Los Angeles Marathon training builds life skills for ‘Students Run LA’ youths

• March 14, 2024

You could say that running is in teenager Stacie Mayorga’s DNA – even if it hasn’t been easy.

Both her mother and uncle ran the Los Angeles Marathon in their youth. And this Sunday, March 17, the 16-year-old from North Hollywood is set to complete her second L.A. Marathon.

Mayorga is one of more than 3,000 students from throughout the region – from the San Fernando Valley, coastal communities like San Pedro and inland areas including San Bernardino County – who plans to run the marathon as a member of Students Run LA (SRLA), a nonprofit that offers free marathon training programs and mentorships to students at some 200 public schools.

Although Mayorga looked up to members of her family, running did not come naturally to her. Now a junior at Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, Mayorga recalled how difficult it was to run even a mile, when she tried it for the first time in gym class.

But she decided to join Students Run LA nonetheless.

“I love the whole training process. It’s really cool to see my pace and my general well-being improve,” said Mayorga.

Like many other students in the program, Mayorga said there were moments she doubted her ability to complete long races, let alone a marathon. And last year, when she ran her first L.A. Marathon, she struggled once she hit the 18-mile mark. Her mom was there, cheering her on, and Mayorga started crying.

“I started realizing, ‘Wow, I have 8 more miles left,’” she recalled. But she pushed on. “When I crossed that finish line, I was so, so happy because I had been running for over seven hours. … I was so excited to go back home and show my family my medal.”

Evelin Fuentes, Mayorga’s mother, said she never pushed her daughter to join Students Run LA. When Mayorga told Fuentes that she joined because of her mother’s own experiences in the program, Fuentes said she started crying.

Fuentes said she’s proud of how her daughter has pushed to challenge herself.

“Now she knows she can do more – she can do what she wants. She’s more confident,” Fuentes said. “And she’s making a lot of friends. She’s meeting new people” through SRLA.

Students Run LA is intended to provide supports to historically underserved students.

Over 95% of SRLA students who race in the L.A. Marathon complete it, and more than 95% of seniors in the program graduate high school with plans to go to college. Of those, three-quarters are the first in their family to pursue higher education, according to the organization, which has trained more than 75,000 student runners in the past 35 years.

The volunteer coaches are often teachers – who run alongside their students on race day.

While Students Run LA is designed to train students for marathons, its objectives run much deeper.

Alberto Alvarez Estrada, who coaches SRLA students at San Pedro High School in L.A.’s Harbor community, said Students Run LA focuses on teaching life skills like goal-setting and follow-through. They’re less concerned about how long it takes a student to finish a race; more importantly is that they cross the finish line.

“These are not kids who join cross-country normally,” he said. “They’re just regular kids who heard of the program … and are inspired to give it their all. … A lot of them realize later on, ‘Hey, I can do this. I can go to college. I can do anything.’”

San Pedro High senior Damian Mendoza, 18, is getting set for his fourth L.A. Marathon this weekend. He joined SRLA at his mom’s urging because she wanted him to try something new. What’s kept him going, he said, is the challenge of constantly improving himself and forming friendships with students outside his normal social circle.

Besides training for a marathon, Mendoza works about 18 hours a week in part to help support his family, and he also plays on his school’s tennis team. He admits that juggling everything can be stressful, but turns to running as an outlet.

“Running helps with all the stress and especially with trying to balance work and school. It’s helped a lot to keep my mind off worrying too much about everything,” said Mendoza, who is considering vocational school after he graduates to become an auto mechanic.

He credits Students Run LA for helping him set goals in life.

“It helped me as a person to become who I am now and strive for the best and try to achieve,” he said.

Similar stories about learning to persevere are echoed in the Inland Empire.

At Carter High School in Rialto, 16-year-old junior Joanna Ruiz is preparing for her third L.A. Marathon. She got into running after watching her brother, 11 years her senior, participate in SRLA. Today, he helps coach in the school’s Students Run LA program.

