The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by an anonymous donation, in appreciation of Coach Ron Allice.
The562’s coverage of Millikan athletics in the 2023-24 school year is sponsored by Curtis Boyer.
Long Beach’s fastest distance runner capped his career with another strong performance on the track, as Millikan senior Jason Parra took third place in the boys’ 3200 at the CIF State Track & Field Championships in Clovis.
It’s the second consecutive Top 3 finish in this event for Parra, who finished second in last year’s state finals. He was the Division 1 state champion in boys’ cross country earlier this school year, and will run at Notre Dame next season.
“I’m pretty disappointed. I came out here to win, and well, it didn’t happen,” said Parra after the race. “So now I’m just looking towards the future. The other guys are in a better position than me right now, but it won’t stay that way for long. So I’m gonna go to Notre Dame and work my butt off, and I’ll beat them in the future.”
Parra got out quickly to lead the first six laps of the race, with Evan Noonan of Dana Hills hanging just behind him. Noonan was the first to overtake him during the final 800, but Parra was able to hang in over the final two laps to secure a third place finish with a time of 8:47.43. That time is more than six seconds better than his time from 2023’s state meet.
“The strategy was to take it out hard, kind of scare everyone off,” said Parra of his race plan. “With five laps to go, I was hurting pretty bad. And I was trying to still go and kind of recover at the same time to get ready for that last lap … I was trying to stay as comfortable as I could and sprint. And with 200 to go, they already had too much of a gap. And I knew I wasn’t going to close it. So at that point, I just started trying to secure third.”
Parra ends his Millikan track career with three consecutive Division 1 CIF-SS titles in the 3200, along with consecutive Top 3 finishes at the CIF State meet. Adding in his four straight individual Moore League titles in cross country, plus a Division 1 cross country title and appearance at nationals as a senior, and he’s undoubtedly one of the city’s most decorated distance runners.
