Welcome

Head Coach Nick Mattis

Address:
De Anza College
21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard
Cupertino, CA 9501

Women make it two in a row, Men finish second at Gary Judd Invite.

The Lady Dons continued their recent success at the Gary Judd Invitational held at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA.  With 52 runners competing from six different schools the Lady Dons won their second straight meet.  On one of the more challenging courses they will compete on all year De Anza scored 42 points to beat host Sierra College (59 points) by seventeen points.  Sac City placed third with 65, Delta College was fourth with 83, and Yuba finished fifth with 96.  The Lady Dons were led by freshman Kirsti Whitmyre who finished in 3rd running one of her best races of the season.  Vanessa James finished second for the team and 5th overall with a great last two miles after a slow start.  Kim Chew was third on the team earning her first collegiate medal by finishing 8th.  Jessica Paranthaman was next finishing 11th just missing out on the medals by one spot.  Kim Kilgroe and Lauren Rosiles were the next two finishing together in 17th and 18th respectively.  Yasamin Yazdi rounded out the top seven finishing in 25th which meant the entire scoring team finished in the top half of all the competitors in the race.  On the men's side De Anza finished in second place out of the six teams competing losing out to a very good Modesto team 30 to 54.  The rest of the team standings were:  Butte 70, Sac City 88, Delta 125 and Yuba 167.  Abiy Gebrekristos, like the team, finished in second place out of the 52 runners who completed the course.  He was followed closely by Jonathan Doron-Peters who finished in 4th place overall with the strongest finish he has displayed all season.  The next three finishers Mike Mayes, David Rios, and Christopher Trinidade (running in new shoes and a new position on the team) finished in 15th, 16th and 17th place only separated by nine seconds to lock up the second place team finish.  John Hoang 25th and Takahiro Shiraiwa 33rd finished off the top seven for The Dons.  The teams will travel Friday, October 17th to Santa Rosa for their final race before the championship season begins.

Women take First Place at Crystal Springs Men Finish Third

The Lady Dons won their first Invitational of the season by capturing the Crystal Springs Invitational held in Belmont.  The Lady Dons were the best of the fourteen teams competing besting American River College by 13 points .  The girls all bested their previous weeks time on a much tougher course.  The team was led by Vanessa James and Kirsti Whitmyre who finished 3rd and 5th respectively.  A pair of Kims came in next for De Anza, with Kim Chew finishing 15th and Kim Kilgroe finishing 23rd.  Jessica Paranthaman (29th), Lauren Rosiles (37th), and Yasamin Yazdi (50th) rounded out the top seven for the team.  This victory also was the first cross country team victory in Coach Mattis' career.  The men's team finished in third placed out of thirteen teams following Hartnell and Fresno City College.  The men's top seven was Abiy Gebrekristos (8th), Jonathan Doron-Peters (11th), David Rios (22nd), Michael Mayes (30th), John Hoang (36th), Takahiro Shiriawa (41st), and Chris Trinidade (46th).  Both teams will be in competition next Saturday (Oct. 11th) at Sierra College.

The Lou Vasquez Invitational

The Men's and Women's Cross Country teams raced on a short training week with the midweek Lou Vasquez Invitational hosted by CCSF at the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields Thursday afternoon (Sept. 25).  It also marks the first time this season the teams ran on a course, The Dons, competed on last year.  It would be the first time the new teams this season could see how they stacked up against last years teams.  Both teams this season came out on top compared to where the 2007 teams were a year ago.  The women's team competing for the first time with their top seven runners all in attendance ran by far their best meet of the season.  The women's team finished in 3rd place out of the 20 teams competing, running seven minutes faster than last years state qualifying team.  The top six girls all ran under 23:00 minutes for the 5K course.  All of the girls running completed the fast course with a season best time.  Vanessa James led the team for the fourth consecutive meet finishing in fifth place overall.  Newcomer Kirsti Whitmyre running in her first meet of the season was close behind in ninth place in the field of 125 women's runners.  The rest of the team finished in the following order:  Kim Chew (31st), Jessica Paranthaman (41st), Kim Kilgroe (43rd), Lauren Rosiles (58th), Yasamin Yazdi (82nd), Felicia Costa (85th), Stephanie Nguyen (92nd), Kate Braham (94th) and Devin Powell (95th).  On the men's side the team also bested last season's state qualifying team by :41 seconds finishing in 8th place out of 21 men's teams.  The men felt this was a good learning experience to help them get ready for the Coast Conference meet to be held on this same course in one month.  The team all went out a bit too fast on their first mile and it ended up hurting them in the final standings but still managed to improve on last years mark and hold off a tough conference foe in West Valley for the second straight week.  The men's team placed in the following order in the field of 165 runners:  Abiy Gebrekristos (18th), Jonathan Doron-Peters (36th), David Rios (62nd), John Hoang (89th), Christopher Trinidade (95th), Takahiro Shiriawa (99th), Luis Nunez (107th), Jeremy Lipp (122nd), Dan Palladino (125th), Emanuel Munoz (140th), Matthew Lam (141st), Miguel Hernandez (149th), and Wayne Chang (152nd).  The teams will compete at the Crystal Springs Invitational hosted by the College of San Mateo next friday afternoon for their next competition.

