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Long Beach had a pair of runners competing at the CIF State Championships on Saturday, with Millikan’s Jason Parra and Poly’s Camille Lindsay running in their respective Division 1 races at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Parra got out to a slow start in his race and was crammed in toward the back of the pack off the starting line. He gradually worked his way toward the front and eventually hovered around the Top 10 for the first few miles of the 5K course. Parra ended up finishing 15th with a time of 15:31.6 in his debut at the State meet.
“I am pretty happy,” Parra said of his performance. “I think the race overall could have gone better, but with the situation I was given off the start, I think I did run the best race I could have just based on how things were going the entire race.”
After the CIF-SS finals, Parra said he was hoping to run close to 15:10 at State with eyes toward a Top 10 finish. Though he didn’t quite meet those marks, the future remains bright for the talented young Ram.
Notably, Parra was the fastest 10th grader across all divisions at this year’s State Championships.
“Being the fastest sophomore was kind of a goal,” Parra explained. “I had the fastest time through athletic.net, but I knew this was a hilly course so I knew I was going to have to push myself to be able to maintain that rank.”
Lindsay, meanwhile, represented Poly in the D1 girls’ race, finishing 66th with a time of 19:13.6. That time is the sixth-fastest in program history for a Poly 11th grader at Woodward Park, and Lindsay is now the ninth-fastest Poly girl to run that course.
This was the junior’s first appearance at the CIF State meet, and she’s made it known that her focus is on getting the entire Jackrabbit team to next year’s State Championships.
CLICK HERE for complete results from the 2021 CIF State Cross Country Championships.
