The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.
On a windy evening at Heartwell Park, the Moore League’s top distance runners faced off with cross country championships up for grabs. When the dust settled and the sun set, the trophies stayed with the teams that brought them, as the Millikan Rams won the boys’ competition and Long Beach Poly fought off Wilson to retain the girls’ title.
Millikan’s Jack Brown won the boys’ race in 15:29 as the Rams swept the top three and had six of the top nine finishers. Meanwhile, Avery Peck was the individual girls’ champion for the second time in her career, posting a time of 17:27 for the Jackrabbits.
CLICK HERE for complete results from Wednesday’s league finals via MileSplit.
Boys’ Varsity
We were guaranteed to see a new champion in 2024 with four-time champ Jason Parra now in college, but his heir apparent at Millikan was also unable to compete on Wednesday. After winning the first two league races of the year, Maximiliano Ramirez was unable to run due to injury, leaving the door open for someone else to ascend to the top spot.
Enter Millikan senior Jack Brown, who picked a great time to win the first varsity race of his life, beating out teammate Aiden Ransom with a final kick over the final 200m of the race. Those two were separated by just over a second, and they led a commanding team effort by the Rams.
“I’m very proud of getting this back to back. It’s been a while, but it feels good,” said Millikan head coach Pedro Ramirez. “It feels as good as the first one, to be honest. Especially because our number one guy didn’t run, but without him, we still did well. So I’m very proud, very happy for the team.”
It’s the first time Millikan has won consecutive boys’ cross country titles since 1984, wiping out 40 years of history in impressive fashion.
“It feels amazing that we were able to do it two years in a row,” said Brown of the team victory. “It was a lot harder without Jason this year, but we were able to keep strong and keep our title.”
Millikan had a clear gameplan of staying in a pack for most of the race. The Rams had seven of the top 10 runners over the first mile, and essentially had the top three spots on lock with Brandon Hinojosa-Garcia also running up top for most of the race before taking third.
The windy conditions played their part, especially in the boys’ race, but Brown was able to hang back in the pack before making his move near the finish.
“It was pretty difficult, especially on the back stretch with the wind, but I kind of drafted most of the time off Aiden because he’s a bigger dude,” Brown explained. “I was able to stay behind him pretty well, but, man, he pushed me at the end with that kick.”
Lakewood’s Gabriel Rojas took fourth in 15:41, followed by Wilson’s Tommy Pincherli in 15:48.
Millikan’s Lucas Lidsay and Jack Walsh went 6-7, followed by Poly’s Noah Chun in eighth, with all those runners finishing under 16 minutes.
Fidel Perez was the top runner for Cabrillo in 17:47, Erick Fuentes paced Jordan in 17:51 and Compton’s top runner was Joshua Angeles in 20:23.
Girls’ Varsity
The team race was fully up for grabs between Poly and Wilson, with each team boasting a former individual champion. But this day belonged to the Jackrabbits, who had three of the top four finishers, led by junior Avery Peck and her impressive winning time of 17:27, a mark 66 seconds faster than her runner-up time from 2023.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself, so I was pretty nervous. but I was mostly excited,” said Peck of her mindset coming into the race. “We knew that coming into today the goal was to get the team title … During the race, I just felt really strong, like I could feel it. I could feel my breathing, I felt really smooth and controlled, and I knew that it was mine for the taking.”
After Mejia led the first half of the race for Wilson, Peck was able to gradually overtake her on the perimeter loop around Heartwell Park. She expanded that lead and never looked back, winning by a margin of more than 26 seconds.
Poly head coach Mandy Wainfan was thrilled to see that type of performance from Peck, who’s in the midst of a terrific bounceback season after recovering from injury.
“She’s been through injury, she’s been through the struggles of being really fast, really young. That’s not an easy thing to handle for someone coming up in high school,” said Wainfan of Peck. “Her being able to stretch it out like that and run confidently the whole time, I was super happy to see that. She was a little bit nervous before the race, but when she makes a decision like that in the middle of the race, my money’s always on her.”
Though it was Peck vs. Mejia for most of the race, it was another Poly Jackrabbit that worked her way into a second-place finish. Senior Alexa Hernandez Lujan ran a steady race, chipping away at Mejia’s lead before overtaking her in the final 400 meters. Her time of 17:53 set a new PR for the senior by about 5-10 seconds.
“Even in the first mile, she just had this look,” said Wainfan. “I knew this would be a special day for her, and she carried that through the entire time. Every single time that I saw her, she had more of that fire in her eyes and more and more and more, until she got that second position. It was great.”
Hernandez Lujan is one of three seniors on the Poly varsity squad, and they’ve now won the team title every single year. She said she was thrilled to do her part in bringing that home, especially in such a competitive battle with Wilson.
“Throughout the race, I felt great. Even in the middle of it, I thought maybe I was going too fast,” Hernandez Lujan admitted. “At the last 400 meters, everyone’s like, ‘GO!” and I still had that energy to keep on going. This was my last race in Moore League, so I really decided to push it. It’s either I raised my best and I’m happy with it, or I would regret my race.”
There were no regrets as she crossed the line second, beating out last year’s individual champ in Mejia by a little under four seconds.
Poly freshman Sienna Young placed fourth with a time of 18:36, followed by Wilson sophomore Avery Errecart (18:44) and Poly sophomore Estefany Garcia Hernandez (18:52) as the top six runners went sub-19.
Riley Jones took seventh for Wilson, followed by the Millikan pair of Emma Buth and Dali Ramirez. Juanita Shotwell was 10th for Wilson, followed by Poly’s Emmie Chun who was the final scorer for the Jackrabbits in 11th place.
Nike Costa was Lakewood’s top finisher in 20:16, Kattie Flores led the way for Cabrillo in 26:22.
The Moore League’s runners will get back to competition at the CIF-SS prelims on Nov. 15-16, followed by the CIF-SS finals on Nov. 23 at Mt. SAC.
“I said at Signal Hill, that was our best race of the season, and so far, this was very clearly our best race of the season,” said Wainfan of her Jackrabbits. “If we race like that, or even better through CIF, I’m pretty confident with this team.”
