fillmore, we represent our city with pride. The Condors are coached by Philip Ramirez, Gerardo Flores, Jared Perez and Felix Zuniga. “Saying we are proud, is an understatement; especially this year. We had an unpredictable season and made the best of it. All we wanted was some normalcy for our athletes, and running has always taken us places. They come out, push through the pain, and train their minds daily with one goal in mind; December!” Condors President Erika Arana and board members would like to thank the following for sponsoring our athletes this unforgettable cross-country season: Fillmore Lions Club, Fillmore Rotary Club, Prancer’s Farm, Siena Floral Accent’s, Heritage Valley Blazers Inc. and the Fillmore Community for purchasing Jamba Juice cards from our athletes. For more XC or Track info, contact 805-624-1129. FOREVER CONDORS!