Joanna Ruiz said her biggest takeaway is learning to not quit “even when it’s hard and that’s all you want to do – just mentally being strong.”

Her brother, Hector Ruiz, said the program teaches students about commitment since training starts in August or September.

“It builds character. It’s hard. It doesn’t matter how well-prepared you are. You will hit a wall at some point, and it becomes mental,” he said about running a marathon.

Hector Ruiz, who also teaches as a substitute, said the values instilled in a marathon runner are also stressed in school.

“In school, you learn how to get through things when it’s hard,” he said.

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​ Orange County Register 

San Clemente’s delayed sand project set to resume end of April

• March 14, 2024

A major sand replenishment project aimed at bolstering San Clemente’s beaches near the pier area will resume by the end of April, following a pause in operations since mid-January due to rocks being pumped onto shore instead of sand.

The $14 million, US Army Corps of Engineers-led project more than two decades in the making is expected to add 251,000 cubic yards of sand between T-Street south of the pier and Linda Lane beach to the north, one of several ways the beach town is attempting to keep its eroding beaches intact.

Mason Construction kicked off the project in December, but was met with troubles after the dredge site off Oceanside produced more rocks and shells than expected, instead of fluffy sand. The city sent a letter asking the operator and Army Corps of Engineers to halt the project until a better sand source could be found.

Instead of using the original Oceanside borrow site, the dredger will now pull sand from offshore of Surfside Beach, where another mega US Army Corps of Engineers replenishment project is  underway. That $23 million project is expected to add 1.1 million cubic yards of sand to the north end of the county’s coastline.

Following its departure from San Clemente in mid-January, the Mason dredger went further south to San Diego to work on other projects already on its schedule.

Its work is just wrapping up for a replenishment project off Solana Beach and crews will now head to Encinitas for a project before coming back to San Clemente, San Clemente Mayor Victor Cabral said Wednesday, March 13, during a regional update meeting addressing chronic sand troubles in south Orange County.

“It’s important we get it done,” he said.

The project will operate 24 hours a day for 30 to 60 days, said Leslea Meyerhoff, San Clemente’s coastal administrator.

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Getting the dredger to complete the job while it is still in the area is crucial because bringing it back to Southern California from the Pacific Northwest, where it is based, would have cost millions of dollars and possibly years of delays, officials said.

“It could have been a year, or two, or more,” Cabral said. “It’s exciting. The staff, city, state and federal governments have done everything in their power to get permitting done expeditiously. We’re all excited about the project happening before the summer season.”

The operator left a subline installed off the beach to hook up with a pipe that will pump the sand onto the shore when the project resumes, Meyerhoff said.

The project’s completion is critical to San Clemente’s residents and tourism economy, and for protecting local infrastructure, including a key rail corridor that runs along the coast in town that is vulnerable to the ocean’s waves without a sand buffer in place, officials said.

While the northern Surfside sand replenishment has been performed periodically since the 1960s, San Clemente’s project is being done for the first time. It is expected to be repeated every five years, for the next 50 years, though each round will need to secure federal funding approvals – a hitch that delayed the regular replenishments further north in recent years.

But more needs to be done to fix the area’s chronic sand erosion troubles outside of that project area, with decision-makers and concerned citizens gathering Wednesday for a South Orange County Coastal Resilience Strategic Plan stakeholder meeting.

“We have to do more to maintain our beaches. We maintain our parks, we maintain our roads, we fill our potholes, we make sure our buildings are upgraded,” said Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, who spearheaded the county-led meeting. “We need to start doing the same for our beaches.”

The strategic plan aims at forming a regional collaborative of agencies to build coastal resilience spanning 10 miles from Dana Point Harbor to San Clemente.

“It’s not just about a plan that sits on a shelf, we have to take that plan and implement it,” Foley said. “This plan we hope will be the foundation to advance a regional climate resilience to set goals, to be able to achieve those goals in a coordinated manner.”

The regional group will explore funding ideas – such as cost sharing, grants, mitigation fees or taxes – and developing criteria for projects, giving potential areas a ranking priority based on beach conditions, regional benefits and project readiness, said Meyerhoff, who served as a regional representative and presenter at the meeting.

