The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.
Wednesday’s Moore League cross country opener at El Dorado Park had a little bit of everything. Neither of last year’s varsity winners were competing in this year’s race, but the Millikan boys continued to look like the class of the league and there was both a photo finish AND a tiebreaker to settle the team scoring in the girls’ race.
On a warm and windy course, it was Millikan’s Maximiliano Ramirez winning with a time of just over 15:00 flat, while Poly junior Avery Peck won the girls’ race for the second time in her career in a course-record time of 17:20.
Boys’ Varsity
There was a changing of the guard for the top spot, but the Millikan Rams were still dominant as a team. The Rams had the three top finishers, four of the Top 5 and placed all seven varsity runners in the Top 11.
“I’m pleased,” said Rams head coach Pedro Ramirez, who’s looking to lead the Rams to consecutive league titles. “I kind of wanted them to run a little more together for two miles, but sometimes the race unfolds differently, but I’m happy though. The league is stronger this year, which is good. I’m happy with the performance today.”
Things stayed close for the first half of the race before Max Ramirez was able to gain some separation on the rest of the field. He was disappointed to not break 15 minutes, and had been hoping to run 5-minute splits on each mile, but said he really felt the wind pick up on mile two. Despite that, he was able to power through and open up a lead, and finished with this strongest mile to close out his first Moore League win.
Ramirez has been among the top finishers for the Rams during his career, but has yet to win a race while four-time league champ Jason Parra was leading the way.
“It feels good because Jason has been leading us for four years, and the three years that I’ve been here,” Ramirez explained. “So to finally win a race and to have guys behind me close by, it’s a good feeling. Because we’re all in a pack running together and it’s a good feeling. We’re trying to repeat this year.”
Jack Brown placed second for the Rams with a 15:14 and Aiden Ransom was right behind him in 15:16.
Wilson’s Tommy Pincherli ran a 15:22 to pace the Bruins and take fourth place, followed by Millikan’s Brandon Hinojosa-Garcia in 5th, running 15:27.
Lakewood’s top finisher was Gabriel Rojas, who placed sixth in 15:28, followed by Poly’s Luke Deeble with a time of 15:40 in seventh.
Fidel Perez was the top finisher for Cabrillo in 17:21, Erick Fuentes led the way for Jordan in 17:37 and Compton was paced by Jesse Flores in 23:44.
Coach Ramirez was pleased with his team’s performance, but has eyes toward league finals in November, when the Rams will look to win consecutive Moore League titles for the first time in 40 years.
“I think the key is to not take things for granted,” he said. “The guys have to keep working, basically as underdogs, and not take anything for granted, because you never know. It’s not a foregone conclusion that we’re gonna win, we have to earn it. As long as we don’t take it for granted and they stay hungry, I think we’ll be okay.”
Girls’ Varsity
With defending champion Nadia Mejia still waiting to compete for Wilson this year, it was Peck who took control of the girls’ varsity race to win by over 45 seconds against the rest of the field.
Peck was expecting to have early company from Wilson’s squad, which features some talented mid-distance runners, but at the mile mark she was able to pull ahead from the pack, led by Wilson sophomore Avery Errecart. From that point on, Peck was able to grow her lead for the comfortable win. She was exposed to a strong wind with nowhere to hide at the front of the pack, but was happy with her performance in securing the victory.
“In my mind during the race, I was just repeating, ‘me versus me’,” Peck recalled. “That’s all you have to worry about, just push yourself and don’t look back.”
Errecart was the runner-up with a time of 18:05, and kicked off a back-and-forth between Poly and Wilson runners in the Top 5. Freshman Sienna Young was third for Poly in 18:27, then Wilson’s Riley Jones was fourth in 18:42, followed by Alexa Hernandez Lujan in fifth for the Jackrabbits in 18:48.
Emma Buth finished sixth for Millikan with a time of 18:59, followed by a trio of runners who helped decide the outcome of the team race.
Wilson’s Alene Washington and Audrey Buckley had a great finish to the race to move up into seventh and eighth, respectively, but it took several minutes of video review to make that determination. Buckley and Poly’s Emily Chun were essentially even at the line, with only a fraction of a fraction of an inch giving Buckley the higher finish.
That led to a tie in the team scoring between Wilson and Poly, with the Bruins winning the tiebreaker thanks to having a faster sixth-place runner.
“They bought into what we’ve been telling them from the beginning,” said Wilson head coach CJ Brewer of his team’s performance. “No matter how you feel, just give it your best at every practice and at every race and keep your eyes on November. The result of this race between the two schools that was very close doesn’t change the fact that you’ve still got to win in the end. And I think that that’s going to be our driving force at practice over the next six weeks.”
Lakewood’s top finisher was Maia Lopez in 20:30 to take 19th for the Lancers.
The team victory for Wilson was a huge confidence builder for a young squad that will add the Moore League’s reigning champ to their lineup starting next week.
“It means a lot to our whole team, not just the varsity girls, and to CJ and the parents, and it’s a big motivation for our whole team to keep doing better in future races,” said Errecart of the team’s win. “This first Moore League race doesn’t dictate whether we win league or not, it’s only a little percentage. But it’s like that motivation, because we can’t just have this as our highlight, we need to keep going and keep doing better at the next two Moore League races and take care of business there.”
Peck’s time of 17:20 was six seconds faster than Mejia’s race-winning time a year ago, establishing a new course record at El Dorado. Peck is also fresh off setting a new school record in the three-mile last Saturday at Woodbridge, continuing an impressive start to her junior season.
She said she’s looking forward to racing against Mejia again this year, as well as the projected team battle between the Jackrabbits and Bruins. After a full and healthy offseason of training as a distance runner, Peck appears to be at her best going into what should be a highly entertaining campaign.
“I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season,” Peck said. “I know we’re gonna have a great battle this year with Wilson, and I know that having individual competition with me and Nadia has made both of us better. So having team competition with us and Wilson will make both our teams better.”
