It was a fast day for the Long Beach cross country runners competing at the CIF Southern Section prelims last Saturday in Riverside at the Riverside City Cross Country Course. Long Beach Poly’s boys cross country team, ranked No. 4 in CIF and No. 4 in the State, was able to advance easily to this Saturday’s Finals. There were multiple heats per division with the top eight teams advancing.
Girls’ Races
Wilson won its first Moore League championship since 2003 this year, and finished 16th in their Division 1 heat at the CIF-SS prelims. League champion Aliya Mehisovich (a junior) was .3 seconds away from qualifying for Finals as an individual, finishing in 18:11 in 11th place. Millikan had the best finish of the day taking 11th place in their heat, led by Celeste Ramirez (19:00). Poly finished 14th in their heat, led by freshman Bella Ungar (19:12).
Only two of the Moore League’s top 20 girls’ runners were seniors this year, so next season should be even better.
In Division 5, St. Anthony finished 18th in their heat led by Leeta Squier, who took 20th (20:54).
Boys’ Races
As expected, Poly had no trouble in the prelims, winning their heat by running a controlled race that saw only nine seconds spread between the top five runners. Will Frankenfeld finished in 14th in 15:31, with Ronan McMahon-Staggs right behind him. Poly’s fifth-place runner came in at 15:40.
The Jackrabbits will look to finish strong at Finals next weekend and try to qualify for State again, while Frankenfeld could be in the mix for the individual title.
Millikan, Wilson, and Lakewood all ran in the same heat, finishing in that order as the Rams were 12th, the Bruins were 15th, and the Lancers 18th.
Millikan was led by Adam Mazariegos (57th, 16:07), Wilson was led by Jesus Nichol (75th, 16:33), and Lakewood was led by Aiden Alegria (38th, 15:52).
In Division 5, St. Anthony finished 15th, led by Alexander Born (63rd, 18:48).