The next steps are to form a regional collaborative, define a near-term regional beach nourishment program, obtain funding, implement priority projects and then develop mid- and long-term regional goals and projects.

​ Orange County Register 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers lose to Mariners in Cactus League finale

• March 14, 2024

THE GAME: Five of the Dodgers’ eight hits went for extra bases but it didn’t translate to much on the scoreboard and Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his final spring training start in an 8-1 Cactus League loss to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz.

HITTING REPORT: James Outman went 2 for 2 with a double and scored the Dodgers’ only run in the fourth inning when he singled and then came home on Austin Barnes’ two-out double to left, which Mariners left fielder Taylor Trammell appeared to lose in the sun. … Mookie Betts (1 for 3) and Chris Taylor (1 for 3) also had doubles and Jason Heyward (1 for 3) had a triple. … Betts was picked off second base after doubling in the third, then reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth but was thrown out trying to steal second base. … Shohei Ohtani was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts but still hit .500 in Cactus League play. … The Dodgers went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

PITCHING REPORT: Yamamoto looked like a $325 million pitcher when he struck out J.P. Crawford, Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco in the first inning, but he allowed four runs on eight hits in 4⅔ innings in his final tuneup before he starts the second game of the season against the San Diego Padres in Seoul. Yamamoto struck out seven with one walk in his 73 pitches. All eight of the hits he allowed came after the first time through the Seattle lineup. … Left-hander Alex Vesia allowed a pair of singles but struck out the side in a scoreless eighth inning. … Right-hander J.P. Feyereisen pitched a scoreless ninth, while right-hander Dilson Lamet, left-hander T.J. McFarland and right-hander Nabil Crismatt also made appearances.

DEFENSE REPORT: McFarland had a throwing error on a comebacker from Tai Peete in the seventh inning that gave the Mariners runners at first and second. The next batter, prospect Lazaro Montes, delivered a two-run triple into the right field corner.

UP NEXT: The Dodgers head to South Korea, where they will play a pair of exhibition games against Korean teams before their two-game regular-season series against the San Diego Padres in Seoul next week.

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​ Orange County Register 

Palm Springs home, rebuilt without a front door, seeks $4.2 million

• March 14, 2024

Just a stone’s throw from Downtown Palm Springs, a walled-in house reimagined from the ground up is on the market for $4.188 million.

This 3,321-square-foot retreat on a quarter-acre lot in Deepwell Estates has four bedrooms, six bathrooms and all the amenities expected of a luxury desert property, except one thing is missing — the front door.

Records show real estate developer Teddy Lee bought the house through an LLC in March 2021 for $1.35 million. His build-design company, TED Construction, tackled the down-to-the-studs remodel of the house originally by modernist architect Howard Lapham, who designed homes for the rich and famous. Completed in 1970, it belonged to Edgar L. McCoubrey, who served as the 10th mayor of Palm Springs from April 1966 to April 1968.

As part of the renovation project, the living space was reconfigured, the kitchen was relocated and the roof was raised.

Over 3,000 square feet of decking wraps the exterior and resort-style pool with tanning shelves.

There’s an all-season lanai and outdoor kitchen.

Lee also replaced the front entry point with a pocketing glass wall like the ones found at the rear of the house. Despite the intentional omission, it “embodies the quintessential Palm Springs lifestyle — seamless indoor-outdoor living, organic materials and understated elegance,” said James Gault of Compass, the co-listing agent.

A wall surrounds the house for privacy.

Scott Ehrens of Compass shares the listing.

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​ Orange County Register 

2024 LA Marathon: Here’s the route map for Sunday’s race

• March 14, 2024

The 39th annual Los Angeles Marathon takes place on Sunday, March 17, starting at Dodger Stadium, running through the streets of Los Angeles and the cities of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and on to the finish line in Century City.

