Fillmore Raiders Football and Cheer is now accepting applications for football coaches for our 2016 season. Please contact Lupe (805)797-7803 for an application.

Perce’s Kenpo Karate is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. Owner Paul Perce wants to thank all students, parents, instructors, and his family for their support. They are going to have a special celebration with demonstrations, private classes, and special guests. It will be on January 23 (Saturday) from 2pm-4pm at the studio. Everyone is invited to attend this special celebration. Old students and new students are encouraged to attend. There will special door prize’s. Come celebrate our 20th year in business, 515 Ventura Street (Hwy126). For more information
please call 805-524-6870.

The Fillmore Condors Youth Cross Country team concluded their post season by participating in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics National Cross Country Championships held at the Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, December 12th. Twelve Fillmore athletes participated in the cold and rainy winter cross country running events held at an altitude of 5,000 feet above sea level with temperatures of 30 degrees.

The Condors were represented by Leah Barragan, Destiny Cardona, Andrea Laureano, Juan Carlos Laureano, Niza Laureano, Rey Laureano, Syenna Ponce, Alix Tirado, Emma Torres, Michael-Camilo Torres, and Jordyn Walla. An alumni of the Condors program and local athlete Neveah Walla also competed.

The athletes qualified for the event by finishing in the top eight of the Valley Youth Conference and finishing in the top 25 individually or being a member of the top three teams of the USATF Jr. Olympics Region 15 Championship race that was held on November 22nd in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The team’s highest honors this season were won by Niza Laureano who was the girls 8 years old & under Valley Youth Conference Champion. She also won the USATF Southern California Jr. Olympics Championship as well as the USATF Jr. Olympics Region 15 Championship title. She earned a third place finish and title of “USATF Jr. Olympic All American” in the National Championship which included 197 runners in her division. She also was the top finisher of her team and earned a 1st place team championship along with her teammate and cousin Emma Torres. Leah Barragan and Destiny Cardona also ran in the girls 8 year old & under division as part of the Valley Youth Conference’s “B Team” a second team of runners representing Region 15 that finished in 6th place. The girls 8 & under divisions ran 1.24 mile (2,000 meter) races.

Four more Condors also earned team awards. In the boys 11 & 12 year old division, cousins Rey Laureano and Michael-Camilo Torres earned 3rd place team medals. In the girls 11 & 12 year old division, Fillmore representatives Alix Tirado and Jordyn Walla earned 3rd place team medals. Both groups ran 1.86 mile (3,000 meter) races. Jordyn Walla also earned the title of “USATF Jr. Olympic All American” with a 25th place finish out of 301 runners in her division race. Only the top 25 finishers of each division earn “All American” honors.

Andrea Laureano ran in the girls 9 & 10 year old division’s 1.86 mile race. Syenna Ponce and Nevaeh Walla ran in the girls 13 & 14 year old division’s 2.48 mile (4,000 meter) race. Juan Carlos Laureano ran in the boys 13 & 14 year old division’s 2.48 mile (4,000 meter) race.

The Condors are coached by Rafael Laureano who stated, “I am happy to continue coaching these great kids in this cross country program. These kids’ accomplishments are extraordinary. They ran in tough conditions and represented us well. It is important for them to know we can accomplish great things but we must not only act, but also dream.” The Condors Team President Erika Arana would like to thank the following for sponsoring the Condors and making the team’s dreams become reality: El Pescador, Elkins Ranch, Fillmore Fire Department, Fillmore Lions Club, Fillmore Rotary Club, Heritage Valley Blazers Track & Field, and Yanni’s.

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Oxnard Wave Soccer Club Girls U14 Blue is a team from Fillmore playing for the Oxnard Wave Soccer Club. These girls have recently accomplished two milestones.

1. During their first year in the Coast Soccer League Bronze Alpha Division they placed first with a record of 10 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. Great job!

