The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.
History repeated itself on Wednesday evening at El Dorado Park, as the winning runners and teams from Heartwell Park won again in the second Moore League cross country cluster meet of the season.
Wilson’s Audrey Buckley led her team to victory in the girls’ varsity race, while it was Hector Diaz leading the Millikan boys to first place, with both runners winning by a margin of 24 seconds over the field.
CLICK HERE to see results from the meet
Girls’ Varsity
Like her win at Heartwell Park, Buckley needed to come from behind for gold, but she did it much earlier in the race this time–and without any help from the competition. Millikan sophomore Amberly McDowell set the pace early on, leading for the first mile of the race before Buckley got even and overtook her.
McDowell took a wrong turn at the Moore League opener while in the lead, which changed the race and opened the door for Buckley to win without much stress. This time, it was all Buckley as she was able to pull away for victory with a PR of 17:16 on the El Dorado Course.
“After the last race, I was happy that I won for sure, but it didn’t feel like I earned it,” explained Buckley. “I’m really big on doing the work and having the right outcome. So today I was like, ‘I’m gonna do what it takes to get the win,’ and I was also reminding myself this is the last time I’m going to be on this course, so that was really big for me too.”
Buckley said she was cognizant of McDowell’s kick at the end of a race, so she was intentional about building her lead to make sure she had plenty of cushion at the finish line. McDowell took silver with a time of 17:40, with Millikan teammate Jocelyn Jimenez behind her in third place in 17:59.
Wilson won the team competition by producing half of the Top 10 finishers. Senior Avery Errecart (4th, 18:17), sophomore Ella George (6th, 18:35), and seniors Isabelle Gabisan (9th, 18:43) and Olivia Jones (10th, 18:51) rounded out Wilson’s first five finishers.
Long Beach Poly junior Sienna Young placed 5th in 18:29 with teammates Poppy Wells and Estefany Garcia Hernandez were in a neck-and-neck battle for 7th, with Wells winning by a half-second.
Lakewood senior Delilah Beristain was the top finisher for the Lancers in 21:59.
Boys’ Varsity
Diaz took things out early and never looked back in a wire-to-wire victory, clocking a 14:59.6 for the Rams to just get under the 15-minute mark. His race plan was to get out early and not be as conservative as he was at Heartwell.
Though he acknowledged it wasn’t a perfect race, he still ran his best time ever at El Dorado and is feeling confident heading back to Heartwell Park for league finals in three weeks.
“It definitely went well. The plan was to take it out from the start,” Diaz explained. “In the last Moore League race, I wasn’t putting in my all, as planned. And this race, that was the plan to go all out. So I think the first mile, it was like a sub-4:50 first mile, which was the plan, and I just wanted to keep that pace throughout.”
The Rams were in control behind him, placing five runners in the first eight finishers. Senior Jack Walsh took 2nd place in a time of 15:24, followed by Poly sophomore Sawyer Chesnin with a time of 15:28. Wilson’s Nico Swanson was 4th in 15:39.
Brandon Hinojosa-Garcia barely beat Millikan teammate Ricardo Linarez-Gutierrez in a battle for 5th, followed closely by Lakewood’s top finisher, Matthew Rangel, who clocked a 15:46 to take 7th. Millikan’s Sebastian McKiernan took 8th in 15:49.
Freshman Bruno Mosqueda led the way for Cabrillo in 18:00, and Jordan’s top runner was Diego Moran in 18:05.
Moore League finals are scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 4 back at Heartwell Park.