Shasta Invitational

On the last meet weekend before school starts at De Anza the Men's and Women's teams traveled north to Cottonwood, CA to compete in the Shasta Invitational.  This meet was used to preview the course, which will be used for the 2008 NorCal Championships.  This meet also represented the toughest test the teams faced thus far.  With eleven teams competing eight of the top ten ranked teams in Northern California were represented on the women's side and six of the top ten on the men's side.  The men's top seven is starting to establish itself, by repeating the same order of finish from the previous meet.  Abiy Gebrekristos finished in 4th place individually running a strong race from start to finish on this hilly course.  The men finished in 5th place in this talented field beating two teams ranked ahead to them in the latest NorCal rankings.  For the women it was again freshman Vanessa James leading the team with a fifth place finish in a personnel best time of 20:17.  She was followed by some new faces in the top seven for the women as the team starts to get healthier.  Jessica Paranthaman followed James with a PR of her own finishing in 20th.  A pair of Kim's followed these runners.  Kim Chew finished in 26th and newcomer Kim Kilgroe finished in 45th.  Lauren Rosiles rounded out the top five with a 47th place finish.  The sixth and seventh runners also ran a strong race displacing several runners.  They were freshmen Yasamin Yazdi and Felicia Costa who finished in 51st and 53rd place.  Both teams have a short turn around this week when they will travel to their first flat course of the season this Thursday (Sept. 25) afternoon at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for the Lou Vasquez Invitational.

Mills College Invitational

The Men's and Women's teams traveled to Oakland on September 13th to compete in the Mills College Invitational.  De Anza was one of only three Junior College teams out of the eleven schools who were represented at this meet.  The Men's team again placed very well in their second meet of the year.  They placed second overall losing only to NCAA Division II Humboldt State University.  The team was again led by Abiy Gebrekristos (FR) who placed 4th.  Jonathan Doron-Peters (FR) followed in 10th place.  After the top two runners for De Anza a pack of five runners crossed the line together.  These five runners were key in the teams high finish.  This group included: David Rios (FR) 23rd, Mike Mayes (SO) 24th, John Hoang (FR) 26th, Takahiro Shiraiwa (FR) 27th, and Chris Trinidade (FR) 30th.  In the women's race De Anza placed fourth as a team, behind meet champion Sonoma State, despite missing one third of the team.  They ladies were again paced by Vanessa James (FR) who finished in 6th place.  Rounding out the top seven for the Lady Dons was Jessica Paranthaman (FR) in 29th, Kim Chew (FR) 33rd, Yasamin Yazdi (FR) 49th, Kate Braham (FR) 53rd, Maura Villanueva (FR) 59th, and Stephanie Nguyen (FR) 60th.  In both races De Anza was the top placing Junior College team.  The Cross Country teams will head north for their overnight trip to the Shasta NorCal Championship Preview Meet in Cottonwood, California next Saturday Sept. 20th.

2008 Season Begins with Some Challenges

The 2008 Cross Country Teams got their season underway at the Beaver Invitational hosted by American River College.  Some of the team has been dealing with some illness and some runners were unable to compete this first meet due to their physical condition.  It was an extremely challenging new course and along with very hot temperatures for the races, times were much slower this year.  In the end the teams finished the meet in very respectable positions.  The Men's team finished in third place as a team led by freshmen Abiy Gebrekristos and Jonathan Doran-Peters, who finished 8th and 10th respectively.  The rest of the top five for De Anza was freshman David Rios 22nd, and sophomores Michael Mayes 30th, John Hoang 32.  On the Women's side, De Anza finished in fifth place.  They were led by freshman Vanessa James who after a mixup with the lead bike was awarded a second place finish in the race.  Rounding out the top five was freshman Jessica Paranthaman 23rd, freshman Kim Chew 26th, Sophomore Lauren Rosiles 27th, and freshman Maura Villanueva 39th.  Both teams will be competing again this weekend in the Mills Invitational in Oakland.

2007 season team highlights

• Second place finishes for the Men and Women's teams in the the Gary Shaw Invitational.
• Second place finish for the Women's team in the Toro Park Invitational
• Winning the Co-Ed title at the Ekiden Relay in Sacramento
• Third Place (Women) and Fourth Place (Men) at the Coast Conference Championship
• Both Men and Women's Cross Country Teams qualify for the California Community College State Meet

Individually Cynthia Chaidez received All-State Honors with her 12th place finish at the State Championships. Other top performances were Angie Sandoval, Lauren Rosiles and Chaidez receiving All-Conference Awards for the Women. For the Men, Trevor Addison was named to the All-Conference Team.

With the foundation set in 2007, things look to remain good for the upcoming 2008 season.

For information regarding the upcoming 2008 fall season, contact Coach Mattis at the above information. Physicals and a Preseason Meeting begin August 13th for the upcoming season.