The562’s coverage of cross country and track and field is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The city’s top distance runners will converge on El Dorado Park on Wednesday for the season opener in Moore League cross country. With several talented runners returning from last year, as well as some exciting new talent in the league, it should be an intriguing start to the league season.
The varsity races will start last, with the boys’ race scheduled for a 5 p.m. start and the girls’ scheduled for 5:30.
On the boys’ side, Millikan’s Jason Parra is a two-time defending league champion, and is the fastest runner in the city coming off the 13:56.5 he threw down at Woodbridge earlier this month.
He’ll be getting stiff competition from Poly’s Cameron Rhone, who set a school record in the 5K during Poly’s trip to Portland last weekend. He also beat Parra in that race, setting up an intriguing showdown at El Dorado.
Both Poly and Millikan were ranked in Division I to start the season, and both programs have eyes toward a trip to the CIF State meet.
For the girls’ race, Poly senior Camille Lindsay has been working her way back into the lineup, but is not expected to be up to speed for the league opener. The two-time league champ will surely be someone to watch by the time league finals rolls around, and a deep group of Jackrabbits should still be considered the favorites on Wednesday.
Poly has an experienced lineup with a standout 9th grader, Avery Peck, who also broke the 5K school record in Portland last weekend. Her times are legit, but she’ll need to hold off experienced runners like teammate Alexa Bryson and Wilson’s Natalie Maahs in order to win her league debut.
We’ll have live updates from ElDo tracking the winners of the varsity races, and be sure to come back to The562.org for full coverage of the meet.