The finish line for the 26.2 mile race “Stadium to the Stars” ends on Santa Monica Boulevard at Avenue of the Stars in a Los Angeles business district and neighborhood that was once the backlot of film studio 20th Century Studios.

One trivia tidbit: for the first time since 2020, there are no changes to the Los Angeles Marathon course.

The “Stadium to the Stars” route was inaugurated on Nov. 7, 2021, having been delayed from March 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns that year.

By the way, the finish line for “Stadium to the Sea” for the previous 10 years was on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

For more details, click on the “Distances & Courses” tab here: www.mccourtfoundation.org/event/los-angeles-marathon/

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​ Orange County Register 

Miguel Sanó homers again in Angels’ loss to Royals

• March 14, 2024

THE GAME: Miguel Sanó, who is fighting to return to the major leagues for the first time since 2022, hit his third home run of the spring, but the Angels lost to the Kansas City Royals, 3-2, on Wednesday in Surprise, Ariz.

PITCHING REPORT: Left-hander Reid Detmers gave up a homer to the first batter of the first inning, but then he did not allow another run through his four innings. Detmers walked two and struck out five. Detmers has allowed four earned runs in 8⅔ innings this spring. Manager Ron Washington said Detmers was “awesome.” … Right-hander Ben Joyce pitched a perfect inning, with one strikeout. … Right-hander Kelvin Caceres, who is in the running for the final spot in the bullpen, gave up a run on a hit and a walk. He had not allowed a run in his first five games. … Right-hander Carlos Estévez pitched a perfect inning.

HITTING REPORT: Miguel Sanó hit a homer to center field, tying him for the team lead. He also hit a line drive off the top of the right field fence, but the ball was hit so hard he was held to a single. “He’s starting to get his timing a little better,” Washington said. “The good thing is he’s using the whole field. That right fielder tried to make a move and the ball was over his head right away,” Washington said. Sanó also stole a base. He has only five stolen bases in 694 big league games. Sanó is 6 for 30 (.200) with four walks and an .814 OPS this spring. “I feel good,” Sanó said. “I’m healthy. I’ve been working every day in the cage with the hitting coaches and (guest instructor Vladimir Guerrero).” Sanó is competing with infielders Livan Soto and Ehire Adrianza for the final position player spot on the Opening Day roster. … Nolan Schanuel had two singles, improving to 10 for 35 (.286) this spring. … The Angels scored a run in the ninth and had the potential tying run at third when the game ended.

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DEFENSE REPORT: Catcher Logan O’Hoppe picked a runner off first to end the fourth inning. … Right fielder Nelson Rada made a diving catch of a line drive in front of him. “When that ball was hit I thought for sure it was a double,” Washington said. “That’s a big league play.”

UP NEXT: Angels (LHP Tyler Anderson) at White Sox (RHP Michael Soroka) at Camelback Ranch, Glendale, Ariz., Thursday, 1:05 p.m. PT, Bally Sports West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Cal State Fullerton women fall to UC Davis in Big West tourney opener

• March 13, 2024

The Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team was hoping to close the gap even further against UC Davis in the opening round of the Big West Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

The fifth-seeded Aggies had other plans and rolled to an 81-57 victory against eighth-seeded Fullerton in Henderson, Nevada.

UC Davis will meet fourth-seeded Cal Poly (SLO) in a quarterfinal on Thursday afternoon.

Evanne Turner, a senior guard who was the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Player of the Year at Etiwanda High in Rancho Cucamonga in the 2018-19 season, scored a career-high 29 points for the Aggies (18-13).

She made her first seven 3-point attempts before finishing 7 for 10 from behind the arc.

Her accuracy helped UC Davis shoot 17 for 32 from deep as a team.

“They played a really good game, made a ton of shots today and made it tough for us to guard them, so they were definitely the better team today,” Fullerton coach Jeff Harada said. “Proud of our team, proud of our effort.”

Fujika Nimmo scored a season-high 22 points off the bench for the Titans (10-21), who returned seven of their top eight scorers from last season and were picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches’ poll.

