Girls’ team hopes for special year

First year coach Steve Lalim says the potential is there for the Laguna Beach High girls’ cross-country team to have a special season in 2008.

The Breakers begin their new campaign Sept. 13 at the Laguna Beach Invitational.

“We are very young but we are deep with talent,” he aid. “I think this year’s team has an opportunity to do something really special.

“I expect us to compete at a very high level. It’s going to be a fun ride.”

Lalim said that summer workouts, which ended Aug. 29, went “great.” He said that nearly 25 girls trained consistently throughout the summer and everyone finished their summer “healthy.”

“This past week I took 18 girls to Mammoth,” he said. “It was huge success. We had a lot of fun, everyone worked hard, we did several really nice runs and more importantly, the girls really developed some team chemistry.”

Key losses from last year’s team are team MVP Maggie Newton-Neal and Heather Thomas who was a top five runner.

This year’s team will be led by Parker Yamasaki, Camille Borges and Kativa Strickland. Yamasaki was the team’s No. 1 or 2 runner for most of last season.

“We need to be diligent in our training, stay healthy and be ready to compete,” Lalim said.