Long Beach Poly and Wilson’s boys’ cross country teams both advanced out of last weekend’s CIF Southern Section prelims to qualify for Saturday’s CIF-SS Finals, which will be held in Riverside.
Boys
The Jackrabbits and Bruins were the headliners, with Wilson qualifying for the Finals for the first time since 2008.
Poly won their heat and finished second in Division 1 with all heats merged, and fifth out of the 300+ boys’ teams that ran in all divisions. The Jackrabbits had a team time of 1:18:50, finishing behind only Great Oak in D1.
Moore League champion Ronan McMahon-Staggs was the top finisher at 8th overal in Poly’s heatl with a time of 15:33, followed by teammates Ezequiel Barraza, Clark Boyce, TJ Bryson, and Zane Witter, who finished 20th through 23rd in a tight pack.
The Bruins finished seventh in their heat and 22nd overall in Division 1 to qualify for Finals with some room to spare, posting a team time of 1:20:42.
Wilson was led by senior Zami Moscoco, who finished 13th with a time of 15:43. Joseph Espinoza was next in 22nd, followed by Caden Elsesser, who was 28th and hampered by an injury sustained mid-race. Saul Haro and Nico Colchico were the other scorers for the Bruins.
Millikan finished 39th in Division 1, led by Scott Kirchhoff (16:10). Lakewood was 50th in Division 1, led by Aiden Alegria (16:16).
St. Anthony finished 52nd in Division 5, led by senior Alexander Born, who ran 19:33 to finish 213th.
Girls
While none of the Long Beach girls’ teams qualified for next weekend’s CIF-SS Finals, the close results at prelims set the stage for what should be a competitive and exciting league championship race in 2020. The final league standings were flipped at the CIF-SS prelims, with Long Beach Poly finishing 32nd overall in Division 1, and league champion Millikan nipping close at their heels in 34th. Wilson wasn’t far behind in 42nd.
Poly was without league champion Camille Lindsay, who was injured in the week leading up to the prelims. The Jackrabbits had a team time of 1:38:30, led by sophomore Bella Ungar (19:28), freshman Alexa Bryson, junior Ailene Rios, freshman Danika Hunter, and freshman Maile Quinn.
Millikan had a team time of 1:38:51, just 21 seconds behind Poly. The Rams were led by junior Isabella Stockalper, who ran 19:10, junior Hazel McIntosh, sophomore Grace Vazquez, senior Xltlali Nieves, and junior Rebecca Ellens.
Wilson finished 42nd with a team time of 1:40:09 and was led by junior Belen Romero (19:25), junior Jocelyn Guitierrez, senior Jocelyn Diaz, freshman Isabella Elsesser, and senior Rebeka Pinedo.
In Division 5, St. Anthony finished 34th, led by sophomore Leta Squier’s 75th place finish in a time of 21:48.