2. This past weekend, 12/12-12/13, they participated in the Anaheim Surf Winter Classic tournament and placed first with 4 wins and a shutout the entire weekend. Great job!

Here is Oxnard Wave Soccer Club U14 Girls Blue Team. Note: picture was taken at the Winter Classic and can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/oxnardwaves/?fref=ts

On Saturday, November the 28th, Fillmore's top female runner stepped up to the starting line representing the Fillmore Flashes at the Division 4 State Cross Country Finals held at Woodward Park in Fresno. It was a cool 36 degrees at 9:05 a.m. and the individual qualifiers drew a poor lane at the extreme left of the start line.

Boom, and they were off. Carissa had a good start but found it difficult to maintain her pace. She had worked so hard to make the State meet and to lead her team during this season. In retrospect a fast start, then trying to work her way up to the front became a difficult task that along with the cold weather and tough competition sapped important strength and power from Carissa. Added to this, she ran for the first time this season without her team. Today, she was unable to move up and compete for a top spot, as has been her trademark this season. Carissa finished in 80th place running a 20:01.8.

Let me say that we are extremely proud of Carissa and the effort that she has put forth for us at State Finals and throughout her first season as A Flash. This was certainly a great learning opportunity for a promising young athlete who will have many more opportunities to represent the community of Fillmore in future post season competition.

Carissa is a determined young lady who has worked hard to achieve her successes. She is a front runner who competes to win. This year she led the girls team 8 out of 11 races. The other 3 race, she finished a close second. State Finals proved to be a tough one, but certainly a learning experience for future meets and Carissa let me say it again, you have made us proud.

On November 24th both boys and girls cross-country teams traveled to Walnut, California to compete against some of the best Division 4 teams in the State. Their goal was to finish among the top 7 teams in Southern Section and thereby advance to the State Finals.

The girls ran at 8:05 and lined up against 16 other outstanding teams. Many of the teams were ranked among the top 10 teams in the Southern Section during the season. The highest ranking the Fillmore girls achieved this season was 13th. For the 8th time this season , the Flashes were led by front running freshman Carissa Rodriguez in a time of 18:36.1. Carissa was the lone State qualifier for the Flashes and was awarded a top finisher medal. Carissa placed 12th, followed by teammate Lupita Perez 23rd in 19:06.4, Andrea Marruffo 74th in 20:27.5, Jacqueline Chavez 96th in 21:26.1, Kimberly Vazquez 101st in 21:30.6, Erika Ruiz 106th in 21:59.5, and Irma Torres 111th in 22:25.1. Five out of seven of our girls ran a faster time than when they ran the same course at the Mt. SAC Invitational. Also, three of the top runners for Fillmore are freshman which bodes well for the future. The girls finished in 15th place.

The boys ran at 8:45. They qualified for CIF Finals even though they were not ranked during the season. This race would prove to be a formidable challenge for our boys who needed to run their best race of the season on the challenging Mt. SAC course. Top finisher for the Flashes was Jose Rodriguez who finished 62nd in 17:15.2. This is the 9th time Jose has led the boys this season. Jose was followed by Johnny Martinez 74th in 17:28.7, Adrian Orozco 92nd in 17:54.4, Michael Sanchez 108th in 18:30.8, Jonathan Ordaz 113th in 18:42.7, Christian Andrade 114th in 18:46,7, and Curtis Ponce 117th in 19:11.1. Four of the seven boys had personal best times on this course. The boys team finished in 16th place.

The State Meet will be held at Woodward Park on November 28th. Carissa will run in the Division 4 race at 9:05 a.m. We are all looking forward to supporting her.

It certainly has been a wonderful season of hard work and personal best performances for the rest of our boys and girls teams. They have grown in so many ways, and have formed a bond that will last a lifetime. As coaches and staff we are proud of their accomplishments, and it has been a privilege to get to know them and to work with them. You are our Champions and have represented your community well.

