Seniors Alex Lovato, Gavin Laverde and Alister Castillo have been a huge part of Millikan’s success the last four years.
In their final Moore League dual, the trio continued their success as they each picked up victories over their opponents to guide Millikan to a 56-24 victory over Long Beach Poly on Senior Night– securing the Rams 11th consecutive league title.
“This feels great,” Lovato said. “It’s been a really long four years, it’s been a really amazing four years. I’ve been on a CIF team every year, this year has been an adventure.”
Poly jumped out to an 18-6 lead early in the dual with wins in the 120 and 126 matches.
Laverde cut Poly’s lead to 18-12 after he got a pin against in his match.
“This being my senior year,” Laverde said. “This win is great. I think it’s going to be a good year and I’ve really enjoyed wrestling for this team.”
Millikan’s middleweights is where the Rams put the Jackrabbits through a gauntlet of tough matches as Castillo continued to chip away at Poly’s lead with a victory in his match to cut the lead to 18-17.
“To come out and get another Moore League title is great,” Castillo said. “We’ve been the CIF runner-ups the last three years, so that’s been kind of hard. But I think we always keep working and keep winning.”
Lovato continued Millikan’s furious comeback as they took victories five straight matches, including a forfeit.
“League is fun to win,” Millikan coach Blake Lovato said. “The gap has kind of been closed this year and it’s not because we don’t have the people. We’ve been wrestling up to try and make it more challenging because at the end of the day, winning league is all fine and dandy but it’s time to move on from playing to win league and that’s kind of the precedent we’ve set the last few years.”
Millikan moved up to Division 3 this year with multiple CIF placers and some Masters and state finishers returning. The Rams currently sit at No. 5 in the recent CIF polls.
