The Long Beach Poly boys’ cross country team qualified for the CIF State Finals for the third consecutive year on Saturday. The Jackrabbits finished fifth at the CIF Southern Section Finals in Riverside, qualifying them for next weekend’s state meet in Fresno (the top seven teams in each division qualify).
“It wasn’t pretty time-wise, but the places are what counts,” said Poly coach Mike Fillipow.
The Wilson boys’ cross country team finished 25th on Saturday; the Bruins were running in their first Finals meet since 2008 and were without top runner Caden Elsesser, who injured his foot during last weekend’s CIF-SS prelims.
Poly had a team time of 1:18:21, an average finish of 15:40 over the three-mile course. The Jackrabbits were led by Ronan McMahon-Staggs, who finished 10th overall with a time of 15:07. The other Poly finishers were TJ Bryson (36th), Zane Witter (57th), Ezequiel Barraza (72nd), Clark Boyce (81st), Brandon Perry (120th), and Nicholas Mejia (121st).
Wilson had a team time of 1:23:22, and were led once again by Zami Moscoco, who finished 55th overall (15:42). Next up for the Bruins was Joseph Espinoza (103rd), Nico Colchico (154th), Saul Haro (156th), Ryan McKinney (169th), Jack Wade (174th), and Guillermo Aguirre-Nunez (181st).
