Last week’s planned Moore League cross country meet between Long Beach Poly and Cabrillo didn’t happen as the Jaguars continue to prepare for the season, but since the Jackrabbits were all dressed up they went ahead and held a 5K time trial event on campus anyway. The race was a test of the campus’ marked-out course and featured parents in the stands at the school’s track stadium, where the race began and finished.
As expected, reigning league champion sophomore Camille Lindsay stole the show in the girls’ rce, with a time of 19:58. Lindsay said she was ecstatic when she heard from Poly coach Gabrielle Bournes that the sport would be returning for a full season.
“I was so happy,” she said. “I just feel extremely lucky. We’ve been practicing on and off for the last year, our seasons didn’t happen. To be able to see our friends and do the thing that we like doing, we feel so lucky.”
Lindsay was followed by freshman Evelyn Hernandez Lujan, Maille Quinn, Sasha Johnson, Alexa Bryson, Danika Hunter, and Mia McKiernan for the group that should make up Poly’s varsity. The time spread for the seven was Lindsay’s 19:58 to McKiernan’s 22:20.
On the boys’ side, Poly was led by a sophomore as well, as Cameron Rhone made his debut at the front of the pack with a time of 17:02, backed up by Robert Guerrero, Luke Larson, Mason Lindsay, Kyle Johnson, Jaedon Rufo, and Nick Mejia. The time spread for the Poly boys was tight, from 17:02 to 17:56.
“All of our PRs are next to each other so we can pack run like that,” said Rhone. Like Lindsay, he said the ability to compete with his friends was significant. “It’s just nice to get an actual season. School has been hard for a lot of us, it’s hard to pay attention, honestly, it’s hard to study. We were so excited when we heard we could come back, we haven’t run competitively since last March.”
Poly will travel to Wilson next Wednesday for their first real meet against another team.