Gabi Vidmar contributed 12 points and Ashlee Lewis finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for Fullerton, which played UC Davis much closer in their two regular-season meetings.

The Titans had a three-point lead with 6½ minutes left in the fourth quarter in their first matchup on Jan. 18, but ultimately lost, 60-55.

Fullerton was within three points with 3½ minutes remaining in the second meeting on Feb. 8, but the Aggies outscored the Titans 15-5 the rest of the way to win by double digits.

That wasn’t the case in their third meeting, as UC Davis shot 10 for 16 from 3-point range in the first half to build a 46-26 lead.

The Titans made the first basket of the second half to pull within 18, but they never got any closer.

“We couldn’t make enough shots to keep up, couldn’t get enough stops, but we played hard until the end,” Harada said.

The Aggies took four 3-point shots to start the game and made three to take an early 9-2 lead

Vidmar produced a three-point play and sank a 3-pointer on the next possession to cut it to 9-8. The Titans then took their only lead of the game at 10-9 on a layup by Nimmo with 2:13 left in the opening quarter, but UC Davis responded with an 8-0 run.

The Aggies took a 17-12 lead into the second quarter and then seized control by scoring the next 15 points to stretch the lead to 32-12.

The Titans missed their first eight field-goal attempts of the second quarter before Nimmo sank a jumper with 4:22 left in the half.

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Fullerton found its range shortly after and made three straight 3-point shots, but the Aggies made two 3s in between to keep the lead at 15 points.

The Titans shot 31.3% from the floor in the opening half, including 5 for 12 from 3-point range.

Turner, meanwhile, made all five of her 3-point tries in the first half and scored 17 points.

Harada said it was an up-and-down season that got off to a slow start because of injuries to key players and the Titans never gained traction.

“We took our lumps in the nonconference season and started out conference with a win, which was great, and then we were kind of inconsistent throughout the year,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that we weren’t a competitive team. I think we competed all year long, and I think our seniors really set the tone.”

​ Orange County Register 

Want a free ticket to the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach’s 1st day? Here’s how

• March 13, 2024

The 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is just around the corner — and our readers have a chance to attend the event’s first day for free.

But there is a catch: You’ll have to read your local paper.

Long Beach’s 200-mph beach party — a three-day motorsport showcase packed to the nines with live entertainment — will return to the city’s downtown area from April 19 to 21.

The event, one of Long Beach’s most popular, usually attracts around 180,000 people over its three-day run. Last year’s Grand Prix drew a record 192,000 spectators.

Tickets for the 2024 iteration are on sale now. There are various ticket prices, ranging from $40 for Friday general admission to $120 for three-day general admission — and as much as $1,275 for the VIP packages, depending on which one you choose.

Readers, though, can get once again get their hands on a free general admission ticket for the first day of the Grand Prix of Long Beach — on Friday, April 19 — by cracking open one of the 11 daily newspapers owned by the Southern California News Group on select days.

The Free Friday promotion, which has a $40 value, will run inside SCNG’s daily newspapers every Friday and Sunday until April 19. The next opportunity to get the free ticket is Friday, March 15.

The papers in which the promotion will appear are:

The Press-Telegram.
Daily Breeze.
Los Angeles Daily News.
Pasadena Star-News.
Whittier Daily News.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Orange County Register.
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
San Bernardino Sun.
Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Redlands Daily Facts.

You can also access the tickets via the e-edition for each publication online.

Though the event’s main event — the IndyCar Series’ Grand Prix of Long Beach — concludes the weekend on Sunday, April 21, first-day attendees can watch practice runs for all six racing series — from IndyCars to those that drift — and qualifying for some others.

General admission ticket holders can also check out the Grand Prix’s lifestyle expo, family fun zone and an exotic car paddock.

And there will be plenty of food — including tons of options at food truck row — alongside myriad vendors set up along the concourse, which envelops the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Rainbow Lagoon Park, The Pike and Shoreline Drive.

For ticket packages for the entire Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach or other information, go to gplb.com.

​ Orange County Register