The young talent in the city has been much improved over the past few seasons, and this year was no exception, with two freshmen proving themselves the best in the city at their sport.
Jason Parra, Millikan Cross Country
The long-awaited start of the 2020-21 high school sports season was also the triumphant debut for Millikan’s Jason Parra. He still wasn’t allowed to attend classes at his new school, but he was definitely able to win races. Parra came out of the gate strong, running a 15:24 in his first varsity race to lead the Rams over Wilson in the season-opening dual meet.
“Jason is a good runner who works really hard,” Millikan head coach Pedro Ramirez said after Parra’s first win. “He was a youth runner, so he came in with experience. He’s looking good and like one of the top runners in the league.”
Parra continued his strong debut season into league finals, where he lowered his time to 15:04 to claim the Moore League individual title by a 10-second margin. His effort nearly helped the Rams to a boys’ team title, but Millikan ended up just one point shy of Poly in the final team standings. With key returners on both sides, there should be plenty of exciting races ahead for Parra, who will look to build on his terrific freshman campaign this fall.
Sammie Hamilton, Wilson Swimming
A heralded club swimmer, Wilson freshman Sammie Hamilton burst onto the high school scene this year in a big way. She won two individual events (the 200 and 500 freestyle) at the Moore League finals and also anchored the Wilson 400 free relay to a victory. Her wins were impressive but her times (1:54.58 in the 200 and 5:04.32 in the 500) signaled that she will threaten multiple Moore League and city records in her time at Wilson over the next three years.
Hamilton said she’s known “for basically my entire life” that she would one day swim for the Bruins, and she’s delivered in a big way so far. The future is bright–Hamilton was recently selected to the Western Zone Team to compete in Texas this summer at the Age Group National Championships.