On Saturday the 14th, the boys and girls cross country teams traveled to Riverside to compete on the Riverside City Cross Country course at CIF Prelims. The teams goals were to run well enough to qualify for CIF Finals a week later at Mt. San Antonio College.

The first race of the day for the Flashes, race #5 featured the boys team competing against 18 other Division 4 teams. These are the top teams in the Southern Section. To qualify for the Finals, Fillmore had to finish among the top 8 teams. The boys ran perhaps their best race of the season to finish in 8th place and qualify for CIF Finals. For the 8th time this season, the Flashes were led by senior Jose Rodriguez who finished in 34th place in a personal best of 16:26.3, he was followed by Michael Sanchez 38th in 16:38.6, Johnny Martinez 41st in 16:41.3, Adrian Orozco 54th in 16:56.2, Curtis Ponce 64th in 17:02.9, Johnathan Ordaz 75th in 17:22.5, and Christian Andrade 96th in 17:43.4. Johnathan Ordaz and Christian Andrade ran personal best times.

In the girls race, race #7, the girls competed against 21 teams. To advance to CIF Finals they had to finish among the top 8 teams. Helping the girls achieve this goal and advance to CIF Finals was the one two punch of Lupita Perez and Carissa Rodriguez. Lupita led the girls finishing in 6th place in a time of 18:15.2, and teammate Carissa finished right behind in 18:17. Freshman Andrea Marruffo continues to improve and impress, she finished in 29th place in fine time of 19:19.7. She was followed by Irma Torres 40th in 19:43.5, Kimberly Vazquez 57th in 20:15.8, Erika Ruiz 58th in 20:16 and Julissa Martinez 103rd in 21:29.6. Another highlight was that the top 6 girls ran a personal best season time.

The Fillmore boys and girls will next travel to Walnut, California and compete on the historic Mt. San Antonio College course. This meet will take place on Saturday the 21st, with our girls toeing the starting line at 8:05 and the boys following at 8:45. Both teams will need to finish among the top 7 teams in their respective race to qualify for State Finals in Fresno at Woodward Park on November 28th.

Irma Torres
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Christian Andrade
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On Thursday, the boys and girls cross-country teams competed on the Lake Casitas Course in Ojai in the third league meeting of this season. This final meeting determined league standings for the 2015 seasons and which Varsity teams would earn the privilege of representing the Tri-Valley League Schools at CIF Prelims on November 14th.

The first race of the day was the boys JV. First place team in this race was the Foothill Technology Dragons with Fillmore capturing second place. Leading the Flashes was John Chavez finishing in 14th place in a time of 18:38.53, followed by Nick Villela 16th in 18:45.98, Everardo Garcia Magana 19th in 19:04.18, Sergio Perez 26th in 19:23.25, Gustavo Valdez 28th in 19:26.42, Mario Hurtado 35th in 19:53.52, Steven Valencia 42nd in 20:10.31, Roberto Magana 44th in 20:15.14, Jaime Malagon 45th in 20:15.23, Josue Baez 54th in 20:34.73, Jorge Acevedo 61st in 20:46.53 , Dean Lomeli 62nd in 20:58.24, Louie Rodriguez 81st in 21:45.36, Eric Hernandez 86th in 22:23.35, Andrew Hernandez 91st in 22:33.13, Antonio Villalobos 96th in 23:33.64, Misael Ponce 100th in 24:02.50, Daniel Cruz 101st in 24:04.10, Luis Leon 104th in 24:42.75, and Allen Inda 110th in 27:11.94.

The most competitive race of the day featured Fillmore varsity girls versus Foothill Technology girls. Both these teams are currently ranked among the top teams in Southern Section CIF with Foothill holding the 7th spot and Fillmore ranked 12th.

Even though the Flashes had their best showing of the season against Foothill Technology, improving by more than 3 and a half minutes, they were unable to overcome the 1-4 placing of the Foothill dragons. Front runner for the Flashes was Carissa Rodriguez who finished in 3rd place in 18:45.47, a personal best on this course for her. With this performance, she earned a First Team All-League selection. She was followed by teammate Lupita Perez who finished in 4th in 19:02.97 also a personal best by 33 seconds, and a First Team All-League selection. The next finisher, another freshman, Andrea Marruffo finished in 14th place in 20:38.99, a 35 second improvement. Andrea was also a Second Team All-League selection. Kimberly Vasquez finished in 18th in 20:57.60, a 46.60 second improvement and was an All League Honorable selection. Next in the queue was Irma Torres 19th in 20:58.61, a 23 second improvement, she was also awarded Honorable Mention by the league coaches. Erika Ruiz followed in 22nd in 21:05.85, a 47 second improvement, and Jackie Chavez 28th in 21:33.11, a 37 second improvement.

The boys varsity race also proved to be an excellent outing for the Flashes with most of them improving their times. Once again they finished second to an excellent Foothill Technology team.

Leading the Fillmore Charge was Senior Jose Rodriguez who finished in tenth place and earned Second Team All-League Honors in 17:02.95, sophomore Michael Sanchez finished in 14th place in 17:26.16 and also earned Second Team All-League Honors, Adrian Orozco finished in 17th in 17:31.36, Jonathan Ordaz 21st in 17:48.54, Johnny Martinez 23rd in 17:53.91, Curtis Ponce 33rd in 18:09.29, and Christian Andrade 35th in 18:23.55. Johnathan Ordaz and Adrian Orozco both received Honorable Mention.

In the girls JV race Fillmore finished second. They were led by freshman Julissa Martinez who ran an excellent 21:09.55 to finish in 3rd place. Susie Garcia also ran well and finished in 12th place in a time of 22:29.29, followed by Cecilia Cisneros 19th in 22:46.81, Lauren Magdaleno 20th in 22:54.74, Emma Orozco 21st in 23:05.45, Maria Ruvalcaba 23rd in 23:13.03, Briana Lopez 29th in 24:02.63, Marisol Martinez 36th in 24:45.11, and Yakeline Magana 45th in 25:42.94.

Next Saturday the boys and girls varsity teams will travel to Riverside to compete on the Riverside City Cross Country Course. They will compete against other top Division 4 teams in the Southern Section with the goal of advancing to CIF Finals on November 21st. In order to advance to the Finals the Flashes must finish among the top 16 teams or as individuals they must finish among the top 6 individuals in their heat. It should be an exciting meet, join us to cheer on you CIF team representatives. We are proud of our young men and women.

We are having our first sign ups on Tuesday December 8th from 5-8pm at the Veterans Memorial Building. This year early registration is $225 per player and can be paid in 3 payments of $75. We also offer a $20 discount per sibling for football. We will have 2 fundraisers this year that involve selling tickets. Our first one is our annual carwash which is now just selling 5 tickets and our PYFL 10 raffle ticket sale which doesn’t start till August. We offer our early registration not only to returners but to all kids that want to play football. In 2016 every football player will receive 2 game jerseys home and away, spirit t shirt, picture package and trophy. We will be accepting applications for new Head Coaches and board members at our first sign ups as well. We would like to thank the community of Fillmore, Santa Paula, and Piru for making the Fillmore Bears the biggest youth football and cheer organization and still the most affordable.

Thank you for your support,
Robert A. Medina
President So Cal Fillmore Bears

Andrea Marruffo
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Jonathan Ordaz
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On Thursday, the boys and girls cross-country teams competed on the Lake Casitas Course in Ojai in the third league meeting of this season. This final meeting determined league standings for the 2015 seasons and which Varsity teams would earn the privilege of representing the Tri-Valley League Schools at CIF Prelims on November 14th.

The first race of the day was the boys JV. First place team in this race was the Foothill Technology Dragons with Fillmore capturing second place. Leading the Flashes was John Chavez finishing in 14th place in a time of 18:38.53, followed by Nick Villela 16th in 18:45.98, Everardo Garcia Magana 19th in 19:04.18, Sergio Perez 26th in 19:23.25, Gustavo Valdez 28th in 19:26.42, Mario Hurtado 35th in 19:53.52, Steven Valencia 42nd in 20:10.31, Roberto Magana 44th in 20:15.14, Jaime Malagon 45th in 20:15.23, Josue Baez 54th in 20:34.73, Jorge Acevedo 61st in 20:46.53 , Dean Lomeli 62nd in 20:58.24, Louie Rodriguez 81st in 21:45.36, Eric Hernandez 86th in 22:23.35, Andrew Hernandez 91st in 22:33.13, Antonio Villalobos 96th in 23:33.64, Misael Ponce 100th in 24:02.50, Daniel Cruz 101st in 24:04.10, Luis Leon 104th in 24:42.75, and Allen Inda 110th in 27:11.94.

The most competitive race of the day featured Fillmore varsity girls versus Foothill Technology girls. Both these teams are currently ranked among the top teams in Southern Section CIF with Foothill holding the 7th spot and Fillmore ranked 12th.

Even though the Flashes had their best showing of the season against Foothill Technology, improving by more than 3 and a half minutes, they were unable to overcome the 1-4 placing of the Foothill dragons. Front runner for the Flashes was Carissa Rodriguez who finished in 3rd place in 18:45.47, a personal best on this course for her. With this performance, she earned a First Team All-League selection. She was followed by teammate Lupita Perez who finished in 4th in 19:02.97 also a personal best by 33 seconds, and a First Team All-League selection. The next finisher, another freshman, Andrea Marruffo finished in 14th place in 20:38.99, a 35 second improvement. Andrea was also a Second Team All-League selection. Kimberly Vasquez finished in 18th in 20:57.60, a 46.60 second improvement and was an All League Honorable selection. Next in the queue was Irma Torres 19th in 20:58.61, a 23 second improvement, she was also awarded Honorable Mention by the league coaches. Erika Ruiz followed in 22nd in 21:05.85, a 47 second improvement, and Jackie Chavez 28th in 21:33.11, a 37 second improvement.

The boys varsity race also proved to be an excellent outing for the Flashes with most of them improving their times. Once again they finished second to an excellent Foothill Technology team.

Leading the Fillmore Charge was Senior Jose Rodriguez who finished in tenth place and earned Second Team All-League Honors in 17:02.95, sophomore Michael Sanchez finished in 14th place in 17:26.16 and also earned Second Team All-League Honors, Adrian Orozco finished in 17th in 17:31.36, Jonathan Ordaz 21st in 17:48.54, Johnny Martinez 23rd in 17:53.91, Curtis Ponce 33rd in 18:09.29, and Christian Andrade 35th in 18:23.55. Johnathan Ordaz and Adrian Orozco both received Honorable Mention.

In the girls JV race Fillmore finished second. They were led by freshman Julissa Martinez who ran an excellent 21:09.55 to finish in 3rd place. Susie Garcia also ran well and finished in 12th place in a time of 22:29.29, followed by Cecilia Cisneros 19th in 22:46.81, Lauren Magdaleno 20th in 22:54.74, Emma Orozco 21st in 23:05.45, Maria Ruvalcaba 23rd in 23:13.03, Briana Lopez 29th in 24:02.63, Marisol Martinez 36th in 24:45.11, and Yakeline Magana 45th in 25:42.94.

Next Saturday the boys and girls varsity teams will travel to Riverside to compete on the Riverside City Cross Country Course. They will compete against other top Division 4 teams in the Southern Section with the goal of advancing to CIF Finals on November 21st. In order to advance to the Finals the Flashes must finish among the top 16 teams or as individuals they must finish among the top 6 individuals in their heat. It should be an exciting meet, join us to cheer on you CIF team representatives. We are proud of our young men and women.